Minnesota House of Representatives election, 1980

Minnesota House of Representatives election, 1980
All 134 seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives ; 68 seats needed for a majority
Speaker before election; Fred Norton ; DFL	Elected Speaker ; Harry Sieben ; DFL

Last updated April 25, 2019

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.

In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders. Four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names.

Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and northern regions of the United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858, created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory. The state has a large number of lakes, and is known by the slogan the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". Its official motto is L'Étoile du Nord.

Minnesota House of Representatives lower house of the state legislature of Minnesota, USA

The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, exactly twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Paul. Offices for members and staff, as well as most committee hearings, are located in the nearby State Office Building.

The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is a center-left political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is affiliated with the U.S. Democratic Party. Formed by a merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the left-wing Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party in 1944, the DFL is one of only two state Democratic party affiliates of a different name.

The Republican Party of Minnesota is a conservative political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is affiliated with the United States Republican Party.

Background

The last election resulted in the DFL and Independent-Republicans winning an equal number of seats. Under an agreement reached between the two parties, the Republicans would be given the speakership, the chairs of the divisions of the appropriations and tax committees, and a one-vote majority on the divisions of the tax committee. The DFL would be given the chairs and a one-vote majority on the rules and tax committees as well as the chair of the appropriations committee.^[1] The chairs and membership of the remaining committees would be equally divided.^[2]

This arrangement would last until the end of the legislative session in May 1979, when the DFL obtained a majority after the House removed Republican member Bob Pavlak from office on a straight party-line vote, declaring that he violated the Minnesota Fair Campaign Practices Act and therefore was not legally elected.^[3] Pavlak was legally barred from voting on matters relating to his contested election, allowing the motion to remove him to pass. Pavlak ran in the resulting special election for his former seat held on June 19, 1979, losing to DFL candidate Frank Rodriguez.^[4]

Robert L. "Bob" Pavlak, Sr. was an American police officer and politician.

After obtaining a majority, the DFL caucus voted to support caucus leader Irv Anderson to be speaker. However, some DFL members who felt were punished by Anderson "for prior policy disagreements or for personal reasons by denying them the committee positions in 1979 that they had expected by virtue of experience and geography" were opposed to electing him speaker.^[5] A group of 26 DFL members, led by Gordon Voss and Fred Norton, formed a coalition with the Republicans, electing Norton speaker in 1980.^[2]

Irvin Neil Anderson was a Minnesota politician and member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1965 to 1983, and again from 1991 to 2007.

Gordon Owen Voss was an American politician and mechanical engineer.

Fred C. Norton was a Minnesota politician, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, a Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and a judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

Results

Summary of the November 4, 1980 Minnesota House of Representatives election results
Party		Candidates	Votes	Seats
Party		Candidates	Votes	No.	∆No.	%
	Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party	122	900,218	70	2	52.24
	Independent-Republicans of Minnesota	121	924,863	64	2	47.76
	Independent	5	11,344	0		0.00
	Write-in	1	1,841	0		0.00
Total				134	±0	100.00
Turnout (out of 2,882,406 eligible voters)^[6]		2,079,411	72.14%		14.19 pp
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State,^[7] Minnesota Legislative Reference Library^[8]

Aftermath

Although Irv Anderson was the leader of the DFL caucus, DFL representative Harry Sieben sought the support of the DFL caucus to be speaker. Believing that Anderson would have trouble leading a divided caucus following the election of Fred Norton as speaker, Sieben convinced Anderson to support him. Sieben and Norton tied on the first ballot, each receiving 35 votes. After two more ballots, Sieben won the unanimous support of the caucus.^[9]

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References

↑ "Searle, Sr., Rodney Newell "Rod"". Legislators Past & Present. Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
1 2 Hanson 1989, p. 72.
↑ "Minn. H.J., 71st Leg., Reg. Sess. pp. 2577–78 (1979)" (PDF). Journal of the House. Minnesota House of Representatives. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
↑ "Minnesota Legislative Manual 1979–1980" (PDF). Minnesota Secretary of State. p. 2. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
↑ Hanson 1989, p. 62.
↑ "Minnesota election statistics 1950-2014" (PDF). Minnesota Secretary of State . Retrieved August 13, 2016.
↑ "Minnesota Election Results 1980" (PDF). Minnesota Secretary of State. pp. 8–103. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
↑ "Party Control of the Minnesota House of Representatives, 1951-present". Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
↑ Hanson 1989, p. 73.

Bibliography

Hanson, Royce (1989). Tribune of the People: The Minnesota Legislature and Its Leadership. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0816617902. OCLC 20012294.

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[1] "Searle, Sr., Rodney Newell "Rod"". Legislators Past & Present. Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. Retrieved November 15, 2015.

[FOOTNOTEHanson198972-2] 1 2 Hanson 1989, p. 72.

[3] "Minn. H.J., 71st Leg., Reg. Sess. pp. 2577–78 (1979)" (PDF). Journal of the House. Minnesota House of Representatives. Retrieved November 15, 2015.

[4] "Minnesota Legislative Manual 1979–1980" (PDF). Minnesota Secretary of State. p. 2. Retrieved November 16, 2015.

[FOOTNOTEHanson198962-5] Hanson 1989, p. 62.

[6] "Minnesota election statistics 1950-2014" (PDF). Minnesota Secretary of State . Retrieved August 13, 2016.

[7] "Minnesota Election Results 1980" (PDF). Minnesota Secretary of State. pp. 8–103. Retrieved November 1, 2015.

[8] "Party Control of the Minnesota House of Representatives, 1951-present". Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. Retrieved November 2, 2015.

[FOOTNOTEHanson198973-9] Hanson 1989, p. 73.