For Republican candidates this year, two things were central to their campaign messaging: Fraud and warnings of a “Democratic trifecta.”

Republicans worked hard to remind voters how Democrats increased taxes, spending and regulations during the 2023-24 session when they held the House, Senate and governor’s office. Republicans were virtually powerless to stop the items in the Legislature.

“A lot of these folks were in the room four years ago when we were facing a similar DFL trifecta, and the feeling that we had then and that we have now is resolve,” GOP state Rep. Harry Niska said after last week’s leadership election that put him in the House minority leader role.

“We know we have a tough job ahead of us,” said Niska, R-Ramsey. “But we know how important it is to the people of Minnesota that we fight for those common sense principles.”

The last time Democrats held full control, the party steamed through a sweeping agenda from abortion protections to a paid leave program to marijuana legalization over the howls of Republicans who argued they were unfairly shut out.

As a new era of party-unified government approaches, Republicans are at a crossroads: How do they get a seat at the table or assert themselves without blessing a DFL agenda that GOP voters might flinch at?

Some Republicans are hopeful that a new DFL governor might tread more cautiously and hem in the party's left flank. The Capitol springs back to life in January.

In 2023, Democrats had a one-seat majority in the Senate and a six-seat advantage in the House. The tight margin meant they needed unity to get anything done. At that time, Republicans saw their role as being a cohesive check on the DFL agenda.

Democrats head into this next session with an even bigger advantage. With a few recounts looming, the DFL has a 11-vote edge in the Senate and a 20-vote cushion in the House. That means they’ll be able to let some swing-seat members avoid tough votes that might not sell back home.

‘Better offer’

Democrats say they’re ready to get to work.

“Elections are ultimately about which party has the better offer, and on (Nov. 3), voters across the country and here in Minnesota voted for the better offer the Democrats presented,” said Minneapolis Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura, the DFL House majority whip.

“Now is the time for unrigging our economy, investing in our kids, fixing our broken healthcare system and saving our planet and our people from the ills of big tech,” Sencer-Mura said.

While Democrats will have a clear advantage, the key difference between the last time and now is in the governor’s office. Gov.-elect Amy Klobuchar has said she will not raise taxes. She has also prided herself in her years in the U.S. Senate on working across the aisle.

“I expect them to be with me at the table,” Klobuchar told MPR News about involving Republicans at the Capitol in big decisions.

Niska said he sees a pathway for working with Klobuchar. He already got a phone call from her, which he said he appreciated.

“I told her that there are many things that she talked about over the campaign that, as Republicans, we agree with,” he said.

Niska has often brought up the increased spending and progressive policies passed in the prior trifecta. Looking forward, he said he’s not all that hopeful Democrats in this Legislature will be all that different.

“But I am worried about the difference between what she campaigned on and what the DFL House and the DFL Senate campaigned on — an agenda that would be about $14 billion of new spending at a time when we're already in a structural deficit,” he said.

He said he sees his caucus as a check on the DFL, adding that they will hold Klobuchar and House Democrats “accountable” if they raise costs, allow fraud to go unchecked or don’t improve education standards.

New Senate Minority Leader Jordan Rasmusson struck a similar note about holding DFLers’ feet to the fire but collaborating where possible.

“Where we agree with the next governor, with Sen. Klobuchar, we will work with her,” he said last week on the MPR News Politics Friday program. “And when we disagree, we'll present that as well.”

New governor buoys some in GOP

State Rep. Dave Baker, a moderate Republican from Willmar, has worked across the aisle on several bills on mental health, opioid addiction and proposed changes to the state’s paid family leave program.

Back in 2023, he said he felt locked out of the process by Democrats.

Baker was one of the few Republicans who supported a bill that would allow immigrants who aren’t citizens to apply for driver’s licenses. He said he negotiated some amendments on that bill prior to 2023, working across the aisle with Democrats. But he said those changes were struck when Democrats took full control, and he was iced out of working on the bill that eventually passed.

“That was for me the beginning of a very traumatic two-year cycle there that spun it, where the trust factor was really a challenge for that period of time,” he said. “What I think is different this time is that we've got a different head coach, if you will.”

Baker is still assessing his possible relationship with Klobuchar. But he said he’s cautiously optimistic that while the DFL holds the gavels, there will be more room for a voice like his.

“Because of what she has said publicly, I am more encouraged that this next trifecta may not be quite as painful,” he said.

State Sen.-elect Rick Olson is new to the Legislature. He was not around for the prior political battles in Minnesota. But the newly elected Democrat from Prior Lake does have experience many other members in the chamber don’t have. He was a Michigan Republican lawmaker who moved states and switched parties.

Olson served as a Republican in the Michigan House from 2011 to 2013. After moving to Minnesota, he found himself agreeing with progressive Democrats on the need for universal health care, among other issues. He ran as a DFLer and won a term in the Minnesota Senate.

He can speak the language of both parties, and hopes that will help him to bridge divides.

“I value their viewpoint and input on any of these kinds, any of these issues,” he said.

However, Olson pointed out that a lot of the more moderate Republicans he’d hoped to work with — suburban Sens. Jim Abeler and Michael Kreun among them — lost their elections.

“So I’ve got to start from scratch,” Olson said. “I had hoped those were the first ones I was going to reach out to, but every one of them lost.”

Still, Olson said he is not a person who feels any obligation to vote with a party every time, and he said he’ll be willing to break with the DFL.

House Speaker-designate Zack Stephenson said he’s hoping to have a good working relationship with the GOP.

“We are ready to work with them if possible, but we won't allow them to stand in our way if they're not willing to do that,” he said. “But look, I think a lot of relationships were built over the last two years in the tie, and I hope that we can put those to use and continue those going forward. It makes for a better Minnesota, but it also makes for a more pleasant workplace for us. So we'll definitely try.”

Klobuchar will begin her new role as governor on Jan. 4, with the Legislature returning for work on Jan. 12.

Collected from Minnesota Public Radio News. View original source here.