Republican Party of Minnesota Information & Republican Party of Minnesota Links at HealthHaven.com

Republican Party of Minnesota




Party Chairman	Tony Sutton
Senate Leader	David Senjem
House Leader	Kurt Zellers

Founded	1858 or earlier
Headquarters	525 Park St Suite 250 St Paul, MN 55103

Political ideology	American Conservatism Center-right
National affiliation	Republican Party
Color(s)	Red

Web Site	www.gop-mn.org

The Republican Party of Minnesota is the Minnesota branch of the United States Republican Party. Elected by the party’s state central committee in June 2009, its current chairman is Tony Sutton, and its deputy-chairman is Michael Brodkorb.

[edit] Early history

The Republican Party in Minnesota was the dominant party in the state for approximately the first hundred years of Minnesota's statehood, from 1858 through the 1950s. The 1892 Republican National Convention was held in Minnesota. Republican candidates routinely won the state governorship as well as most other state offices. The party was aided by an opposition divided between the Democratic Party and the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party, who eventually merged in 1944.

[edit] Independent-Republican era

The Independent-Republican Party (I-R) was the name used for the party from November 15, 1975 until September 23, 1995. Initially the name change was motivated by progressive businessmen within the party seeking to distance themselves from the socially conservative Goldwater and Reagan Republicans, as well as the corruption of President Nixon. During that time, the state party became more dependent on grassroots fundraising and eventually went bankrupt. After the National party pumped money into the party, in the early-mid eighties, their image and base began turning more conservative. During this time the party had both senate seats and briefly held control of the state house. By 1994, the grassroots had turned socially more conservative, and opted to become more aligned with the national party, changing the name back in 1995.

[edit] Current information

The current Governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty is a Republican. Because of Pawlenty's re-election in 2006, Republicans will have held the governorship for 16 of the last 20 years by the end of 2010. Since that election, however, Republicans are in the minority in the Minnesota House of Representatives and the Minnesota Senate. The 2008 Republican National Convention was held in St. Paul.

For the 2006 senate elections, the party endorsed Mark Kennedy for United States Senate, who lost to Amy Klobuchar.

For the 2008 senate elections, incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman was defeated by Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate Al Franken in an extremely close and controversial vote.

[edit] Current elected officials

Minnesota Constitutional Officers:

State Legislative Leaders:

Minnesota House of Representatives Minority Leader – Rep. Kurt Zellers
Minnesota Senate Minority Leader – Sen. David Senjem

Members of the United States Congress:

U.S. Representative (2nd District) – John Kline
U.S. Representative (3rd District) – Erik Paulsen
U.S. Representative (6th District) – Michele Bachmann

[edit] See also

[edit] External links