List of majority leaders of the Minnesota Senate explained

Post:Majority Leader
Body:the Minnesota Senate
Insignia:Seal of Minnesota.svg
Incumbent:Erin Murphy
Incumbentsince:February 6, 2024
Inaugural:Charles N. Orr
Formation:January 1933

This is a list of majority leaders of the Minnesota Senate. The majority leader is the head of the majority party in the Minnesota Senate, and is the most powerful political figure in the body.

List

No.NameTook officeLeft officeParty/caucus
1Charles N. Orr19331949
2Archie H. Miller19491959Conservative
3John M. Zwach19591967Conservative
4Stanley W. Holmquist19671973Conservative
5Nick Coleman19731981Democratic-Farmer-Labor
6Roger Moe19812003Democratic-Farmer-Labor
7John Hottinger20032004Democratic-Farmer-Labor
8Dean Johnson20042007Democratic-Farmer-Labor
9Larry Pogemiller20072011Democratic-Farmer-Labor
10Amy Koch20112011Republican
11Dave Senjem20112013Republican
12Tom Bakk20132017Democratic-Farmer-Labor
13Paul Gazelka20172021Republican
14Mark Johnson (acting)20212021Republican
15Jeremy Miller20212023Republican
16Kari Dziedzic20232024Democratic-Farmer-Labor
17Erin Murphy2024incumbentDemocratic-Farmer-Labor

Notes

On April 15, 1944 the state Democratic Party and the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party merged and created the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). It is affiliated with the national Democratic Party.

From November 15, 1975 to September 23, 1995 the name of the state Republican party was the Independent-Republican party (I-R). The party has always been affiliated with the national Republican Party.

In 1913, Minnesota legislators began to be elected on nonpartisan ballots. Nonpartisanship also was an historical accident that occurred in the 1913 session when a bill to provide for no party elections of judges and city and county officers was amended to include the Legislature in the belief that it would kill the bill. Legislators ran and caucused as "Liberals" or "Conservatives" roughly equivalent in most years to Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican, respectively. The law was changed in 1973, in 1976, Senate members again ran with party designation.