Minnesota House Majority Leader

This is a list of Majority Leaders of the Minnesota House of Representatives

Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party/Caucus
Winslow W. R Dunn	1901	1903	Republican
George W. Wilson	1903	1905	Republican
Anton J. Rockne	1905	1909	Republican
Henry Rines	1909	1913	Republican
William I. Nolan	1913	1915	Conservative
Thomas H. Girling	1915	1917	Conservative
Willis I. Norton	1917	1933	Conservative
John J. McDonough	1933	1935	Liberal
Roy E. Dunn	1935	1937	Conservative
Carl J. Eastvold	1937	1939	Liberal
Roy E. Dunn	1939	1955	Conservative
Fred A. Cina	1955	1963	Liberal
Aubrey W. Dirlam	1963	1971	Conservative
Ernest A. Lindstrom	1971	1973	Republican
Irv Anderson[- 1]	1973	1981	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Jerry Knickerbocker[- 2]	1979	1980	Independent-Republican
Willis R. Eken	1981	1984	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Harry Sieben[- 3]	1984	1985	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Connie Levi	1985	1987	Independent-Republican
Robert Vanasek	1987	1987	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Ann Wynia	1987	1989	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Dee Long	1989	1992	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Alan Welle	1992	1993	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Irv Anderson	1993	1993	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Phil Carruthers	1993	1997	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Ted Winter	1997	1999	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Tim Pawlenty	1999	2003	Republican
Erik Paulsen	2003	2007	Republican
Tony Sertich	2007	2011	Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Matt Dean	2011	present	Republican

Notes on Minnesota political party names

• Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party: On April 15, 1944 the state Democratic Party and the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party merged and created the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). It is affiliated with the national Democratic Party.

• Republican Party of Minnesota: From November 15, 1975 to September 23, 1995 the name of the state Republican party was the Independent-Republican party (I-R). The party has always been affiliated with the national Republican Party.

In 1913, Minnesota legislators began to be elected on nonpartisan ballots. Nonpartisanship also was an historical accident that occurred in the 1913 session when a bill to provide for no party elections of judges and city and county officers was amended to include the Legislature in the belief that it would kill the bill. Legislators ran and caucused as "Liberals" or "Conservatives" roughly equivalent in most years to Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican, respectively. The law was changed in 1973, in 1974, House members again ran with party designation.

Notes

1. ^ From 1979 to 1980, the House was evenly divided. Irv Anderson served as leader of the DFL caucus.
2. ^ From 1979 to 1980, the House was evenly divided. Jerry Knickerbocker served as leader of the I-R caucus.
3. ^ Wilis R. Eken resigned as majority leader in 1984. Rather than elect a new majority leader, House Speaker Harry Sieben appointed himself majority leader as well.

References