Help lay the groundwork for change in Virginia! x

Minnesota

STATE HOUSE
STATE SENATE
CHAMBER MAKEUP
Democrats: 70
Republicans: 64
CHAMBER MAKEUP
Democrats: 34
Republicans: 33

Current state:

2023-24

The value of our partnership with The States Project can’t be overstated. They helped us modernize our campaign’s structure and operations, so we could use data and research to help us make smarter decisions. This partnership helped power our new trifecta. We knew early in the election cycle that this would be an uphill battle. Our opponents had both chambers in their sights, and I believe that without The States Project’s help, we very well may have lost both of them.”
Minnesota State Senate Majority Leader Kari Dzeidzic, SD-60

The Opportunity

While we were on the ground a year and half before our first elections in Minnesota, it was still an uphill battle in the state.

We saw the opportunity for a new trifecta by ending rightwing control of the Minnesota Senate, but the House was in the crosshairs of the rightwing, who saw the opportunity for unified control of the legislature.

Our investment and tactics helped to hold the House and flip the Senate to create the first Democratic trifecta since 2014. And Minnesota’s legislative majorities immediately got to work, introducing more policies in the first month of the 2023 sessions than in the first month of the past six sessions combined.

The Stakes

In just the first months of the 2023 legislative session, majority lawmakers have used their new governing power in Minnesota to: 

    • Pass $100 million in tax cuts to Minnesota students, families, retirees, and businesses.
    • Codify abortion rights into state law, becoming the first state to do so in the post-Roe era. 
    • Protect the state’s clean water and air by enacting a climate action plan which requires utilities to be powered by clean energy sources by 2040.
    • Restore voting rights for 55,000 people who have served their sentences after felony convictions.
    • Fight childhood hunger by providing 82,000 Minnesota students free breakfast and lunch. 

The Landscape

The margins for our victories in Minnesota were razor-thin:

  • In the Senate, we flipped three seats for a 34-33 majority. Just 161 voters made the difference in the crucial, tie-breaking seat.  
  • In the House, we are three seats away from a shift in the balance of power. Just 738 voters made the difference across the three closest seats in that chamber. 

We started on the path to these hard-won victories in 2021. It’s time to get to work to protect crucial governing power in the Minnesota House ahead of 2024.

Join Us

to help elect majority-making candidates in states like Minnesota!

2022

Giving Circles raised TSP’s first Minnesota investment — long before most people were thinking about giving political dollars. This kind of early investment was unprecedented in Minnesota, and the outcomes were phenomenal.

  • We held ground to defend the Minnesota House — we could only afford to lose two seats. 
  • In the Senate, we needed to gain three seats for a new majority, and we won the seats we needed.  
  • When we won the Senate, we also increased governing power for diverse state lawmakers. 56 percent of the new majority are women lawmakers, 26 percent are BIPOC, and 9 percent are LGBTQ+, as compared to the previous majority, where just 19 percent of the lawmakers were women, and there were no BIPOC or LGBTQ+ lawmakers.