Minnesota DFL flips House, widens Senate majority and retakes trifecta
Democrats flipped the Minnesota House and widened their Senate majority in the Nov. 3 election, ending a 67-67 tie and restoring the DFL’s state trifecta.
The Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party won majorities in both chambers in the Nov. 3 election in the Minnesota Legislature, achieving a trifecta in state government.
At the end of the 2026 legislative session, the Minnesota House was tied 67-67 with no party majority. Democrats won 77 seats to 57 for Republicans, flipping 10, according to Associated Press results reported Wednesday afternoon.
The results are unofficial, and recounts are expected in some close races. Republican Austin Peterson leads Sen. Rob Kupec (DFL-Moorhead) by four votes in Senate District 4, and Rep. Nolan West (R-Blaine) leads Democrat Amanda Matchett by 22 votes in House District 32A. Both races qualify for publicly funded recounts.
Before the election, Democrats held a one-seat majority in the Senate, which has ebbed and flowed between both parties over the last several election cycles. Preliminary results show Democrats expanding that majority to 39-28.
Every seat in both chambers was up for election.
Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan political analysis project at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, rated both the Minnesota House and Senate as two of the 15 most competitive legislative chambers in the country.
This is the first statewide election in Minnesota since the politically motivated spree shooting that killed former House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and her husband and wounded state Sen. John Hoffman (DFL-Champlin) and his wife on June 14, 2025. Minnesotans, especially Minneapolis residents, are also still reeling from Operation Metro Surge earlier this year.
With U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s election as governor, Democrats have also regained a trifecta at the state level.
Incumbent Secretary of State Steve Simon (DFL) won re-election and Attorney General Keith Ellison (DFL) won reelection for attorney general, so Democrats keep all three of the state’s top executive offices, known as a triplex.
The Minnesota Legislature last met in May. The next legislative session begins Jan. 12, 2027.
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