List of minority leaders of the Minnesota House of Representatives

This is a list of minority leaders of the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Minority Leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives
Incumbent
Lisa Demuth
since January 3, 2023
Term lengthTwo years, no term limit
Inaugural holderWinslow W. Dunn
Name Took office Left office Party/caucus
Charles L. Halstead 1945 1947 Liberal
Joseph L Prifrel 1947 1949 Liberal
Edwin J. Chilgren 1949 1951 Liberal
Fred A. Cina 1951 1955 Liberal
John A. Hartle 1955 1957 Conservative
Odin E. S. Langen 1957 1959 Conservative
Lloyd L. Duxbury 1959 1963 Conservative
Fred A. Cina 1963 1969 Liberal
Martin Olav Sabo 1969 1973 Liberal
Aubrey W. Dirlam 1973 1975 Republican
Henry J. Savelkoul 1975 1979 Independent-Republican
None[- 1] 1979 1980  
Rod Searle 1980 1981 Independent-Republican
Glen Sherwood 1981 1982 Independent-Republican
David M. Jennings 1982 1985 Independent-Republican
Fred Norton 1985 1987 Democratic-Farmer-Labor
William R. Schreiber 1987 1991 Independent-Republican
Terry Dempsey 1991 1993 Independent-Republican
Steve Sviggum 1993 1999 Independent-Republican/Republican
Tom Pugh 1999 2003 Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Matt Entenza 2003 2006 Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Margaret Anderson Kelliher 2006 2007 Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Marty Seifert 2007 2009 Republican
Kurt Zellers 2009 2011 Republican
Paul Thissen 2011 2013 Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Kurt Daudt 2013 2015 Republican
Paul Thissen 2015 2017 Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Melissa Hortman 2017 2019 Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Kurt Daudt 2019 2023 Republican
Lisa Demuth 2023 Incumbent Republican

Notes on Minnesota political party names

edit

In 1913, Minnesota legislators began to be elected on nonpartisan ballots. Nonpartisanship also was an historical accident that occurred in the 1913 session when a bill to provide for no party elections of judges and city and county officers was amended to include the Legislature in the belief that it would kill the bill. Legislators ran and caucused as "Liberals" or "Conservatives" roughly equivalent in most years to Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican, respectively. The law was changed in 1973, in 1974, House members again ran with party designation.

Notes

edit
  1. ^ From 1979 to 1980, the House was evenly divided.

References

edit

Minnesota Legislative Reference Library