Global Courant 2023-04-29 16:00:00
When Minnesota Democrats won the majority back in the Senate last fall, they achieved the dream: a trifecta of control over the legislature and the governor’s office.
They weren’t the only ones. Democrats did the same in Maryland, Massachusetts and Michigan, while Republicans failed nana any new trifecta in the 2022 election.
But it is Minnesota that is drawing attention as a laboratory for using that power effectively to achieve forward-thinking policy priorities.
Nearly four months into the legislature, Democrats in the state have already moved to protect abortion rights, legalize recreational marijuana and restrict access to guns. access to gender-affirming and other medical care is limited elsewhere.
“These (policies) are things that have a direct and clear impact on improving people’s lives,” said US Senator Tina Smith, D-Minn. And that’s what Minnesotans are looking for. They are looking for evidence – much like voters at the national level – that the government they elect can deliver results for them.”
Interviews with a dozen federal and state legislators in Minnesota, as well as progressive activists in the state and across the country, paint a picture of a state entirely controlled by Democrats that has provided protections for important democratic social issues such as abortion and LGBTQ rights, while maintaining a robust economy and low crime—two issues that allies say simultaneously help curb conservative narratives about democratically-run cities.
And unlike in Michigan — another swing state where Democrats, also fresh from winning a trifecta, have used that power to advance party priorities such as abortion rights and gun safety – the sheer breadth and amount of policies already or soon to be enacted in the Minnesota legislature provides a much more complete example of democratic ideals right now, those officials and lawyers said.
“When you look at what’s possible with a trifecta, look at Minnesota,” said Daniel Squadron, executive director of The States Project, a left-wing group working to build Democratic majorities in state legislatures.
“Less than 90 days into the new year, they’ve done more things than just a quote let me list to improve people’s lives,” he said.
Supporters also say the performance of Minnesota Democrats could provide clues to how the party can effectively message critical issues entering the 2024 cycle.
“This is not about blocking democratic priorities. These are proven things that improve people’s lives,” Democratic Governor Tim Walz said in an interview, adding that his party’s policy goals so far “are to not allow our people to be demonized because of ” Republicans who want to wage war on social problems.”
Squadron said, “It will not only benefit the people of Minnesota, but the rest of the country as well.”
“Minnesota is the model”
Just over halfway through their legislative session, Minnesota lawmakers have already passed or advanced measures that touch nearly every area of the Democratic Party platform, including policies on reproductive rights, democracy, voting, green energy, and LGBTQ protections.
Weeks after their sessions began, Democrats in the legislature moved to enshrine abortion rights into law, making Minnesota the first state to do so this year. The state still restricts the procedure after a fetus is determined to be viable — usually around 24 weeks — but the restrictions to stay ordered.
Abortion rights advocates have touted the new law as particularly crucial for pregnant women in states bordering Minnesota — such as Wisconsin, South Dakota and North Dakota — where abortion remains illegal after the Supreme Court rejected Roe v. Wade.
In addition, state Democrats passed what proponents have called the largest vote extension in the state in decades. The bill, which Walz signed last month, restored voting rights to people who were detained once they had served their sentence – a measure expected to affect nearly 60,000 people. Previously, people who had once served time in prison only regained those rights after going through years of probation.
And this month, the state House passed what Democrats called another “pro-voter” bill would institute automatic voter registration and pre-registration for 16 and 17 year olds. It would also limit the spending of so-called dark money in state and local races. The Senate is expected to pass the accompanying bill, and Walz has vowed to sign it.
In addition, Democrats are in the legislature on de verge of passing laws that would to expand background checks for gun purchases, along with a “red flag” measure that would make it easier for officials to take guns away from people perceived as a threat to themselves or others.
Lawmakers are also about to pass a bill that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
Meanwhile, lawmakers increased school funding, including introducing a program that provides a universal breakfast and lunch for every student in the state, regardless of income; set up a program setting new targets for green energy, in particular requiring utilities to offer customers carbon-free electricity by 2040; and comprehensive public childcare support programs.
In the coming weeks, they are expected to promote legislation on the matter would to expand paid family and sick leave of up to 12 weeks.
“States are really these places where policies can take place, be copied by other states, and eventually become national,” said Jeff Blodgett, a Democratic strategist based in St. Paul.
“And right now, Minnesota is the model for that,” he said.
The state house Has too dadssd a first-of-its-kind interstate transgender refuge bill that would effectively create programs to help transgender people seeking gender-affirming health care who are banned or prevented from receiving such care in conservative states. Senate leaders have indicated they will also submit it, and Walz has said he will sign it.
“There are policy areas on the horizon — areas where we will have to be champions for people,” Walz said. “I don’t just say that to Minnesotans. We will have to become champions of the country.”
Progressive activists have celebrated not only the quality and breadth of policies passed by the Minnesota legislature, but the sheer volume. In fact, according to an analysis by The States Project, the legislature passed more bills in the first 11 weeks of the current session than in the same time frame of any session since 2010.
Democratic activists said the legislature has emerged as a laboratory for progressive policies and urged national Democrats to tout state performance as a model of what the party can do when united.
“It’s very important to have a lab,” said Kari Moe, a Democratic adviser who was chief of staff to Paul Wellstone, the late Minnesota senator who was an icon for progressives.
“It says: we can pass legislation that seems a bridge too far in other states. And it’s especially valuable for a state like Minnesota,” she said. “We’re not Massachusetts. Minnesota is still very moderate culturally as an entire state in many ways.
Comparing Minnesota to Michigan — another state where Democrats have regained a trifecta — Moe said Minnesota’s agenda “extends beyond all the other states that currently have Democratic trifectas.”
“They’ve identified all the right issues, one by one, where they need to go,” she said. “And then they moved on.”
Conversely, political viewers note that trifectas can also go too far. A “real live experimentin Kansas of an unfettered conservative economic policy introduced 10 years ago by Republican Governor Sam Brownback and his GOP-controlled legislature created a deficit Soxspectacular that the state had serious doubts about whether it could fund the basic elements of public education and other essential services.
The fallout from that policy lingers in Kansas and has armed the Democrats — who won the governorship in 2018 and retained it last year, even though Republican voters outnumbered them almost 2 to 1 – with years of resonant criticism and coverage.
Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has a likely presidential candidate for 2024 faced with similar qto ask tacked with his own GOP trifecta in recent weeks. DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban into law, and he has taken a stand against Disney, one of the state’s largest employers.
Democrats are more hopeful about Minnesota, with many of them pointing out that key policies — abortion rights and gun safety — enjoy strong support in state and national public polls.
“It is no exaggeration to protect reproductive rights. It’s not an exaggeration to do those things,” said Walz, the governor.
State officials nonetheless warned that the wave of enthusiasm could still explode if implementation doesn’t go smoothly.
“Implementing this stuff is the challenge now, and lawmakers need to get involved in that part of it all as well,” said Blodgett, the strategist who worked as campaign manager for Wellstone and was the state campaign manager for both President Barack Obama’s elections.
“But if they pull that off, I think, when it’s all said and done, this really has the potential to be seen as a huge success story,” he said, “particularly among the progressive ranks of the party.”
