Gov. Dayton Facing Tough Opposition in Republican Controlled House, Possibly Senate

Minnesota Gov. Dayton is bracing for legislative gridlock as he prepares to face a Republican controlled Legislature.

House Republicans expanded their majority by defeating several incumbent Democrats.

The Senate was poised to flip Republican, but that hinges on a pair of automatic recounts in Plymouth and St. Cloud going their way.

Republican candidates held narrow leads in those districts.

A longtime Minnesota politician who joined us for election night coverage saw the possibility of a Republican takeover.

“It’s been going back and forth for many different  bienniums  and the senate has been solidly in the DFL camp for the majority for all but two years of recent memory,” said former lawmaker and mayor of Moorhead Morrie Lanning. “And so there’s a possibility that one of those bodies could change.”

Republicans lost power in both chambers in the 2012 election.

They regained the house two years later.