- Minnesota House Minority Leader
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This is a list of Minority Leaders of the Minnesota House of Representatives. The current minority leader is Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis). Thissen was elected minority leader at the start of the 2011 session after the DFL lost a majority in the 2010 election.
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 1977 Independent-Republican None[- 1] 1979 1980 Rodney N. 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 present Democratic-Farmer-Labor Notes on Minnesota political party names
- Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party: On April 15, 1944 the state Democratic Party and the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party merged and created the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). It is affiliated with the national Democratic Party.
- Republican Party of Minnesota: From November 15, 1975 to September 23, 1995 the name of the state Republican party was the Independent-Republican party (I-R). The party has always been affiliated with the national Republican Party.
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
- ^ From 1979 to 1980, the House was evenly divided.
References
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