DFL lawmaker says party is 'laser-focused' after trifecta win

After two years of being evenly divided down party lines, the Minnesota State House will return to Democrat control, as Minnesota was no exception to the nationwide blue tsunami that surged through Tuesday's midterm elections. Zach Stevenson is the top Democrat. In the house and I understand that we're having some audio issues with him. So we'll get to him in just a moment. They're already at the capitol and the parties are caucusing. So we do expect that Zach Stevenson will be the next speaker of the house right now. He is the top democrat in the house and I hear that his audio is now working. So he joins us now. Representative Stevenson, thanks for coming on the show. Thanks for having me. Okay, so on Tuesday, Democrats flipped 10 Republican held seats. There is one race that's headed to a recount, so that could be 11, only time will tell. But you now have a 77-57 majority, a trifecta. When you count the Democratic Governor, the Democratic Senate, we've seen this happen before, but what's your reaction to voters sending Democrats overwhelmingly to the legislature? Well, voters across Minnesota sent a very clear message that they are unbelievably frustrated with Donald Trump and the Republican Party governance of the country and of the state. The impact it's had on the state in terms of raising the cost of living and they want their representatives to take strong action to bring down costs. And that is exactly what we will do when the legislature returns in January. We will be laser focused on driving down the cost of healthcare, of housing and trying to make Minnesotans' lives more affordable. Okay, but the last time that there was a trifecta at the Minnesota legislature, there was a lot of criticism from Republicans that Democrats passed controversial legislation without bipartisan support. I'm thinking about legalization of marijuana, protecting access to gender-affirming health care, expanded abortion protections. Should Minnesotans expect more partisan legislation this time around? Just because someone calls something controversial doesn't mean it's controversial. A lot of the proposals you just mentioned have overwhelming public support. I'm very proud of the fact that we protected people's rights to access abortion. I'm proud that we passed paid family medical leave, which makes people's lives more affordable when they have a sick parent or a new baby. We are gonna be focused on driving down the cost of healthcare, of housing, on driving costs down generally. I sure hope that Republicans will join us in that effort, but we're But we're going to be focused on that regardless. Also, when Democrats had total control, there was a 38% increase in the state budget. Republicans criticized new tax increases like the gas tax increase and higher vehicle registration fees. Should Minnesotans expect tax increases this time around? I think that it's pretty clear that middle class folks and working class folks are paying their fair share in taxes and I have seen no interest in raising taxes on working people in Minnesota. We are going to use every tool available to make sure that we are making Minnesotans lives more affordable. We are going to be very focused on decreasing healthcare costs, on building more housing so we get the cost of housing down. Those are the types of things we're going to be focused on. That's similar to what we heard from the governor-elect, Amy Klobuchar. She said she does not want to raise taxes. She says she'll even lower them if she can. She also said she wants to make Minnesota more business-friendly, rolling back some regulations. Now, some of that is not going to be popular in your caucus. Do you see that happening, rolling back some of those regulations? I think it depends on what you're talking about. Certainly there probably are some places where we could roll back regulations. There are other places where I think Minnesotans expect us to do more. An example would be around data centers. I think Minnesotans want us to do things. To protect our water, to protect, you know, from noise pollution and other things like that, and to ban some of these non-disclosure agreements which have led to non-transparent outcomes around the state. So I think there's a mix here, right? We want to make sure we're focused on what outcome we want, which is a population that is protected from overreach from huge corporations. And we want a government that's focused on making Minnesotans lives more affordable in All in the places that really count. You know, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you there, Zach. So, you know, there are, There is concern with having one party control in state government. Business leaders, especially business groups here in Minnesota, have expressed concern about having one party control. You know, I mean, I think about the paid family medical leave bill. That was something that business owners, employers were not happy about. Will employers and business owners have a partner At the state legislature in Democrats. Well of course our doors are going to be open to everyone in Minnesota. We represent the entire state and we want to make sure that we have an economy that is growing and thriving. Absolutely we want to make sure it's growing and thriving for everyone in Minnesota and we want to be standing up in particular for middle class and working class people who all too often have been left behind. And that's going to be our focus on trying to make sure middle class and working class people have more affordable lives. What about gun reform? I mean, we heard Amy Klobuchar take the stage on Tuesday night in her acceptance speech and in her victory speech. She said, in honor of Harper Moyski and the kids who lost their lives in the Annunciation shooting and in honor of Melissa and Mark Hortman, we are going to get a gun reform bill done. What does that look like? Yeah, well, we saw last year in the legislature, every single Democrat, House and Senate voted for strong gun violence prevention measures, banning weapons of war from our street, making sure that our red flag laws are strong and preventing violence in the first place, banning high capacity magazines. Every single Republican voted no. I expect that those measures will advance this year because we know that Minnesotans want us to take action to prevent these kinds of tragedies, to prevent gun violence, and we are ready to do so. Do you expect that Minnesotans will see a high-capacity magazine ban and an assault weapons ban here in Minnesota? Yeah, I think we're gonna take really strong action to prevent gun violence, and I think both of those measures, both of those measures, by the way, are an example of what I was talking about earlier. Everywhere in Minnesota, that is not controversial, except in the Capitol, where people think it's controversial. Outside of this building, most people think it's not reasonable to carry around a hundred round magazine. Last time around, Republicans also wanted increased school security and mental health supports. Do you see that as part of a gun control package? Hey, Democrats want to do something about security and mental health too. We just want to do something about the whole picture. We want to try and prevent this violence before it begins by doing some of those common sense gun violence prevention measures. But I've been a champion for mental health funding for a long time and that's not gonna stop. I have to ask you about the progressive wing of your party because Amy Klobuchar is a moderate. She ran on a moderate platform. How do the progressives fit into your party today and how will you work together to get things done when not everybody will necessarily agree? Look, the DFL is a big tent party and there has to be space for a lot of different perspectives, not just on the ideological scale, but on the geographic scale. We have members that represent the state all the way from northern Minnesota down to Winona and western Minnesota into the metro. We have a lot of different perspectives that have to be taken into account and we have to find common ground. We have experience doing this. I think that we will be able to do that. The key thing here is we have to make sure we stay focused on what Minnesotans want us to be focused on, Improving their economic conditions, making their lives more affordable and driving down those costs. What about immigration? I mean, obviously that's something that's done federally, but we saw immigration control come into our streets in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Paul, And I'm just curious how you see the legislature's role in what we saw this past winter. I think the legislature has a clear role to protect Minnesotans from the abuses and the overreach of the federal government. And there are absolutely things we can do to rein in the worst practices of ICE. Number one would be banning ICE from operating in elementary schools and other sensitive places like that. We also should give Minnesotans the ability to vindicate their rights in court if they're abused. We gotta try and do everything we can to prevent those warrantless arrests and other things that are just frankly un-American. And there's a lot that we can do to make sure that when ICE returns, because I do think that Donald Trump will continue to try and retaliate against the people of Minnesota, that we have some guardrails in place. What do you say to the individuals in your district and around the state who did not vote for this one party control and are worried that they won't be represented at the state legislature? Look, I represent everybody in my district, whether they voted for me, voted against me, or didn't vote at all. And my focus every day is going to be on driving down their costs. It doesn't matter how they voted. I want their health care to be cheaper. I want their housing to be cheaper. I want them to be able to afford their lives. That's going to be my focus every single day. All right. Presumed House speaker. Only time will tell. But DFL House leader right now, Representative Zach Stevenson, thanks for coming on the show. Thank you. All right. We're going to take a quick break, but we'll be back.