Tabke wins Shakopee-area legislative race after recount, House control still unknown

In a race that could determine control of the Minnesota House, state Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee, has won reelection after narrowly defeating Republican challenger Aaron Paul by 15 votes after election officials recounted thousands of votes by hand on Thursday. The results are unofficial because 4 ballots are still in dispute. Tabke’s margin of victory widened by one vote from an earlier count. 

A lawyer representing Paul suggested that he may challenge the results in court but said he wants to discuss the matter with Paul first. Paul asked for the recount after election officials rescanned thousands of ballots days after the election because they discovered a ballot screening malfunction. Election officials are also investigating the loss of 21 physical absentee ballots.

Scott County elections officials spent Thursday hand counting thousands of ballots under the watchful eyes of campaign representatives for Tabke and Paul. As election judges sorted and reviewed ballots at eight different tables, partisan representatives disagreed four times with the election judges’ assessment. 

Those so-called challenged ballots will be reviewed on Monday when the Scott County Canvassing Board meets to certify the election.

Tabke’s victory means there’s an even greater likelihood that Republicans and Democrats will share power in the Minnesota House. After this month’s election, the two parties won 67 seats each pending recounts in Scott County and another legislative race in Sherburne County. 

Reid LeBeau, an attorney representing the Minnesota House Republican Campaign Committee, said he had concerns about the 21 absentee ballots missing in the contest. And he said Paul would seriously consider contesting the election result given the county still had not accounted for them in the recount.

“It should be concerning, I think, to everyone, that there are votes that are not only missing, but in this case, there are votes that are missing that will decide who holds this seat. And I think there are a lot of questions to be answered,” LaBeau said. “We certainly have a lot of them, and we intend to aggressively pursue the answers to those questions of relief from the court as appropriate.”

Rep. Dan Wolgamott, DFL-St. Cloud, currently leads Republican Sue Ek by 191 in the House District 14B race by 191 votes. Sherburne County election officials will hold a recount in that race on Monday. 

Historically, hand recounts don’t result in a meaningful change in votes because the scanning machines are very accurate. As the recount was occurring, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders met to discuss their plans for the upcoming session. Since Democrats will no longer control the House, there will have to be bipartisan agreement to pass a two-year budget next year. 

Current Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman said they focused on areas where they can cooperate when lawmakers return in January. She said the voters still elected a Democratic majority in St. Paul.

“We will continue to try to work as collaboratively as we can as Republicans, with Republicans across the board. But there’s shared power in the house, and there is a majority in the Senate, a clear majority.”

Democrats hold a one seat majority in the state Senate. The Legislature is scheduled to convene on Jan. 14. 

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