A violent attack took place on January 6 of this year at the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. leading to five deaths and over 50 injuries. This attack took place during the process of final certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election and represented a direct attack on American democracy.
In the days immediately following the attempted insurrection, Senate DFL members began calling for a resolution to denounce the violence at the U.S. Capitol and to affirm the Legislature’s support for free and fair elections. The Minnesota House adopted HR 1 on January 25 for this purpose, with a decisive bipartisan majority voting in support of the resolution. Nearly 3 weeks later, the Minnesota Senate has not taken similar action.
Members of the Senate DFL held a press conference this week to call on the Senate to pass SR 21- a resolution using identical language to HR 1. Members stated the need for the Legislature to speak with a unified voice across all four caucuses to condemn violence and affirm that the 2020 general election was without widespread fraud, and that any to thwart the will of Minnesota voters is undemocratic.
Senate DFL members made clear during the press conference that the reason for the Senate not taking action is Senate Republican members who would only vote for a resolution with watered-down language that ignores the rhetoric and lies leading to the attempted insurrection on January 6. With three caucuses in the Legislature speaking together to support the language of SR 21, Senate Republicans stand alone in dividing the Legislature in supporting democracy with one voice.
