MINNEAPOLIS — A special election Tuesday to replace a Minnesota lawmaker who was assassinated in June will determine control of the state House, with the outcome deciding whether a power-sharing arrangement continues or Republicans seize a narrow majority.
Democrat Xp Lee faces Republican Ruth Bittner in the contest to fill the Brooklyn Park-area seat once held by former House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who was fatally shot along with her husband on June 14. The attack, carried out by a man who impersonated a police officer, also wounded another legislator and his wife. Vance Boelter, 57, has been charged on federal and state counts including murder, attempted murder and other offenses in connection with the shootings.
The outcome will determine whether the House remains split 67-67, preserving a bipartisan power-sharing agreement negotiated after the 2024 elections, or flips to Republican control for the first time since 2018. A Lee victory would restore and maintain the 67-67 tie and the arrangements that governed most of the 2025 legislative session. An upset by Bittner would give Republicans the majority and potentially strengthen their leverage in negotiations with Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and a Senate controlled by Democrats by a single vote.
Hortman brokered the power-sharing deal earlier this year, ending a three-week Democratic boycott of the House. As part of the agreement, Hortman relinquished her six-year tenure as speaker and allowed Republican Lisa Demuth to assume the gavel, while Hortman took the honorary title of speaker emerita. Under the arrangement, many committees were evenly split between the parties and run by co-chairs, requiring bipartisan agreement to advance legislation.
Lee, a former Brooklyn Park City Council member, easily won a three-way Democratic primary in August. Bittner, a real estate agent, was the only Republican on the primary ballot in the heavily Democratic district. Both candidates have said political violence and heightened tensions in the aftermath of recent shootings have influenced their campaigns. Lee told voters he seeks to calm a “charged atmosphere” after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah last Wednesday. Bittner said the violence briefly gave her pause about running but that “there’s no way to solve this problem if we shrink back in fear.”
The special election is one of three statewide contests that could affect the Legislature’s balance in coming weeks. On Nov. 4, Minnesota will hold two more special elections for state Senate seats: one to replace Democratic Sen. Nicole Mitchell of Woodbury, who resigned after a July conviction in a burglary case, and another to fill the seat of Republican Sen. Bruce Anderson of Buffalo, who died in July. Both districts are seen as safely aligned with their respective parties, so the Senate’s partisan control is not widely expected to change.
Democratic state Rep. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger of Woodbury is the candidate running to succeed Mitchell in the Senate. If she wins, Gov. Walz would be required to call a separate special election to fill her House seat, creating a potential cascade of contests that could affect the Legislature’s working margins.
The race in Brooklyn Park has drawn attention beyond Minnesota because of its immediate implications for governing arrangements at the State Capitol and as a barometer of voter attitudes in the wake of political violence. Officials and candidates have urged civility and cautioned against partisan escalation as voters decide who will occupy the seat for the remainder of the term.
The special election follows an unusually turbulent period for Minnesota politics: the June killings of Hortman and her husband, the survival of another legislator and his spouse, and the subsequent criminal charges filed against Boelter. Authorities have continued to investigate the incidents and pursue prosecutions in state and federal courts. Coverage of the campaign and any legal developments is expected to continue after polls close Tuesday.