Republican Party of Minnesota | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairperson | Alex Plechash |
| Senate Leader | Mark Johnson |
| House Speaker | Lisa Demuth |
| Founded |
|
| Headquarters |
|
| Student wing | Minnesota College Republicans |
| Youth wing | Minnesota Young Republicans |
| Ideology | Conservatism |
| National affiliation | Republican Party |
| Colors | Red |
| State Senate | 33 / 67 |
| State House | 67 / 134 |
| Statewide Executive Offices | 0 / 5 |
| U.S. Senate | 0 / 2 |
| U.S. House of Representatives | 4 / 8 |
| Election symbol | |
.svg) | |
| Website | |
| www | |
TheRepublican Party of Minnesota is the state affiliate of theRepublican Party inMinnesota and the oldest active political party in the state. Founded in 1855, the party is headquartered inEdina, and the current chairman is Alex Plechash.[1]
Starting in 2025 and as a result of the2024 elections, the Republican Party of Minnesota holds no statewide executive offices or U.S. Senate seats. It holds a one-seat majority in theMinnesota House of Representatives and a one-seat minority in theSenate. The party controls four ofMinnesota's eight congressional districts. The last Republican governor of the state wasTim Pawlenty, who served from 2003 to 2011.
The last Republican Presidential candidate to win the state was Richard Nixon in1972, thus making Minnesota the state with the longest streak of not voting for the Republican Party in presidential elections (Minnesota being the sole state to not vote for Ronald Reagan in either1980 or1984).
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The Republican Party in Minnesota was the dominant party in the state for approximately the first seventy years of Minnesota's statehood, from 1858 through the 1920s. In theCivil War, the state supportedAbolitionism and theUnion.[2]
Republican candidates routinely won the state governorship as well as most other state offices, having 12 out of the first 13.[3]
The1892 Republican National Convention was held in Minneapolis. The party was aided by an opposition divided between the Democratic Party and theMinnesota Farmer-Labor Party, which eventually merged in 1944.
TheIndependent-Republicans of Minnesota (I-R) was the name of the party from November 15, 1975, until September 23, 1995. The name change was made because the "Republican" name was damaged by theWatergate Scandal. Polls conducted in the early-mid-1970s indicated people in Minnesota were more likely to vote for a candidate who identified as an "Independent" versus a "Republican". During that time, the state party became more dependent ongrassroots fundraising and eventually went bankrupt.[citation needed] After the national party pumped money into the party, in the early-mid-1980s, their image and base began turning more conservative. During this time the party held both US Senate seats and briefly controlled the state House of Representatives. By 1994, the grassroots had turned socially more conservative and changed the name back in 1995. Attempts to drop the term "Independent" had previously been defeated in 1989, 1991 and 1993.
For the2006 U.S. Senate election, the party endorsedMark Kennedy forUnited States Senate, who lost toAmy Klobuchar.
In the2008 U.S. Senate election, incumbent Republican SenatorNorm Coleman was defeated byDemocratic-Farmer-Labor candidateAl Franken by 312 votes out of over 2.5 million cast after a long series of dramatic, contentious, and expensive re-counts.
The party was fined $170,000 for violating federal campaign finance regulations from 2003 to 2008.[4] The Chairman of the Minnesota Republican PartyTony Sutton (R) was found guilty of circumventing Finance Laws in the Gubernatorial Election Recount of 2010 and fined $33,000. (2010)[5][6]
The last Republican Governor of Minnesota wasTim Pawlenty. He waselected in 2002; afterwinning re-election in 2006, he served two terms. WithTom Emmer's defeat in 2010 byMark Dayton, Republicans held the governorship for eight years. Despite having lost every executive race in the general election of 2010, the party captured both chambers of theMinnesota Legislature for the first time since the 1970s,[7] and defeated 18-term Rep.Jim Oberstar by electingChip Cravaack toMinnesota's 8th district.
For the2010 statewide elections, the party endorsed State RepresentativeTom Emmer andMetropolitan Council memberAnnette Meeks for governor and lieutenant governor. State RepresentativeDan Severson was the endorsed candidate forsecretary of state. Attorney and psychologistChris Barden was the endorsed candidate forattorney general.Patricia Anderson was the endorsed candidate forstate auditor. All five executive candidates lost their respective elections.
Following the2010 gubernatorial recount, the Minnesota GOP was heavily in debt, owing $2 million primarily for the recount of votes. The GOP had stopped paying rent for its headquarters near the Capitol and the landlord filed an eviction summons once the Party had fallen $111,000 behind in rent.[5][8] They announced they would move their headquarters to Minneapolis'sSeward neighborhood in January 2014. The new headquarters is situated diagonally across from theSeward Community Cafe where it shares a building with aPizza Luce.[9] Party Chairman Keith Downey said they were moving away from St. Paul "to be closer to the people."[10] The headquarters were later moved toEdina.[11]Despite this, in 2010, Republicans had taken control of both houses of the State Legislature for the first time in three decades, only to lose both houses in 2012.
In 2021, the Minnesota Republican Party became a subject of controversy when donor and strategist Anton Lazzaro was indicted forsex trafficking charges.[12] Minnesota ChairwomanJennifer Carnahan resigned amidst the controversy.[13]
The party ranScott Jensen for the2022 gubernatorial race,[14][15] who lost to incumbentTim Walz.[16] The party also lost its majority in the Minnesota Senate, giving the DFL atrifecta,[17] but the party held to the four seats in the US House of Representatives.
The Minnesota Republicans have a strong voter base in rural and suburban parts ofGreater Minnesota.
In the party's 2022 platform, the partyopposed abortion access,[18] calling for the overturning[19] of Supreme Court decisionRoe v. Wade, whichsubsequently happened,[20][21] and the Minnesota Doe v. Gomez, which is still standing. It also opposes legal recognition ofsame-sex marriage.[22] They also "support the prohibition ofRanked Choice Voting in Minnesota."[23] Ongun policy, the statement says that citizens who follow the law should "have the right to purchase and possess firearms, free from anygun registration system."[24] Foreducation, the platform also opposes "any element ofCritical Race Theory or associated curricula and programs."[25]
The Minnesota Republican Party holds none of the five statewide elected offices, neitherUnited States Senate seat, and four of the state's eightUnited States House of Representatives seats. It holds a minority of seats in theMinnesota Senate and holds exactly half of the seats in theMinnesota House of Representatives.
Both of Minnesota'sU.S. Senate seats have been held by Democrats since 2009.Norm Coleman was the last Republican to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate.
Out of the eight seats Minnesota is apportioned in theU.S. House of Representatives, 4 are held by Republicans:
| District | Member | Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Brad Finstad | .jpeg) |
| 6th | Tom Emmer | .jpg) |
| 7th | Michelle Fischbach | .jpg) |
| 8th | Pete Stauber | .jpeg) |
Minnesota has not elected any GOP candidates to statewide office since2006, whenTim Pawlenty was narrowly re-elected as governor. In 2010, Pawlenty opted not to seek re-election to a third term. State representativeTom Emmer ran as the Republican nominee in the2010 election and was subsequently defeated by Democratic challengerMark Dayton.
| Year | Candidate | Votes | % | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Arne Carlson | 1,094,165 | 63.34 | Yes |
| 1998 | Norm Coleman | 717,350 | 34.29 | No |
| 2002 | Tim Pawlenty | 999,473 | 44.37 | Yes |
| 2006 | 1,028,568 | 46.69 | Yes | |
| 2010 | Tom Emmer | 910,462 | 43.21 | No |
| 2014 | Jeff Johnson | 879,257 | 44.51 | No |
| 2018 | 1,097,705 | 42.43 | No | |
| 2022 | Scott Jensen | 1,119,941 | 44.61 | No |
The demand for the organization of a new anti-slavery party, following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill in May, 1854, was most urgent in the region of the Old North-west. On July 6, in a state mass meeting made up of Whigs, anti-slavery Democrats, and Free-Soilers, Michigan gave the name Republican to the party whose formal organization was effected at this convention... Minnesota was slow in joining the movement.
While Minnesota's first governor, Henry Sibley, was a Democrat, his successor, Alexander Ramsey, and the state's next eleven governors all affiliated with the Republican Party—the party of Lincoln
The new location puts the party headquarters in the heart of a longtime DFL stronghold.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)The U.S. and Minnesota Constitutions should be amended to restore legal protection to the lives of innocent human beings from conception to natural death.
We call for overturning the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Gomez decisions.
We believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. Therefore, we: Call on the Minnesota State Legislature to repeal it new laws to the contrary.
We oppose any element of Critical Race Theory (CRT) or associated curricula and programs such as Social Emotional Learning, Ethnic Studies and Culturally Responsive Teaching.
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