Wellstone's Revenge: How Minnesota Democrats Took Their State Back

Minnesota's once-woebegone progressives have quietly crafted a road map for turning state capitols blue.

By Andy Kroll | Mother Jones, Thu Oct. 24, 2013 3:00 AM PDT

It was the Friday before Memorial Day, and nearly 50 of Minnesota's most powerful businessmen and Republican operatives met for lunch at the Town and Country Club, overlooking the Mississippi River in western St. Paul. They had gathered at the invitation of Tom Rosen [1], who runs the nation's fifth-largest beef-processing company, and Stan Hubbard [2], the billionaire media magnate who pioneered satellite television. Over Caesar salad and tomato-basil soup, Rosen, Hubbard, and their friends bemoaned the direction of their state. As one after another rose to speak, the tone was one of outrage and incredulity: "It's time we coordinate." "It's time we stand up and do something." "We're getting chewed up!"

How far has the GOP fallen from the days when Minnesota was Karl Rove's prime example for the cascade of blue states poised to turn red and create a permanent Republican majority? A decade ago, Tim Pawlenty [3] was governor, Norm Coleman had replaced the late Paul Wellstone in the US Senate, and Rove was touting Minnesota—which hadn't voted for a Republican president in 37 years [4]—as a battleground state. Today, Democrats control the state Legislature. They hold both US Senate seats, five of the state's eight congressional seats [5], and every constitutional office—governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, and state auditor. In November, they defeated ballot measures [6] to ban same-sex marriage and enact restrictive voter ID rules. And to top it all off, Rep. Michele Bachmann [7], the tea party torchbearer under investigation for ethics violations [8], announced in May that she would not seek reelection [9]. "If you look at the history of our party since 1944, we're at the apex of our political power," gushes Ken Martin [10], the chairman of what in Minnesota is known as the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party.

"[Wisconsin's] talking about transvaginal ultra-sounds and all that shit," says one Minnesota activist. "We're talking about raising taxes on the rich."

They've not been shy about using that power. Last spring, Gov. Mark Dayton signed bills legalizing gay marriage [11], creating Minnesota's Obamacare health insurance exchange [12], allowing public colleges to freeze tuition [13], and investing $174 million into pre-K and all-day kindergarten. Dayton and his Democratic colleagues erased a $627 million budget deficit [14] by hiking taxes on smokers, car rentals, and the wealthiest 2 percent of Minnesotans. At the same time, they cut property taxes for middle-class families [15]. It was the most liberal legislative session [16] anyone could remember—and a nightmare for the guests at Rosen and Hubbard's luncheon. "It was a big wake-up call," Hubbard told me in June at his St. Paul office, where a framed letter from Ronald Reagan hangs next to a replica of the Declaration of Independence.

(More here.)