Republican Party of Minnesota
:
The Republican Party of Minnesota is the Minnesota branch
of the United States Republican Party. Elected by the
party’s state central committee on 11 June 2005,
its current chairman is Ron Carey. Its current deputy-chairman
is Eric Hoplin, former chairman of the College Republican
National Committee.
Early history :
The Republican Party in Minnesota was the dominant party
in the state for approximately the first hundred years
of Minnesota's statehood, from 1858 through the 1950s.
The 1892 Republican National Convention was held in Minnesota.
Republican candidates routinely won the state governorship
as well as most other state offices. The party was aided
by an opposition divided between the Democratic Party
and the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party, who eventually merged
in 1944.
Independent-Republican era :
The Independent-Republican Party (I-R) was the name used
for the party from November 15, 1975 until September 23,
1995. The party added "Independent" to its name
after the Watergate affair in an attempt to distance itself
from the national party. During most of the 1970s and
into the early 1980s more moderate leadership prevailed
within the party, but the party gradually grew more conservative.
Several more moderate Republican candidates and officeholders
have now left the party (including former governor Arne
Carlson and former U.S. Senator David Durenberger), with
some of them moving to the Independence Party of Minnesota,
which considers itself a centrist party.
Current information :
The current Governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty is a Republican.
Because of Pawlenty's narrow reelection in 2006, Republicans
will have held the governorship for 16 of the last 20
years by the end of 2010. Since that election, however,
Republicans are in the minority in the Minnesota House
of Representatives and the Minnesota Senate.
For the 2006 senate elections, the party endorsed Mark
Kennedy for United States Senate, who lost to Amy Klobuchar.
Former GOP governor Arne Carlson (1991-99) has been critical
of his now-former party in recent years.
