This majority-deciding victory builds on the DLCC’s streak of overperformance in special elections in 2025
WASHINGTON— Last night, DLCC Spotlight Candidate and Rep.-elect David Gottfried joined MSNBC’s The Last Word to discuss how he won a special election that restored a tie in the Minnesota House – and why it matters amid Trump’s takeover of Washington. The DLCC is laser-focused on defending and building power in the Minnesota House, a chamber that is a top battleground on our 2025-2026 target map.
As chaos reigns in Washington, Democrats have winnable and majority-deciding electoral opportunities to fight the MAGA agenda in our state legislative special elections. State Democrats are overperforming by 9 points on average in specials so far this year in red and blue districts alike – this is where Democrats are building the foundation of power.
To watch the full video click here.
Check out some key excerpts from Rep.-elect David Gottfried below:
“A lot of folks are very concerned about what’s happening at the national level, and I think that played heavily into the race that I just won. I think folks were looking for something to do, having been feeling so powerless on the national level, and so they really engaged at the local and state level here.”
“A couple of years back with a DFL trifecta, we were able to put in place paid leave in our state, and that’s something that Republicans would have stripped away if they had got the majority. And so I think people were really motivated by that to try to defend that piece of legislation that we passed two years ago.”
“We need to talk to our constituents. In our race, we did 40,000 direct voter contacts in two months – that’s an astronomical number – and that generated thousands of conversations. And so we really got out into the community and talked to people. We hear a lot about consultants at the national level. I think we need to stop listening to them as much and really start listening to our constituents more.”
