Pine County delegates passed a resolution on Saturday that states the local party will only support a candidate that joins the Old House Republican Caucus led by Rep Kurt Daudt. With Rep Jason Rarick’s victory in last Tuesday’s election, there will be a special election for the seat he is vacating. The move is seen as a power grab to bolster the old caucus, while hurting the chances of a new conservative legislator getting elected for the vacated seat.
As Alpha News reported, four of the most conservative members of the Minnesota House broke off and formed the New House Republican Caucus early this year citing concerns about the way Daudt was working against conservative legislation.
Mike Cummins, who chaired the convention, and is also a candidate for the open seat, presided over the twenty delegates who voted in support of the resolution. The resolution states that the Old House Republican Caucus is an “affiliate of the Republican Party of Minnesota”. However, Alpha News found that this is incorrect. Instead, the political campaign committee called the House Republican Campaign Committee is the only legislative entity with affiliate status.
This move came as a surprise to a member of the New House Republican Caucus. Rep Drazkowski mentioned that “100% of the New House Republican Caucus was door knocking or raising funds for Jason Rarick to ensure he would become the new Senator from District 11.” Drazkowski added that they are “committed to ensuring conservative Republicans get elected to the Minnesota Legislature to advance our conservative principles.”
Rep Rarick plans to resign from his House seat this week, giving Governor Walz five days to announce dates for a special election.
See the resolution below
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