Democrats win control of Minnesota Senate

Democratic candidate Doron Clark is projected to win a special election for a vacant Minnesota Senate seat, giving Democrats control of the upper chamber, according to Decision Desk HQ.

Clark, who works at health care technology company Medtronic, defeated Republican candidate and software engineer Abigail Wolters for Senate District 60. The district includes portions of northeastern Minneapolis.

The vacancy was prompted after former Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic (DFL) died of cancer last month, bringing partisan control of the state Senate to a 33-33 tie.

The Minnesota House is also experiencing a tie of 67-67 after a judge ruled that a Democratic candidate didn’t meet residency requirements for a seat he had won. Democrats were expected to have a 68-67 edge, but that development brought the state House back to a split.

The parties have been at a loggerheads over how to conduct business in the Minnesota House. The state’s Supreme Court recently ruled, however, that the House needs 68 members present in order to conduct business – meaning Republicans couldn’t elect their own Speaker and conduct business without Democrats.

Democrats are continuing to boycott the session until both parties come to a power-sharing agreement in the state House.