Minnesota congressional candidate proposed giving away most of his state to South Dakota

Jeremy Munson, running for Minnesota’s 1^st U.S. Congressional district, previously co-wrote a bill to allow most of the state to secede to South Dakota.

The Minnesota House of Representatives gave the bill, HF 2423, its first reading almost exactly a year ago. The bill would allow any county in the state to secede from Minnesota.

On March 25 of last year, the day the 23B district representative introduced HF 2423, Munson tweeted a link for a petition “to allow MN counties to join a State [sic] that respects Freedom and Liberty [sic].”

The link in his tweet is no longer functional. But in an archived snapshot, the petition notes, “State lines have been relocated many times throughout American history.” It claims the purpose of having individual state lines is to allow for “the opportunity for state governance to vary according to the culture of a local area.”

Munson’s tweet included an image showing almost the entire state joined with South Dakota; only a small sliver east of St. Paul would remain as Minnesota. The new South Dakota would also reach more north than current North Dakota does. Both South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s gubernatorial and personal accounts were tagged.

Petition to allow MN counties to join a State that respects Freedom and Libertyhttps://t.co/a3TA9E32Vi
four-step process:
✔️ Pass HF2423 by the #mnleg
✔️ MN Voters allow Counties to leave
✔️Counties vote to join neighboring State
✔️ Congress approves pic.twitter.com/S8KwWRv1fA

— Jeremy Munson (@jeremymunson) March 25, 2021

Noem appeared to endorse Munson’s plan, tweeting “In South Dakota, we roll out the red carpet for people who love personal responsibility and Freedom.”

HF 2423 requires an amendment the state constitution which lays out a process for any county to be excluded from the territory of Minnesota and be incorporated into a neighboring state.

First, the county board would have to pass a measure to leave Minnesota. County voters, during a state general election, would have to answer “yes” on the question of secession from Minnesota. Both votes must pass by a two-thirds majority. If it does, the issue would then go to the U.S. Congress.

If Congress approves, the state legislature would take up the issue. Upon passage by two-thirds of both chambers, state voters would get their say in the next state general election. The measure of secession would again have to pass by a two-thirds majority.

The Minnesota House has not taken any other action on HF 2423 since its first reading last year. Munson is running to occupy the seat recently vacated by Jim Hagedorn, who died of kidney cancer in February.