Democrat XP Lee wins Minnesota House special election to replace assassinated leader

MINNEAPOLIS AP Democrat Xp Lee won a special voting Tuesday to fill the Minnesota House seat of a top Democratic leader who was assassinated restoring a - tie and preserving a power-sharing deal that has forced both parties to work together Rep Melissa Hortman of Brooklyn Park held the seat until her death in June Lee is a former Brooklyn Park City Council member He defeated Republican real estate agent Ruth Bittner in the heavily Democratic district Lee promised he would work hard every day to honor Hortman s legacy We did our best to make her proud knocking on doors daily making phone calls and texting every neighbor we could Lee commented in a achievement declaration Lee s win maintains a power-sharing arrangement that existed for the greater part of the legislative session after the elections cost House Democrats their majority Related Walz s urgency to act on gun violence runs into political reality in divided Legislature Former House Speaker Hortman brokered that agreement which ended Democrats three-week boycott Under the deal she agreed to end her six-year tenure as speaker and let Republican Lisa Demuth take the position Hortman then took the title speaker emerita The greater part legislative committees became evenly split between Republican and Democratic members with co-chairs from each party The tie in the House meant several level of bipartisan agreement was required to pass anything in this year s session Local race with national interest In an indication of the national interest in the race Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin explained Lee s commitment to expanding access to teaching affordable wellness care and good-paying jobs honors the legacy of Hortman Across Minnesota our hearts are still broken by the horrific assassination that stole Melissa and her husband Mark Martin who formerly chaired the state Democratic Party declared in a report Political violence is a scourge that has taken far too countless lives Enough is enough It must end now And in every incident each of us has a responsibility to condemn and reject political violence wherever it rears its head Hortman s newly elected successor as the top Democrat in the Minnesota House Rep Zack Stephenson revealed Lee s triumph restores their caucus to full strength ahead of a anticipated special session that Gov Tim Walz wants to call to address school safeguard and gun violence following a shooting at a church last month that left two students dead and people injured That means we ll prioritize the safety of our kids instead of access to weapons of war and we ll make our business activity work better for all Minnesotans not just the billionaires Stephenson who was a close ally of Hortman mentioned in a declaration The vote to replace Hortman came about three months after she and her husband were gunned down in their home by a man impersonating a police officer in Brooklyn Park a suburb northwest of Minneapolis Another legislator and his wife also were shot but survived Vance Boelter faces federal and state murder attempted murder and other charges in the June attacks Tuesday s special ballot also follows another act of political violence the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah last Wednesday The shootings have been a concern among voters in the district and for both candidates Lee disclosed last week that he wants to calm the charged atmosphere in the wake of Kirk s death Bittner noted the violence briefly gave her pause about running for office but she concluded that there s no way to solve this issue if we shrink back in fear More special elections in Minnesota coming up Two more special elections will be held Nov in a pair of Minnesota Senate districts One is to fill the seat vacated by Democratic Sen Nicole Mitchell of the St Paul suburb of Woodbury She resigned in July after she was convicted of burglarizing her estranged stepmother s home The other is for the seat of Republican Sen Bruce Anderson of the Minneapolis exurb of Buffalo who died in July Given that the districts are heavily Democratic and heavily Republican respectively control of the Senate isn t expected to change But the Democratic candidate for Mitchell s seat is state Rep Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger of Woodbury If she wins the governor will have to call another special electoral process to fill her House seat The post Democrat XP Lee wins Minnesota House special referendum to replace assassinated leader appeared first on MinnPost