Today, in honor of Women’s History Month, the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party released a report highlighting the current gender balance among Minnesota lawmakers.
The divides between the two parties are stark. Almost 44% of DFL State Representatives, Senators, and Congresspeople are women, 50 out of 114. Less than 20% of Republican state and federal lawmakers are women, only 19 of 97.
Below, you will find the report as well as statements from Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives Melissa Hortman, Senate DFL Leader Susan Kent, and DFL Chairman Ken Martin.
“I’m very proud that DFLers in the Minnesota House of Representatives are almost at gender parity,” said Melissa Hortman, Speaker of the Minnesota House Representatives. “The issues that disproportionately affect women become a real part of the agenda only when we have a meaningful voice in our government. That is why we are working to pass long-overdue measures like paid family and medical leave, protecting Minnesotans from sexual harassment, and the Equal Rights Amendment.”
“The DFL has a fantastic slate of candidates for the Minnesota Senate this year, and I’m particularly happy to see so many DFL women stepping forward to run for office,” said Susan Kent, DFL Leader of the Minnesota Senate. “We know for a fact that, when women run, we win. The blue wave that swept the nation in 2018 was powered largely by women, and I’m confident the same will be true in 2020.”
“Minnesota has come a long way towards building a legislature that’s truly representative of the people of our state, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us,” said Ken Martin, Chairman of the Minnesota DFL. “That’s why, as Chairman of the DFL, I have worked to build a robust candidate recruitment program that intentionally focuses on finding candidates from underrepresented communities. Women make up more than half of the population of Minnesota, and our party will continue working hard to ensure our legislature reflects that.”