Minnesota DemocraticâFarmerâLabor Party | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | DFL |
Chairperson | Ken Martin |
Governor | Tim Walz |
Lieutenant Governor | Peggy Flanagan |
Senate President | Bobby Joe Champion |
Senate Leader | Erin Murphy (politician) |
House Speaker | Melissa Hortman |
Founded | April 15, 1944 |
Merger of | Minnesota Democratic Party and Minnesota FarmerâLabor Party |
Headquarters | 255 Plato Boulevard East Saint Paul, Minnesota |
Youth wing | Minnesota Young DFL (MYDFL) |
Ideology |
Modern liberalism Progressivism |
National affiliation | Democratic Party |
Colors | Blue |
State Senate | 34 / 67 |
State House | 70 / 134 |
Statewide Executive Offices | 5 / 5 |
U.S. Senate | 2 / 2 |
U.S. House of Representatives | 4 / 8 |
Website | |
dfl | |
The Minnesota DemocraticâFarmerâLabor Party (DFL) [1] is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2024, it controls four of Minnesota's eight U.S. House seats, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate, and all other statewide offices, including the governorship, making it the dominant party in the state.
The party was formed by a merger between the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Minnesota FarmerâLabor Party in 1944. [2] The DFL is one of two state Democratic Party affiliates with a different name from that of the national party, the other being the North Dakota DemocraticâNonpartisan League Party.
The DFL was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the larger FarmerâLabor Party. [3] Leading the merger effort were Elmer Kelm, the head of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the founding chairman of the DFL; Elmer Benson, effectively the head of the FarmerâLabor Party by virtue of his leadership of its dominant left-wing faction; and rising star Hubert H. Humphrey, who chaired the Fusion Committee that accomplished the union and then went on to chair its first state convention. [4] By the party's second convention in 1946, tensions had re-emerged between members of the two former parties. While the majority of delegates supported left-wing policies, Humphrey managed to install a more conservative, anti-communist ally, Orville Freeman, as party secretary. [5] Some disaffected FarmerâLabor leaders such as Benson moved to the Progressive Party. [2]
Freeman was elected the state's first DFL governor in 1954. Important members of the party have included Humphrey and Walter Mondale, who each went on to be United States senators, vice presidents of the United States, and unsuccessful Democratic nominees for president; Eugene McCarthy, a U.S. senator who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968 as an anti-Vietnam War candidate; and Paul Wellstone, a U.S. senator from 1991 to 2002 who became an icon of populist progressivism. [6] The DFL has had varied success beginning in the late 1970s and through the late 2010s, in part due to the growth of single-issue splinter groups after reforms brought by the national party. [4]
After the 2022 Minnesota elections, the DFL became the dominant party in the state, retaining every executive office, winning majorities in the state House and Senate, and re-electing all incumbent Congressional Representatives. With their newly elected trifecta, the DFL pursued a progressive agenda in their first legislative session. Governor Tim Walz described the session as âthe most successful legislative session, certainly in many of our lifetimes and maybe in Minnesota history.â [7] The newly elected government passed large expansions in welfare programs and spending. Notable policies passed include the expansion of abortion rights, new programs to provide reproductive healthcare, protection of gender affirming care, [8] the legalization of recreational cannabis, indexing education spending to inflation, investments in public transit, and paid sick leave for Minnesota workers. [8] [9] Former President Barack Obama praised the state government's actions, saying that "Minnesota has made progress on a whole host of issues â from protecting abortion rights and new gun safety measures to expanding access to the ballot and reducing child poverty. These laws will make a real difference in the lives of Minnesotans." [10]
Democrats have held both of Minnesota's seats in the U.S. Senate since 2009:
Out of the eight seats Minnesota is apportioned in the U.S. House of Representatives, four are held by Democrats:
District | Member | Photo |
---|---|---|
2nd | Angie Craig | |
3rd | Dean Phillips | |
4th | Betty McCollum | |
5th | Ilhan Omar |
The DemocraticâFarmerâLabor Party controls all five of the elected statewide offices:
Minnesota DemocraticâFarmerâLabor Party | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | DFL |
Chairperson | Ken Martin |
Governor | Tim Walz |
Lieutenant Governor | Peggy Flanagan |
Senate President | Bobby Joe Champion |
Senate Leader | Erin Murphy (politician) |
House Speaker | Melissa Hortman |
Founded | April 15, 1944 |
Merger of | Minnesota Democratic Party and Minnesota FarmerâLabor Party |
Headquarters | 255 Plato Boulevard East Saint Paul, Minnesota |
Youth wing | Minnesota Young DFL (MYDFL) |
Ideology |
Modern liberalism Progressivism |
National affiliation | Democratic Party |
Colors | Blue |
State Senate | 34 / 67 |
State House | 70 / 134 |
Statewide Executive Offices | 5 / 5 |
U.S. Senate | 2 / 2 |
U.S. House of Representatives | 4 / 8 |
Website | |
dfl | |
The Minnesota DemocraticâFarmerâLabor Party (DFL) [1] is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2024, it controls four of Minnesota's eight U.S. House seats, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate, and all other statewide offices, including the governorship, making it the dominant party in the state.
The party was formed by a merger between the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Minnesota FarmerâLabor Party in 1944. [2] The DFL is one of two state Democratic Party affiliates with a different name from that of the national party, the other being the North Dakota DemocraticâNonpartisan League Party.
The DFL was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the larger FarmerâLabor Party. [3] Leading the merger effort were Elmer Kelm, the head of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the founding chairman of the DFL; Elmer Benson, effectively the head of the FarmerâLabor Party by virtue of his leadership of its dominant left-wing faction; and rising star Hubert H. Humphrey, who chaired the Fusion Committee that accomplished the union and then went on to chair its first state convention. [4] By the party's second convention in 1946, tensions had re-emerged between members of the two former parties. While the majority of delegates supported left-wing policies, Humphrey managed to install a more conservative, anti-communist ally, Orville Freeman, as party secretary. [5] Some disaffected FarmerâLabor leaders such as Benson moved to the Progressive Party. [2]
Freeman was elected the state's first DFL governor in 1954. Important members of the party have included Humphrey and Walter Mondale, who each went on to be United States senators, vice presidents of the United States, and unsuccessful Democratic nominees for president; Eugene McCarthy, a U.S. senator who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968 as an anti-Vietnam War candidate; and Paul Wellstone, a U.S. senator from 1991 to 2002 who became an icon of populist progressivism. [6] The DFL has had varied success beginning in the late 1970s and through the late 2010s, in part due to the growth of single-issue splinter groups after reforms brought by the national party. [4]
After the 2022 Minnesota elections, the DFL became the dominant party in the state, retaining every executive office, winning majorities in the state House and Senate, and re-electing all incumbent Congressional Representatives. With their newly elected trifecta, the DFL pursued a progressive agenda in their first legislative session. Governor Tim Walz described the session as âthe most successful legislative session, certainly in many of our lifetimes and maybe in Minnesota history.â [7] The newly elected government passed large expansions in welfare programs and spending. Notable policies passed include the expansion of abortion rights, new programs to provide reproductive healthcare, protection of gender affirming care, [8] the legalization of recreational cannabis, indexing education spending to inflation, investments in public transit, and paid sick leave for Minnesota workers. [8] [9] Former President Barack Obama praised the state government's actions, saying that "Minnesota has made progress on a whole host of issues â from protecting abortion rights and new gun safety measures to expanding access to the ballot and reducing child poverty. These laws will make a real difference in the lives of Minnesotans." [10]
Democrats have held both of Minnesota's seats in the U.S. Senate since 2009:
Out of the eight seats Minnesota is apportioned in the U.S. House of Representatives, four are held by Democrats:
District | Member | Photo |
---|---|---|
2nd | Angie Craig | |
3rd | Dean Phillips | |
4th | Betty McCollum | |
5th | Ilhan Omar |
The DemocraticâFarmerâLabor Party controls all five of the elected statewide offices: