House DFL piling up cash advantage over House Republicans

Minnesota Capitol. Photo by Minnesota House Public Information Services.

The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor House caucus has a large cash advantage over the GOP House caucus as of May 31, according to recent campaign finance reports.

All 134 seats in the closely divided House will be on the ballot in November, and fundraising will be critical as Democrats and Republicans vie for control of the chamber. Democrats currently hold a five-seat majority, and Republicans are fighting to gain control of the House to fracture the DFL’s state government trifecta.

The latest batch of campaign finance reports are from political party units and political action committees; House candidates’ pre-primary election reports are due next month.

The House DFL caucus recently reported $1.15 million cash on hand, while the Minnesota House Republican Campaign Committee reported over $787,000 cash on hand.

House Democrats received donations in the tens of thousands from several labor unions’ political action committees, including the IBEW and North Central State Regional Council of Carpenters.

Alida Messinger, ex-wife of former Gov. Mark Dayton and frequent DFL donor, gave the House DFL caucus $100,000 in February.

Control for the state Senate will also be on the November ballot, on account of a single race, as Sen. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, resigned earlier this month to focus on her congressional campaign. The Senate is now evenly split 33-33 between Democrats and Republicans, so the special election for Morrison’s seat will likely draw millions in outside spending.

Campaign finance reports for the candidates running in the special election — held on Nov. 5 — for Morrison’s seat will become public in August.

Senate Republicans currently have a cash advantage over Senate Democrats, according to the latest campaign reports.

The Senate Republican caucus — known as the Senate Victory Fund — reported about $1.4 million cash on hand, while the Senate DFL caucus reported just over $990,000.

Among the largest individual donors to Senate Republicans: Stanley Hubbard, founder of Hubbard Broadcasting, which owns KSTP. Hubbard has donated $60,000 so far this year to the Senate Republican caucus.

The Minnesota DFL Party reported the most cash compared to other political party units, with over $2 million cash on hand.

Messinger this year has donated $300,000 to the Minnesota DFL Party. Political action committees for AFSCME and Education Minnesota, the state’s teacher’s union, have given over $200,000 and $100,000 to the DFL Party, respectively.

The Minnesota Republican Party, which has been strapped for cash in recent years, in its latest report said it had over $78,000 cash on hand.

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