Lawmakers returning to state capitals across the country are kicking off new legislative sessions with contentious fights over power, control and even access to chambers as the new year gets off to a rocky start.
Democrats have boycotted the opening days of session in Minnesota’s state House, where the two parties are locked into a fight over the speakership. Republicans are locked in internecine fights in Montana and Texas. And at least two lawmakers face charges over their actions in the days leading up to and beginning new sessions in their states.
Here are the controversies erupting in states across the country:
Minnesota
Republicans and Democrats each won 67 seats in the Minnesota House in November’s elections, creating the conditions for a power sharing agreement. But one Democratic winner was declared ineligible to serve after violating residency requirements, giving Republicans a temporary hold on the chamber.
Democrats boycotted the legislature’s first session this week, and Secretary of State Steve Simon (R) gaveled the House to a close when Republicans couldn’t muster a quorum. But Republicans voted to overrule Simon, installing Rep. Lisa Demuth (R) as speaker.
Simon has petitioned the Minnesota Supreme Court to allow him to remain the presiding officer, rather than Demuth. The high court will hear that challenge next week. A special election to replace the ousted Democrat is set for Jan. 28, when the 67-67 tie is likely to be restored.
House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman (D) said she had offered to let Demuth serve as speaker through the entire two-year session, though Demuth has refused to commit to let another Democrat, Rep. Brad Tabke (D), keep his seat. Tabke won re-election by just 14 votes.
Texas
The state House this week elected Rep. Dustin Burrows (R) to serve as speaker. Burrows won 49 Democratic and 36 Republican votes to beat back a challenge from Rep. David Cook (R), who won a majority of votes within the Republican conference.
The vote came after Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) and Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) led a campaign to oust more than a dozen House Republicans in primary elections last year. Each had their different reasons: Abbott wants a state House that is more likely to back education savings accounts. Patrick feuded with former Speaker Dade Phelan (R) over legislative priorities. Paxton was seeking revenge after the House voted to impeach him last year.
The vote has spurred backlash from the state Republican Party, which is more in Patrick’s camp than Burrows’s. Party chair Abraham George has openly pledged to censure the House Republicans who backed Burrows, potentially keeping them off primary ballots in 2026.
Abraham rallied conservative Cook backers on the House steps after the vote, slamming “RINOs,” or Republicans in name only, for backing Burrows.
Patrick, an arch conservative who controls the state Senate and who has outsized influence on the legislative agenda, has made a career of fighting with House speakers. He fought with Phelan over education savings accounts and the Paxton impeachment, and he made enemies of former Speakers Dennis Bonnen (R) and Joe Straus (R), two more traditional Republicans who opposed some of Patrick’s agenda.
Though Abbott succeeded in ousting some anti-voucher Republicans, the fight over the speakership portends another contentious year ahead for the Big Three who lead Texas politics.
Montana
The first thing a majority does when they gavel into session is to approve a rules package to govern the days and weeks ahead. The Montana Senate couldn’t get that part right, as several Republicans banded together with Democrats to buck leadership recommendations.
The heart of the feud is over committee assignments. Nine Republicans voted against the new rules package, and some expressed concern over a special committee designated to handle legislative requests from the executive branch.
“It was, someone said, a parking place for people, to kind of keep them out of the way,” Sen. Wendy McKamey (R) told KTVH. In a statement, the Republicans who opposed the rules process said five conservatives felt sidelined in the new “largely inactive” committee.
The impasse has stalled early legislative business in a session scheduled to last just 90 days.
“We have frittered away now four days dealing with this, when we should be serving the state of Montana and our voters,” Sen. Becky Beard (R) said last week.
West Virginia
Voters in Berkeley County elected Del. Joseph de Soto in November’s elections. A month later, he was under arrest.
De Soto, a first-time candidate, was taken into custody after making threats against House Speaker Roger Hanshaw (R) and Majority Leader Pat McGeehan (R). He was released on bond just before Christmas and ordered to serve home confinement.
House Republicans voted to declare de Soto’s seat vacant, leaving it to Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) to fill the seat.
But in a new twist, state Democrats say they should be the ones to submit a list of potential candidates for Morrisey to select. De Soto, elected as a Republican, switched party affiliations to become a Democrat shortly before his ouster.
West Virginia’s state constitution requires vacancies to be filled by the party of the person whose seat is vacant. Democrats have asked the state Supreme Court to weigh in — though even if they win, it won’t make much difference: Republicans currently hold 88 of the 100 seats in the House of Delegates.
Georgia
State Sen. Colton Moore (R) was arrested Thursday after he attempted to enter the state House chamber ahead of Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R) State of the State address.
Moore was banned from the House chamber last year, after he used a speech on the Senate floor to accuse the late Speaker David Ralston (R) of corruption on the day lawmakers were honoring Ralston’s life and career.
Moore told reporters Speaker Jon Burns (R) could not enforce the ban during a joint session of the House and Senate. A lawyer for the speaker’s office disagreed, and shoved Moore to the ground after he tried to enter the chamber. State troopers cuffed Moore and took him to Fulton County jail, where he was booked on a misdemeanor charge of willful obstruction of law enforcement officers.
Moore was booted from the Senate Republican caucus in 2023 after repeatedly attacking fellow Republican lawmakers. Kemp called Moore’s attacks “some grifter scam” to raise campaign funds.