Republican Party of Minnesota
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The Republican Party of Minnesota, as its name implies, is the Minnesota branch of the United States Republican Party.
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Early History
The Republican Party in Minnesota was the dominant party in the state for approximately the first hundred years of Minnesota's statehood (1858 through the 1950s). The 1892 Republican National Convention was held in Minnesota. Republican candidates routinely won the state governorship as well as most other state offices. The party was aided by an opposition divided between the Democratic Party and the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party, who eventually merged in 1944.
I-R Era
The Independent-Republican Party (I-R) was the name used for the party from 1975 until 1995. The party added "Independent" to its name after the Watergate affair in an attempt to distance itself from the national party. During most of the 1970s and into the early 1980s more moderate leadership prevailed within the party, but the party gradually grew more conservative. Several more moderate Republican candidates and officeholders have now left the party, with some of them moving to the Independence Party of Minnesota, which considers itself a centrist party.
Current information
The state party will have held the governorship for 12 of the last 16 years as of the next gubernatorial election (2006). Republicans are in the majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives, but are in the minority by two seats in the Minnesota Senate. The 2004 election saw the Republicans lose 12 seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives, holding their majority by 1 vote. The Minnesota Senate was not up for election in 2004.
External links
- Republican Party of Minnesota Website (http://www.gop-mn.org)