List of speakers of the Minnesota House of Representatives

Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives
Incumbent Lisa Demuth since February 6, 2025
Term length	Two years, no term limit
Inaugural holder	John S. Watrous
Formation	December 2, 1857
Succession	Third
Website	http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/

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.

Territorial

#	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

State

#	Image	Speaker	Took office	Left office	Party/caucus	Notes	Session
1		John S. Watrous	2 December 1857	12 March 1858	Unknown	Further information: John S. Watrous Sources conflict on party	1st
2		George Bradley	12 March 1858	6 December 1859	Unknown	Further information: George Bradley (Minnesota politician) No sources proving or disproving any party affiliation
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 he 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	January 14, 2025	DFL		91st
							92nd
							93rd
—	—	—	January 14, 2025	February 6, 2025	Vacant	Lisa Demuth (Republican) was purportedly elected on the aforementioned date; the Minnesota Supreme Court invalidated her election, finding that the House did not have a quorum to transact the business of electing her	94th
62		Lisa Demuth	February 6, 2025	Incumbent	Republican	First African-American speaker, first biracial speaker, first female Republican Speaker. [1] [2]
Source: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library [3]

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.

Speaker Emeritus

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. ^[4]

See also

• List of Minnesota state legislatures

References

1. Dossetto, Grant (March 3, 2025). "House Speaker Representative Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring Named to USA Today's "Women of the Year" List". KNSI Radio. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
2. Fitzgerald, Kilat (February 6, 2025). "Rep. Demuth elected as first Black woman to serve as MN House Speaker". Fox 9 KMSP. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
3. "Speakers of the Minnesota House of Representatives, 1849-present". Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
4. Minnesota House Rules

External links

• List of speakers at Minnesota Legislative Library