A crucial, vacant Minnesota House seat will finally be filled next week

The Minnesota House seat that gummed up the Legislature’s start simply by sitting empty gets filled a week from Tuesday in a special election that carries high stakes for where the session goes from here.

On the ballot are DFLer David Gottfried and Republican Paul Wikstrom. But voters in House District 40B, which includes parts of Roseville and Shoreview, will be deciding far more in balloting that closes on March 11.

The result will determine whether Republicans hang on to control of the House and gain a 68th vote, which is the threshold to pass bills. Or it could leave the major political parties tied, which would force an unusual amount of cooperation to get anything done this year.

Special elections tend to have low turnout so the parties focus on people they know to be reliable voters and less so on the occasional voters. While the district tends to back Democrats, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee isn’t taking chances. The national campaign group said in January it would direct $100,000 to the House DFL as it shines a spotlight on the race.

Absentee voting began Feb. 21, with in-person early voting running through March 10.

The race is playing out through mailers, door-to-door canvassers and digital ads.

In one, Wikstrom said he would “bring balanced representation to our Minnesota state government.” 

Gottfried’s campaign is working to make the race a referendum on the uncertainty of President Donald Trump’s federal cuts that have marked the start of his second term. 

Wikstrom ran for the seat in 2024 and handily lost to Democratic opponent Curtis Johnson in November. Johnson’s 65 percent made him the representative-in-waiting and left the Minnesota House in a 67-67 seat tie.

But then came a challenge that would upend Johnson’s victory and the power balance.

Volunteers on Wikstrom’s campaign said they learned Johnson did not properly live within the district and started surveilling him coming and going from his home outside the district in Little Canada and an apartment in the district. Court testimony and video evidence was enough to convince a Ramsey County judge in December to rule the Democrat did not properly live in the district and shouldn’t be able to take office. 

Johnson did not appeal the ruling and it meant a new Democrat had to step up. 

“As more and more evidence came out, I knew I had to be ready,” said Gottfried, the new Democrat in the race. Gottfried made way for Johnson after losing the DFL endorsement to him earlier last year. 

‘Paul who?’

Meanwhile, Wikstrom said the many twists and turns following November helped raise awareness around him and what’s at stake in the Minnesota House. 

“Last fall it was ‘Paul who?’” Wikstrom said about first running for the seat. “The name recognition and awareness now is very high.”

Wikstrom, 62, unsuccessfully ran for Mounds View School Board in 2023. He is an engineer by day. He said he wants to bring his management and “problem-solving skills” to the Legislature. 

DFL Gov. Tim Walz initially set a special election date for late January. But the Supreme Court said he did not properly follow state law and called that race off. It was rescheduled for mid-March, meaning Republicans had a one-seat advantage until then.

While the seat has historically been a safe one for Democrats, Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth said the added attention helps their odds. 

“Paul Wikstrom has lived in the district, and he didn't lie to the voters of the district,” Demuth said. “The attention that race got because of the governor prematurely calling it [has] brought even more attention.”

Rep. Jamie Long, a member of House DFL leadership, said he is confident the special election will result in a tie and Republicans are playing politics with their temporary power.

“[It] seems like the Republicans are pretending like they have the votes to pass things when they don’t,” Long said. “They’re putting things up on the floor that aren’t going to pass and that are partisan in nature.”

Trump a factor

Gottfried, 32, works at a law firm and said public policy has “always been a passion” of his. He said he would work with Republicans if he’s elected but would not make some compromises. 

For instance, he said he would oppose a GOP effort to delay the implementation of a paid family leave plan that was passed under full DFL control. 

“There are certain issues where [Republicans] are trying to take away things that will help Minnesotans in a time when so much is going to be stripped away from Minnesotans because of the actions of the federal government,” Gottfried said.

Gottfried said he’s hearing a lot of concern from voters about Trump being back in office.

“We’re at the point now where you just fasten your seatbelt and see what we can hang onto for four years,” said voter Charlie Ryan told Gottfried on a recent Wednesday while he was door knocking. “It’s just beyond comprehension sometimes some of the things that come out every day.”

At the doors he goes to, Wikstrom hears about issues Republicans are pressing at the Capitol. That includes the importance of fighting fraud in government programs. 

“That would be my number one thing,” voter Doran Dolton told Wikstrom. 

Wikstrom stresses the need to work in a bipartisan way and regularly brings up the Republican bills that address fraud. 

“I would assert that the fraud in the state is a cancer, and we need to address that,” Wikstrom said. “We need leaders who are going to step up and address the fraud and turn the state in a better direction.”

The winner could be seated within a week or so of the election, which falls at the midway point of the session that must conclude by May 19.

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