House GOP leader Kurt Daudt opposes impeaching Gov. Walz

Daudt said he is against impeachment because of the "unintended consequences" it would bring.

Kurt Daudt speaks on the House floor during a Thursday session. (Minnesota House Info/YouTube)

House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, said he opposes Republican efforts to impeach Gov. Tim Walz, according to an email obtained by Alpha News.

Rep. Erik Mortensen, R-Shakopee, introduced articles of impeachment against Walz in February in response to his “illegal” use of emergency powers and “unilateral” decision-making.

In an email to a concerned constituent, Daudt said he is against impeachment because of the “unintended consequences” it would bring.

“[Impeachment] would put our radical liberal Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in the governor’s office, allowing her to cancel Line 3 and impose even more restrictions on businesses and social gatherings,” he wrote.

Further, Daudt said that the balance of power would then shift in the Senate because current Senate President Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, would be moved to the lieutenant governor position, thereby costing Republicans the majority in the Senate.

However, there is a way to prevent this, which Minnesota saw happen just last November.

Fearing President Joe Biden would appoint Sen. Amy Klobuchar to his Cabinet and Walz would then give her seat to Flanagan, Senate Republicans temporarily voted in a Democrat as president of the Senate to ensure Republicans remained in the majority.

Daudt claimed losing power in the Senate would also cost Republicans the “ability to hold Walz’s commissioners accountable through confirmation hearings.” The Senate has removed just two commissioners in the Walz administration since the start of the pandemic.

Daudt said in his email that he has led the effort to end Walz’s emergency powers “so we can restore the Legislature as a co-equal branch of government.”

“The reality is the same Democrats who continue to vote to protect Gov. Walz’s powers will never allow impeachment to come to the floor, or to convict Gov. Walz in the Senate if by some miracle it passed the House. The best way to end the emergency powers is to hold Gov. Walz accountable and ensure that he is a one-term governor,” Daudt said in his email.

Sources told Alpha News that Daudt has instructed members of the House Republican Caucus to not sign on to Mortensen’s impeachment articles. Currently, the resolution has two co-authors, Reps. Jeremy Munson, R-Lake Crystal, and Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, both of whom are members of the New House Republican Caucus with Mortensen.

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Rose Williams

Rose Williams is an assistant editor for Alpha News.