District Court Judge Leonardo Castro on Friday ruled that Democrat Curtis Johnson did not meet the residency requirement to serve in the Minnesota House, enjoining him from receiving an election certificate and saying the seat should be filled through a special election.
Castro, in a blistering opinion, said Johnson did not meet the requirement that he live in the district he intended to serve for six months prior to the November election.
“The reasons for the (residency) mandate are obvious and axiomatic to our representative form of government,” Castro wrote in his opinion. “Obtaining a lease and changing your voter registration does not satisfy this requirement; meaningful physical presence is required to show genuine intent to reside in the district. The people of 40B deserve no less.”
Johnson, who did not immediately respond to the Reformer’s request for comment, could appeal the decision to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
For now, House Republicans will have a one seat majority, 67-66. House District 40B, which Johnson won by 30 points last month, is a safe DFL seat, and will likely wind up in DFL hands after a special election, but that won’t take place for some time.
Republicans will likely capitalize on their temporary majority before a special election in 40B to elect a House speaker and committee chairs.
Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, who led Republicans to their new majority, is the likely speaker of the House, though a Supreme Court reversal of Castro’s ruling is still possible.
There’s very little precedent for a change of speakership in the middle of a legislative session, but because 68 votes would be required to vacate the speakership, Demuth would likely remain speaker even after a special election pulls the chamber into a tie, so long as she can keep Republicans in line.
Demuth praised the decision: “With the overwhelming evidence we heard during the trial that the Democrat candidate in Roseville never lived in the district, I applaud the court’s decision to grant the election contest and look forward to ensuring that a valid candidate represents District 40B during the upcoming legislative session,” she said in a statement. “This is a clear reminder that laws matter, and integrity in the election process is non-negotiable.”
Johnson’s GOP challenger, Paul Wikstrom, filed an election contest after his campaign conducted surveillance of Johnson and alleged he didn’t live in the district.
Wikstrom alleged that Johnson has a Little Canada home he primarily lives in — not in the House district — and rents a Roseville studio apartment in the district to make it appear like he lives there.
Wikstrom in his election contest affidavit stated that his campaign created an “investigative team” to monitor Johnson’s whereabouts and alleged that Johnson would regularly come and go from his Little Canada home. He detailed the measures his campaign took to determine whether Johnson lived in the Roseville apartment.
Wikstrom said his team called Xcel Energy and Comcast to see if the Roseville apartment was hooked up to electricity and internet, and they were “given the impression” that the apartment didn’t have accounts set up for either.
One campaign staffer went to the Roseville apartment and saw that the door “was dusty and lacked evidence of any recent activity or markings indicating dust being wiped away from use,” the affidavit states.