The Democratic Party began functioning in Minnesota as early as 1849, during territorial days. The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, a fusion of Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties, is rooted in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson.
The Farmer-Labor Party was the fruit of political organizations that were great movements of protest and dissent in the Midwest. As former Governor Karl Rolvaag once said: “Born in adversity, from these movements, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party has received the tradition of daring to strike against conformity when such action becomes a necessity in a changing world pattern.”
The Farmer-Labor Party, which was formed prior to the 1922 elections, reached its pinnacle of success with the election of Floyd B. Olson as Governor in 1930. Olson was a dynamic leader with a magnetic personality and tremendous ability. Olson gave the Farmer-Labor Party its golden era, where in election after election, the Farmer-Labor Party continued to grow in strength.
Governor Olson, as candidates and governor, developed programs in the state to work with the New Deal to alleviate the suffering and distress of the depression years. He became a national figure, but his death from cancer cut short his career in 1936.
With the death of Olson, an after the fall elections, the forces of internal confusion, disorganization and collapse finally came to the framework of the Farmer-Labor Party. In 1938, the Farmer-Labor Party was defeated by the largest margin ever suffered by a political party – representing a reversal of more than a half-million votes.
The period of 1938 to 1944 was marked by further deterioration in the liberal political activity in the state. Farmer-Labor supporters struggled among themselves for party control, while Democrats enjoyed some of the fruits—both sweet and bitter—of national patronage. At the same time, the Republican Party enjoyed a virtual monopoly in both state and congressional offices.
With its short life, the Farmer-Labor Party reaffirmed a theory long expounded by most politicians: a party organized solely within a single state cannot last successfully in the American political system. By 1944, the state’s liberal and progressives had come to realize that the road to political success lay with the united efforts of the Democrats and the Farmer-Laborites. Into this picture came Hubert H. Humphrey.
Although he had failed in his election bid for Mayor of Minneapolis in 1943, Humphrey was generally accepted as the leader and spokesman for the liberal movement in Minnesota. With the blessings of President Roosevelt and the Democratic National Committee, Humphrey became the guiding genius, which directed the merger of the two long-time liberal forces in the state. There were many objections by various members in both of the two parties, but through persistence and hard work, a new party emerged. This party would be called the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, officially formed in 1944.
With the lections of that year, the fragmentation of the state’s liberal forces healed, resulting in the election of two DFL Members of Congress and the state carried for Franklin Roosevelt. As the new party gathered strength, other names appeared on the state’s political scene. These included: Orville Freeman, John Blatnik, Arthur Naftalin, Eugene McCarthy, Karl Rolvaag, Joseph Karth and others.
Four short years later, the DFL Party elected a United States Senator, Hubert H. Humphrey, and four Members of Congress: John Blatnik, Eugene McCarthy, Fred Marshall and Roy Weir. Orville Freeman was elected governor in 1954 and re-elected in 1956 and 1958. During that time the DFL Party also elected a liberal majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives. In 1958, Congressman McCarthy was elected to the U.S. Senate and Joseph Karth was elected to Congress. In 1960, Minnesota was the only state in the Upper Midwest to carry for President John F. Kennedy.
Karl Rolvaag was elected governor in 1962 by 91 votes (the closest election in the state’s history) and Donald Fraser and Alec Olson were elected to Congress. In 1964, Humphrey was elected Vice President of the United States, along with Johnson as President, in a landslide victory for the Democratic Party nationally. Following that victory, Minnesota Attorney General Walter F. Mondale was appointed to fill the vacancy in the U.S. Senate created by the election of Humphrey as Vice President.
In 1966, U.S. Senator Mondale was re-elected to a full six-year term in the Senate, but 1966 was a generally grim year for the DFL Party. After a vigorous primary contest for the office of governor, the Republicans took the governor’s chair and the DFL membership in the state house and senate was reduced to less than one-third.
In 1968, Vice President Humphrey became the Democratic Party’s nominee for President but lost one of the closest elections in presidential until 2000.
The decade of the 1970’s was time of many triumphs and difficulties for the DFL party. In 1970, Wendell Anderson became the youngest governor in the nation at age 37. Elected with Anderson was Rudy Perpich as Lt. Governor and Warren Spannaus as Attorney General. Also elected that year was new DFL to Congress in the Seventh District, Bob Bergland (a future Secretary of Agriculture under the Carter Administration). But the biggest victory of the year was the defeat of over one-half of the state senate’s Republican committee chairs by DFLers. In fact, the DFL was only one senator and five representatives short of a goal of gaining control of the state legislature.
Halfway through Anderson’s first term, in 1972, the DFL achieved its long-sought breakthrough. It won control of both houses of the state legislature. Not since 1859 had the Democrats controlled both legislative houses in Minnesota. Anderson’s first term was marked by passage of a monumental tax reform bill that was billed “the Minnesota miracle….a model for other states to follow.” Anderson was overwhelmingly re-elected in 1974 and DFL majorities continued throughout the next two decades.
In 1976, there had been the thrill of watching as the Democratic ticket of Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale was swept into national office and, for the second time in a dozen years, a Minnesota occupied the second highest office in the land. That same year, Senator Humphrey was re-elected with the largest vote ever given to a single individual in Minnesota. A new congressman was elected to represent the 4th District—Bruce Vento.
But the 1976 victory contained some pitfalls for the DFL as well. Mondale assumes the Vice Presidency; the governor of the state was required by law to name a replacement to serve Mondale’s unexpired Senate term. Governor Anderson chose to resign his office, which elevated Lt. Governor Rudy Perpich to the governorship, as he became the first governor from the Iron Range. Perpich, in turn, named Wendell Anderson as Minnesota’s new senator. Then, in 1978, Sen. Hubert Humphrey died. Gov. Perpich appointed Muriel Humphrey to serve out the term of her late husband.
Although not full realized at the time, this round of musical chairs was not popular with Minnesota voters. In 1978 both U.S. Senate seats and the entire state constitutional ticket were up for election. The DFL felt Minnesota voters angry and the DFL lost the elections of both U.S. Senate seats and the governorship.
In 1982, the DFL rebounded. Voters corrected their error of 1978 and Rudy Perpich was brought back as governor of the state. Indeed, the voters gave all but one of the constitutional offices to the DFL candidates, as well as retention of the state legislature. Also, that year, two new DFL Members of Congress were added, as Tim Penny in the First and Gerry Sikorski in the Sixth joined Bruce Vento, Martin Sabo and Jim Oberstar.
The decade of the 80’s marked a great period of progressive leadership by the DFL officeholders. Landmark legislation was enacted for workers and families, environmental protection, property tax reform for low and moderate-income citizens, greater educational opportunities and economic development.
The crown of the 80’s was the nomination of Walter Mondale as the Democratic nominee for President. Although he lost to President Reagan, Mondale’s campaign of truth and vision is greatly respected by Americans today.
The 1990’s opened with a huge success, but contained again many pitfalls.
Surprising all the pollsters and opinion-makers, Paul Wellstone, a Carleton College professor, turned traditional DFL values and little money into a big win as he defeated two-term incumbent Rudy Boschwitz. The DFL majorities in the state legislature were returned after a two-year absence, but Perpich lost his bid to become Minnesota’s first four-year three-term governor in the most bizarre gubernatorial election in Minnesota history. Mark Dayton was elected as the new State Auditor and Collin Peterson defeated Republican Arlan Stangeland in the Seventh congressional race.
Early in 1992, State Rep. Dee Long became the first woman Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. That November, the elections showed the voters of Minnesota trusted the experienced leadership of the DFL by returning DFL majorities to both house of the legislature. The best victory came when David Minge captured the Second congressional seat previously held by a Republican.
The 1994 election saw Democrats staying home in record numbers. Nationwide, it was the lowest turnout with 60% not casting ballots. In Minnesota, the turnout followed that trend with our lowest voter count. This transcended into the most sweeping defeats of Democrats across the country. Republicans gained for the first time in 40 yeas control of the U.S. House and Senate. Democrats lost 14 governorships and control of 23 state legislatures.
Backed by a strong and efficient DFL Party coordinated campaign, Minnesota DFLers bucked the nationwide trend and held their own. Democrat incumbents for State Constitutional office were all returned; the Minnesota House remained in DFL control; and, State Senator Bill Luther won a congressional seat previously held by a Republican. Ann Wynia’s attempt to become the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate fell short by the small margin of any Democrat running nationwide, including losing incumbents.
1996 saw the DFL rebounding with the success of U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone’s re-election and President Clinton becoming the only Democrat re-elected to the White House since Roosevelt. These victories helped the DFL all their congressional seats and majorities in the state house and senate.
DFLers saw a devastating year in 1998 elections. Restless Minnesota voters turned against both political parties by electing an Independent to the office of governor. DFLers Michael Hatch was elected Attorney General and Carol Johnson as State Treasurer, while Republicans took over in the other constitutional offices. To further highlight DFL disappointments, the DFL lost its majority in the state House to the Republicans that to this day they continue to hold.
Presenting a platform of traditional DFL values and true health care reform, former DFL State Auditor Mark Dayton defeated the Republican incumbent to take a seat in the U.S. Senate. In the strangest presidential election in our nation’s history, Vice President Al Gore lost to Republican Bush after the U.S. Supreme Court intervened on the side of Bush for an electoral college victory while Gore carried the nation’s popular vote. Minnesota voters sides with Al Gore in the race and returned all incumbent DFL congressional members.
Tragedy hit in the DFL in 2002 when several weeks before the November election, U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone while campaigning for re-election was tragically killed with his wife, the party ‘s associate chair and two staff members in a plane crash. Minnesota DFLers turned to former Vice President Mondale to replace Wellstone on the ballot and carry his populist banner. A misunderstood memorial service for Wellstone turned Minnesota voters against the DFL and Mondale narrowly lost to a DFL turncoat Republican. Unfortunately, the voters carried their message almost entirely down the ticket with Attorney General Mike Hatch the only DFL to win in his re-election bid. DFLers were split in the governor’s race with former DFL Congressman Tim Penny ran on the Independence Party ticket and allowed the moderate and progressive vote to be split to ensure the election of a Republican. Because of the newly redistricted legislative districts by a Republican court appointed panel, DFL suffered a large decrease in their numbers in the state House, while the state Senate still narrowly in DFL control.
However, the DFL faces the 2004 presidential election with the unprecedented unity in their bid to oust Republican incumbent Bush. This unity for the Democratic presidential nominee will hopefully transcend to success in gaining control of the state House.