Minnesota House Democrats Boycott First Day of Session

Minnesota’s new legislative session began chaotically on Tuesday as House Democrats refused to show up at the State Capitol for the opening day amid an escalating dispute with Republicans over control of the chamber.

Shortly after noon, the state’s secretary of state, Steve Simon, a Democrat, declared that the House lacked the minimum number of lawmakers needed to conduct business.

Republicans ignored him and swore in their House leader, Representative Lisa Demuth, as speaker.

“I am deeply humbled by the trust that you have placed in me,” Ms. Demuth told colleagues.

In a statement, House Democrats called the move outrageous and unlawful. “Everything that has happened after adjournment is a sham,” the party said in a statement on social media.

In St. Paul, the new legislative session marks a return to divided government after two years in which Democrats controlled the governor’s mansion along with the House and Senate. The acrimony on Tuesday underscored the challenges that Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, is facing on his return to Minnesota after he spent part of last year campaigning to be vice president.

Under Minnesota law, the House must have at least 68 members present to legislate. House Republicans began the year with a one-seat majority, which is expected to last no more than a couple of weeks.

After the election in November, the House was evenly split, with each party controlling 67 seats. But a judge ruled last month that one of the newly elected Democrats, Curtis Johnson, had not met the residency requirements to run for office.

At a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, Representative Melissa Hortman, the top Democrat in the House, said her members intended to stay away from the capital until the special election is held late this month.

“The will of the voters on election night was an equally divided House of Representatives, and we know we’re going to return to that,” she said. Ms. Hortman called the attempt by Republicans to start the new legislative session despite lacking a quorum a “sham proceeding.”

A special election for that seat is scheduled to be held on Jan. 28. Mr. Johnson won his race by more than 30 percentage points, and Democrats are widely expected to win the seat again.

Anticipating a split chamber this year, Democrats have been trying to negotiate a power-sharing agreement with Republicans.

Party leaders have also been at odds in recent days over control of a second seat narrowly won by Representative Brad Tabke, a Democrat, in November. Republicans called his victory into question after it became clear that some 20 ballots cast in the race had been discarded before being tallied and demanded a special election.

But a judge on Tuesday ruled that there was clear evidence that Mr. Tabke won the race and rejected the request to hold a new vote.

Across the country, legislators from both parties have used boycotts over the years. In 2011, Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin fled to Illinois in an attempt to scuttle a vote on a law that stripped collective bargaining rights from most government workers. And last month in Michigan, in the final days of Democratic control of the Statehouse, Republicans and one Democrat boycotted the session, leaving the majority party unable to pass several bills.

Mitch Smith contributed reporting.