House DFLers select Stephenson as speaker-designate for 2027-2028 biennium

(UPDATED 11:45 a.m.)

Rep. Zack Stephenson (DFL-Coon Rapids) was named speaker-designate by his caucus Thursday night.

Stephenson, who has served as DFL Caucus Leader since 2025, worked on the 2004 campaign of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park), who was assassinated in June 2025. The fifth-term legislator will now fulfill the same role of leading the chamber.

“I am honored to have earned the support of my colleagues to become the 60th Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, following in Melissa Hortman’s footsteps,” Stephenson said in a statement. “We’ll govern in a way that would make her proud.”

First elected in 2018, Stephenson will preside over a House that is projected to have a 77-57 DFL advantage following Tuesday’s election, the largest since an 87-47 DFL majority in 2009-2010. Rep. Nolan West’s (R-Blaine) 22-vote win over DFLer Amanda Matchett is subject to a recount.

[MORE: Member Guide 2027-2028]

The caucus also chose Rep. Jamie Long (DFL-Mpls) as majority leader, and Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura (DFL-Mpls) as majority whip for the 2027-2028 legislative session that begins Jan. 12. The session must conclude by May 17.

“On Tuesday, voters across the country, and here in Minnesota, voted for the better offer the Democrats presented,” Sencer-Mura said at a Friday morning news conference. “We have a responsibility to now deliver on that offer we made to voters.

“Together with Gov.-elect Klobuchar and the Minnesota Senate, we can ensure that Minnesota continues to be an antidote to the MAGA agenda, paving the way for what comes after. The Trump decade is officially over.”

No committee chairs have been announced.

The House DFL Caucus released its 2027 policy agenda in July. It reducing the cost of child care, health care and housing; closing  tax loopholes the ultra-wealthy and corporations exploit; preventing fraud in state programs; banning semi-automatic assault weapons and high-capacity magazines; accountability for Minnesotans affected by Operation Metro Surge; protecting access to birth control, in-vitro fertilization and abortion; mental health support in schools; and ensuring Minnesotans have safe and clean drinking water.

The question facing the incoming majority is how can those be achieved with a potential state budget deficit looming in the ensuing biennium and Gov.-elect Amy Klobuchar pledging no new taxes?

“I think that there's actually a lot of alignment here. We all think that middle class folks, working class folks are paying their fair share already,” Stephenson said. “As for everything else, there's a lot of uncertainty in the world around us. We are seeing some activity on the stock market, these last couple days, that suggests that there might be some bumpy economic times ahead of us.

“So, we [have] got to see what happens in the November forecast, in the February forecast. I'm eager to see Gov.-elect Klobuchar's budget and how we make all that work.”

He continued: “I also don't think that Donald Trump is done seeking retribution — his word, not mine — against the State of Minnesota. I think any day now, we could see more massive budget cuts to our health care system coming from Washington, D.C., that, on our existing resources, we just wouldn't have the capacity to handle.”

Stephenson said he expects gun violence to be an early-session priority, with a bill “probably” similar to what the Senate passed last session but not “word-for-word identical.”

“This is a personal issue for our caucus,” he said. “And, for me, my predecessor was killed in an act of gun violence. We don't want any other Minnesotans to go through what we have gone through as survivors of gun violence.”