Two Districts, One Chamber: Minnesota House balance hangs on Jan. 27 special elections

ST. PAUL, MN - On Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, voters in Minnesota House Districts 47A and 64A will cast ballots in special elections whose consequences extend far beyond district boundaries. The outcomes will determine whether the Minnesota House of Representatives remains evenly divided or tips toward single-party control as lawmakers prepare to reconvene for the 2026 legislative session.

At stake are not just two seats, but the architecture of power itself: committee control, floor agendas, and the tenor of bipartisan negotiation in a chamber that has spent much of the past year operating on a knife’s edge.

A House balanced on absence

Both vacancies were created by political advancement rather than defeat, underscoring Minnesota’s unusually fluid political moment.

• District 47A opened when Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger (DFL) resigned her House seat after winning a special election to the Minnesota Senate in 2025.
• District 64A became vacant after Kaohly Vang Her (DFL) resigned following her election as mayor of St. Paul in November 2025.

Those departures left the House effectively split, operating under temporary power-sharing arrangements while party leaders awaited the results of these contests.

District 47A: Woodbury and Maplewood

Covering parts of Woodbury and Maplewood, House District 47A is poised for a decisive, if quiet, conclusion.

• DFL candidate: Shelley Buck, a former president of the Prairie Island Tribal Council and an environmental nonprofit executive, emerged from a three-way DFL primary in December 2025 with nearly 88 percent of the vote.
• Republican field: No Republican candidate filed for the seat.
• Outlook: With Buck the sole name on the ballot and no organized write-in effort, election observers are treating the race as uncontested.

The contest is less about suspense than formality, yet its outcome carries full legislative weight.

District 64A: St. Paul

Entirely within St. Paul, District 64A represents one of Minnesota’s most reliably Democratic-leaning urban districts, but it is the only race on the ballot featuring a contested general election.

• DFL candidate: Meg Luger-Nikolai, a labor attorney for a statewide teachers union, who advanced through a crowded six-candidate DFL primary in December.
• Republican candidate: Dan Walsh, a real estate property management professional and tech sales veteran making his third consecutive bid for the seat after unsuccessful runs in 2022 and 2024.

Recent election history underscores the challenge facing Republicans. The district delivered more than 83 percent of its vote to Democratic candidates in 2024, including then-Vice President Kamala Harris and Kaohly Vang Her herself. Walsh would need to dramatically outperform his prior showings, which hovered in the mid-teens, to alter the outcome.

How and when to vote

• Election Day: Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026
• Poll hours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Registration: Minnesota permits same-day voter registration at polling places
• Geography: Both districts include portions of Ramsey County; District 64A lies entirely within St. Paul

Why it matters

If the DFL holds both seats, the House will return to a 67–67 tie, requiring renewed power-sharing agreements or painstaking bipartisan coordination when the Legislature gavels in on Feb. 17, 2026. Should Republicans manage an upset in 64A, they would secure an outright majority, reshaping committee leadership, legislative priorities, and the pace of policymaking for the remainder of the biennium.

In a state long defined by close elections and coalition governance, these two races serve as a reminder that Minnesota politics often turns not on sweeping mandates, but on the quiet arithmetic of attendance, resignation, and a single winter election day.

MinneapoliMedia