Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee, speaks on the House floor on April 4, 2024. Photo by Andrew VonBank/House Session Daily.
A Scott County judge ruled Tuesday that DFL Rep. Brad Tabke of Shakopee won reelection in a contested election case that has major ramifications for the partisan balance of the state House.
Tabke won in November by 14 votes, but in the process of auditing the election, Scott County staff discovered that 20 absentee ballots cast in the city of Shakopee were missing. Tabke’s Republican opponent in the House District 54A race, Aaron Paul, sued Tabke and requested a special election.
During the trial, six voters whose ballots had been accidentally discarded testified and said they had cast their votes for Tabke.
In her ruling, District Court Judge Tracy Perzel found that the missing ballots, if counted, would not have changed the election outcome, and denied Paul’s request for a special election. She also ruled that there was no “deliberate, serious or material” violations of Minnesota election law.
Republicans, who currently have a one-vote advantage over Democrats in the House, have said they will refuse to seat Tabke regardless of the judge’s ruling in the case. (The state Constitution grants the House the power to seat — or not seat — its own members.)
The ruling came down early in the morning on the first day of the 2025 legislative session. With Republicans threatening not to seat Tabke, Democrats say they will not show up to session, using the extraordinary political tactic of “denying quorum” — i.e. skipping out on the session so there aren’t enough people left to make decisions — to prevent Republicans from icing out Tabke.
By refusing to seat Tabke, Republicans would hope to force Gov. Tim Walz to call a special election, giving the GOP a shot at a true, 68-seat majority by beating Tabke in a do-over.
GOP House leader Lisa Demuth criticized the ruling Tuesday and said members of her party would “evaluate this lengthy ruling and consider options in the coming days.”
The top Democrat in the house, Rep. Melissa Hortman of Brooklyn Park, said Monday that if the judge rules that Tabke can be seated and Republicans prevent him from doing so, House Democrats would take legal action.
