| Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Term length | Two years, no term limit |
| Inaugural holder | John S. Watrous |
| Formation | December 2, 1857 |
| Website | http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/ |
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| Constitution |
This is a list of speakers of the Minnesota House of Representatives . The Speaker of the House is usually the leader of the majority party, and is the most powerful figure in the House. The current House Speaker is Rep. Melissa Hortman.
| # | Speaker | Took office | Left office | Party/Caucus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joseph W. Furber | 1849 | 1851 | Whig |
| 2 | Michael E. Ames | 1851 | 1852 | Democratic |
| 3 | John D. Ludden | 1852 | 1853 | Unknown |
| 4 | David Day | 1853 | 1854 | Unknown |
| 5 | Nathan C. D. Taylor | 1854 | 1855 | Unknown |
| 6 | James S. Norris | 1855 | 1856 | Democratic |
| 7 | Charles Gardner | 1856 | 1857 | Unknown |
| 8 | Joseph W. Furber | 1857 | 1857 | Whig |
| # | Speaker | Took office | Left office | Party/Caucus | Notes | Session |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John S. Watrous | 2 December 1857 | 12 March 1858 | Unknown | Minnesota Legislators Past & Present lists Watrous' party affiliation as "Not Available," while the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library's list of Speakers of the House of Representatives lists "R?," indicating that the MLRL does not know what Watrous' party affiliation was, and is merely guessing that he might have been a Republican. On the other hand, the Journal of the House of Representatives for the 1st Session shows that Watrous was elected Speaker in a party-line vote by a majority Democratic House of Representatives, with the Democratic majority voting for him and the Republican minority voting for James Beach Wakefield, and Watrous was, in 1859, given a federal civil service appointment by the Buchanan Administration at a time when patronage was the rule for civil service appointments. | 1st |
| 2 | George Bradley | 12 March 1858 | 6 December 1859 | Unknown | Minnesota Legislators Past & Present lists Bradley's party affiliation as "Not Available," while the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library's list of Speakers of the House of Representatives lists "R?," indicating that the MLRL does not know what Bradley's party affiliation was, and is merely guessing that he might have been a Republican. On the other hand, Bradley was elected Speaker at a time when the Democrats held a 55 percent voting majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives, and, in 1860, received a federal civil service appointment from the Buchanan Administration, much as Watrous had. | |
| 3 | Amos Coggswell | 7 December 1859 | 7 January 1861 | Republican | 2nd | |
| 4 | Jared Benson | 8 January 1861 | 5 January 1863 | Republican | 3rd | |
| 4th | ||||||
| 5 | Charles D. Sherwood | 6 January 1863 | 4 January 1864 | Republican | 5th | |
| 6 | Jared Benson | 5 January 1864 | 1864? | Republican | 6th | |
| 7 | Thomas H. Armstrong | 1864? | 1865 | Republican | Unclear whether took office in 1864 or 1865 | 7th |
| 8 | James B. Wakefield | 1866 | 1866 | Republican | Served as a U.S. Representative | 8th |
| 9 | John Q. Farmer | 1867 | 1868 | Whig/Republican | 9th | |
| 10th | ||||||
| 10 | Chester D. Davidson | 1869 | 1869 | Republican | 11th | |
| 11 | John L. Merriam | 1870 | 1871 | Republican | 12th | |
| 13th | ||||||
| 12 | A.R. Hall | 1872 | 1874 | Republican | 14th | |
| 15th | ||||||
| 16th | ||||||
| 13 | William R. Kinyon | 1875 | 1876 | Republican | 17th | |
| 18th | ||||||
| 14 | John L. Gibbs | 1877 | 1877 | Republican | 19th | |
| 15 | Charles A. Gilman | 1878 | 1879 | Republican | 20th | |
| 21st | ||||||
| 16 | Loren Fletcher | 1881 | 1885 | Republican | 22nd | |
| 23rd | ||||||
| 17 | John L. Gibbs | 1885 | 1887 | Republican | 24th | |
| 18 | William Rush Merriam | 1887 | 1889 | Republican | Served as Governor of Minnesota | 25th |
| 19 | Charles H. Graves | 1889 | 1891 | Republican | 26th | |
| 20 | Ezra T. Champlin | 1891 | 1893 | Alliance | 27th | |
| 21 | William E. Lee | 1893 | 1895 | Republican | 28th | |
| 22 | Samuel Rinnah Van Sant | 1895 | 1897 | Republican | Served as Governor of Minnesota | 29th |
| 23 | John D. Jones | 1897 | 1899 | Republican | 30th | |
| 24 | Arthur N. Dare | 1899 | 1901 | Republican | 31st | |
| 25 | M.J. Dowling | 1901 | 1903 | Republican | 32nd | |
| 26 | Leverett W. Babcock | 1903 | 1905 | Republican | 33rd | |
| 27 | Frank Clague | 1905 | 1907 | Republican | Served as a U.S. Representative | 34th |
| 28 | Lawrence H. Johnson | 1907 | 1909 | Republican | 35th | |
| 29 | Anton J. Rockne | 1909 | 1911 | Republican | 36th | |
| 30 | Howard H. Dunn | 1911 | 1913 | Republican | 37th | |
| 31 | Henry Rines | 1913 | 1915 | Conservative | Served as Minnesota Treasurer | 38th |
| 32 | H.H. Flowers | 1915 | 1917 | Conservative | 39th | |
| 33 | Ralph J. Parker | January 1917 | January 1919 | Conservative | 40th | |
| 34 | William I. Nolan | January 1919 | January 1925 | Conservative | 41st | |
| 42nd | ||||||
| 43rd | ||||||
| 35 | John A. Johnson | January 1925 | January 1931 | Conservative | 44th | |
| 45th | ||||||
| 46th | ||||||
| 36 | Oscar A. Swenson | January 1931 | January 1933 | Conservative | 47th | |
| 37 | Charles Munn | January 1933 | January 1935 | Liberal | 48th | |
| 38 | George W. Johnson | January 1935 | January 1937 | Conservative | 49th | |
| 39 | Harold H. Barker | January 1937 | January 1939 | Liberal | 50th | |
| 40 | Lawrence M. Hall | January 1939 | January 1949 | Conservative | Longest-serving speaker | 51st |
| 52nd | ||||||
| 53rd | ||||||
| 54th | ||||||
| 55th | ||||||
| 41 | John A. Hartle | January 4, 1949 | January 6, 1955 | Conservative | 56th | |
| 57th | ||||||
| 58th | ||||||
| 42 | Alfred I. Johnson | January 6, 1955 | January 5, 1959 | Liberal | 59th | |
| 60th | ||||||
| 43 | Edwin J. Chilgren | January 5, 1959 | January 7, 1963 | Liberal | 61st | |
| 62nd | ||||||
| 44 | Lloyd L. Duxbury | January 7, 1963 | January 1971 | Conservative | 63rd | |
| 64th | ||||||
| 65th | ||||||
| 66th | ||||||
| 45 | A.W. Dirlam | January 1971 | January 1973 | Conservative | 67th | |
| 46 | Martin Olav Sabo | January 1973 | January 1979 | DFL | Served as a U.S. Representative | 68th |
| 69th | ||||||
| 70th | ||||||
| 47 | Rod Searle | January 1979 | January 1980 | Independent-Republican | 71st | |
| 48 | Fred C. Norton | January 1980 | January 1981 | DFL | Served on Minnesota Court of Appeals | |
| 49 | Harry A. Sieben | January 1981 | January 1985 | DFL | 72nd | |
| 73rd | ||||||
| 50 | David M. Jennings | January 1985 | January 1987 | Independent-Republican | 74th | |
| 51 | Fred C. Norton | January 1987 | June 1987 | DFL | Served on Minnesota Court of Appeals | 75th |
| 52 | Robert Vanasek | June 1987 | January 6, 1992 | DFL | 75th | |
| 76th | ||||||
| 77th | ||||||
| 53 | Dee Long | January 6, 1992 | September 15, 1993 | DFL | First woman to serve as speaker. | 77th |
| 78th | ||||||
| 54 | Irv Anderson | September 1993 | January 1997 | DFL | 78th | |
| 79th | ||||||
| 55 | Phil Carruthers | January 1997 | January 1999 | DFL | 80th | |
| 56 | Steve Sviggum | January 1999 | January 2007 | Republican | 81st | |
| 82nd | ||||||
| 83rd | ||||||
| 84th | ||||||
| 57 | Margaret Anderson Kelliher | January 2007 | January 2011 | DFL | 85th | |
| 86th | ||||||
| 58 | Kurt Zellers | January 4, 2011 | January 8, 2013 | Republican | 87th | |
| 59 | Paul Thissen | January 8, 2013 | January 6, 2015 | DFL | Appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 2018 | 88th |
| 60 | Kurt Daudt | January 6, 2015 | January 8, 2019 | Republican | 89th | |
| 90th | ||||||
| 61 | Melissa Hortman | January 8, 2019 | Incumbent | DFL | 91st | |
| 92nd |
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.
Under House rules, former speakers who are serving in the House are given the title of Speaker Emeritus . While the position has no formal power, the title is seen as a sign of respect for former speakers. [1]
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is the Minnesota affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party. As of 2023, it controls four of Minnesota's eight U.S. House seats, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate, and all other statewide offices, including the governorship, making it the dominant party in the state.
William Paul Luther is an American politician and lawyer from Minnesota. Luther was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) member of the United States House of Representatives representing Minnesota's 6th congressional district from January 3, 1995, to January 3, 2003, serving four consecutive terms.
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The lieutenant governor of Minnesota is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the U.S. State of Minnesota. Fifty individuals have held the office of lieutenant governor since statehood. The incumbent is Peggy Flanagan, a DFLer and the first Native American elected to a statewide executive office in Minnesota's history.
John J. Marty is a member of the Minnesota Senate, representing District 40, which includes parts of Ramsey County in the northern Twin Cities metropolitan area. As a young state senator, he ran for governor of Minnesota in 1994. He won the DFL nomination and the Democratic primary but lost the general election to the incumbent governor, Arne Carlson. Marty ran for governor again in 2010, but withdrew from the race after failing to win his party's endorsement.
The secretary of state of Minnesota is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of government of the U.S. State of Minnesota. Twenty-two individuals have held the office of secretary of state since statehood. The incumbent is Steve Simon, a DFLer.
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The following table indicates the party of elected officials in the U.S. state of Minnesota:
The 1920 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 1920. Republican Party of Minnesota candidate J. A. O. Preus defeated Independent challenger's Henrik Shipstead and the Mayor of St. Paul, Laurence C. Hodgson. Shipstead narrowly lost to Preus in the Republican primary of that year and challenged him in the general, beating the Democratic nominee but coming far short of winning the general.
The 1912 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1912. Republican Party of Minnesota candidate Adolph Olson Eberhart defeated Democratic Party of Minnesota challenger Peter M. Ringdal.
Theodore J. "Ted" Winter is a Minnesota politician and a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from southwestern Minnesota. First elected in 1986 in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party's "firestorm" that swept through the region, giving Democrats unprecedented control of southwestern Minnesota for the next several election cycles, Winter served eight terms. He was re-elected in 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000. He represented the old District 28A and, later, District 22A, which included all or portions of Cottonwood, Jackson, Lyon, Murray, Nobles and Redwood counties, changing somewhat through redistricting in 1992.
The 1980 Minnesota House of Representatives election was held in the U.S. state of Minnesota on November 4, 1980, to elect members to the House of Representatives of the 72nd Minnesota Legislature. A primary election was held on September 9, 1980.
Dan Wolgamott is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Wolgamott represents District 14B in central Minnesota, which includes the city of St. Cloud and parts of Benton, Sherburne, and Stearns Counties.
The 1934 Minnesota State Auditor election was held on November 6, 1934, to elect the state auditor of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Incumbent Republican Stafford King won re-election to a second term. King was challenged by Farmer-Labor candidate John Lyons and Democratic candidate Patrick Delaney.
