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Labor 2022 Election Results
Labor-friendly majorities win both Minnesota House and Minnesota Senate
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Melissa Hortman, re-elected
as Speaker of the House |
Kari Dziedzic, incoming
Senate Majority Leader |
Adapted from the Minneapolis Labor Review, November 19, 2022
[11/22/22 CORRECTION: Start date for 2023 session of MN Legislature will be Tuesday, January 3]
By Steve Share, Minneapolis Labor Review editor
SAINT PAUL — During the last four years, a long list of pro-worker legislation passed the DFL-controlled Minnesota House of Representatives only to stall in the Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate.
But, with voters in the November 8 election giving the DFL a majority in both House and Senate, 2023 could become a year for truly historic gains for Minnesota workers.
A state minimum wage of $15 per hour, paid family and medical leave, investments in infrastructure and public education, all now could be possible with the Senate’s new majority.
Last May, when the legislature adjourned, Minnesota AFL-CIO legislative director Melissa Hysing commented: “Whether it’s education funding, or unemployment insurance for hourly school workers, or keeping nurses at the bedside, the primary obstacle to things people want and need is the Senate majority” (Labor Review, May 21, 2022). Now, voters have removed that obstacle.
The DFL Senate caucus has elected Minneapolis Senator Kari Dziedzic as majority leader while Representative Melissa Hortman of Brooklyn Park will return as Speaker of the House.
Hortman was first elected to the Minnesota House in 2004.
Dziedzic was first elected to the Minnesota Senate in 2012.
The Minnesota Senate will have a one-vote DFL majority, with 34 DFL members and 33 Republican members.
The Minnesota House of Representatives will have a 14-vote DFL majority, with 70 DFL members and 64 Republican members.
The first day of the 2023 legislative session will be Tuesday, January 3.
The session must adjourn by May 22.
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