Sen. Doran Clark sworn in, restoring DFL 34-seat majority; leaders pledge weekly cross‑aisle talks
Loading...
Summary
Sen. Doran Clark was sworn in to represent Senate District 60, returning the DFL to a 34-seat majority in the Minnesota Senate. Senate President Bobby Joe Champion said leaders will continue weekly meetings with Republican colleagues and work toward a balanced budget amid federal uncertainty.
Senator Doran Clark, newly elected from Senate District 60, was sworn in at a Minnesota Senate event that restored the DFL to a 34-seat majority in the chamber.
Senate President Bobby Joe Champion said the DFL and Republican members have agreed to continue working across the aisle and that he and Republican leaders will meet regularly. "Senator Johnson and I have agreed, to a weekly get together, which I think is gonna be the continuation of the work that we have been doing over these last number of weeks," Champion said.
Clark said he was "honored to be part of the senate" and paid tribute to the late senator Carrie Dietzic, whom he described as "a friend to all in Northeast, Southeast, and city to Riverside." Clark said he was grateful to the residents of those neighborhoods for electing him and that he would "work my hardest to meet their expectations."
Champion framed the return to a 34-seat DFL caucus as both an opportunity and a responsibility. He said the majority's approach will include operational gestures to reduce surprises between parties: he described weekly meetings with the DFL lead on jobs and economic development and said he had made an "intentional decision" to meet weekly with Senator Dreherme, the DFL lead on jobs, to coordinate agendas and surface potentially difficult items earlier.
Champion also emphasized the practical challenge ahead: balancing the state budget amid uncertainty over federal actions. "We have to balance the budget. We know, that there are things coming from Washington DC right now that make that job harder, and certainly uncertain," he said, adding that the Senate must act on behalf of Minnesotans while the House remains unorganized.
The event included acknowledgments of the special-election result that returned the DFL to 34 seats and references to continuing work across committees; specifics on committee assignments and any changes to committee chairs were not fully specified at the event.
Looking ahead, Champion said the chamber will pursue a mix of negotiation and compromise, and he asked members on both sides to be intentional about working together as the session turns toward budget negotiations and committee work.
