The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is a political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota affiliated with the national Democratic Party. The party was formed by a merger between the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party in 1944. The DFL is one of two state Democratic Party affiliates with a different name from that of the national party, the other being the neighboring North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party.

The DFL controls four of Minnesota's eight US House of Representatives seats, both of its US Senate seats, the Minnesota Senator, and all other statewide offices, including the Governor of Minnesota, making it the dominant party in the state. In the MN House of Representatives, it has a power-sharing agreement with its main political rival, the Republican Party in Minnesota, following a tie in the 2024 Minnesota House of Representatives election.

Background

The progressive movement in Minnesota following the American Civil War was initially contained within the Minnesota Republican Party. However, by the 1880s, the Republican party became less receptive to progressive reform. The Farmer’s Alliance and Knights of Labor, rising in political power, initially attempted to bring progressivism to the Minnesota Democratic party, during the 1886 gubernatorial campaign of A.A. Ames. After his defeat, the Farmer's Alliance and Knights of Labor failed to regain influence within either the Republican or Democratic parties. In 1890, the Farmer's Alliance organized the campaign of Sidney M. Owen as a third-party candidate. Despite Owen's electoral failure, the Farmer's Alliance secured enough of a voting base that in 1892, they joined with the Populists, who would be able to outperform the Democrats. In 1896, a fusion ticket with the Democrats would be created, headed by John Lind. On his second gubernatorial run in 1898, the fusion ticket would be successful. However, Lind would only serve one term. In 1902, the fusion was broken, and the poor performance of the Populists would be the end of the party. Progressives continued to dominate the Democratic party for the rest of the decade, before slowly losing influence.

The Nonpartisan League (NPL), founded in North Dakota in 1915 was an agrarian party focused on farmer grievances against corporate monopolies. It expanded to Minnesota in 1917 and in 1918 it merged with the Duluth Union Labor Party to create the Farmer Labor Party (FLP).

During the 1930s, the FLP gained support for radical platforms aimed at addressing economic and social inequalities. The party won the 1930 gubernatorial election under Floyd B. Olson. During this decade, Democrats had minimal success in the state, as the FLP effectively captured the left-wing vote and drew support away from urban workers, rural farmers, and immigrants. The party often won only single digits in statewide races as the FLP aligned informally with Roosevelt's New Deal coalition.

Following Olson's death in 1936, Hjalmar Petersen became governor until the inauguration of Elmer Benson. Olson was the unifying figure in the party, and both Benson and Petersen claimed to be his successor. In 1938, Petersen and Benson ran against each other in the primary. Benson led the radical wing, while Petersen led the more moderate leftist wing. Benson would win the primary, but lose the general election. Following Benson's defeat, Petersen's faction dominated the FLP. The party suffered further setbacks in 1940 and 1942, losing congressional seats. Petersen failed twice to recapture the Governor's office.

Establishment

On April 15, 1944, the Farmer–Labor Party merged with the Minnesota Democratic Party, forming the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). Leading the merger effort were Elmer Kelm, the head of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the founding chairman of the DFL, and Elmer Benson, who had re-taken control of the FLP from Hjalmar Petersen following Petersen's electoral defeats in 1940 and 1942. Rising star Hubert H. Humphrey chaired the Fusion Committee that accomplished the union and then went on to chair its first state convention.

Early Years

The early DFL confronted various social issues, including antisemitism, the beginnings of the Civil rights movement, and economic justice, influenced significantly by Minnesota's small but politically active African American communities. In early 1946, as a Fair Employment Practice (FEPC) bill was moving through Congress, there was a surge of civil rights activism in the Twin Cities.

Factional battles were intensified by differing views on how to address the left-wing influence within the party, with significant conflicts between proponents of Henry A. Wallace’s progressive policies and the more moderate wing led by figures like Hubert Humphrey. By the party's second convention in 1946, tensions had re-emerged between members of the two former parties. While the majority of delegates supported left-wing policies, Humphrey managed to install a more conservative, anti-communist ally, Orville Freeman, as party secretary. Some disaffected Farmer–Labor leaders such as Benson moved to the Progressive Party

Recent History

Freeman was elected the state's first DFL governor in 1954. Important members of the party have included Humphrey and Walter Mondale, who each went on to be US Senators, vice presidents, and unsuccessful Democratic nominees for president; Eugene McCarthy, a U.S. senator who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968 as an anti-Viet Nam war candidate; Paul Wellstone, a U.S. senator from 1991 to 2002 who became an icon of populist progressivism;[ Amy Klobuchar, a U.S. senator who ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020; Dean Phillips, a US Representative who ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2024; and Tim Walz, two-term incumbent governor chosen as Kamala’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election. The DFL has had varied success beginning in the late 1970s and through the late 2010s, in part due to the growth of single-issue splinter groups after reforms brought by the national party.

Following the 2022 Minnesota elections, the DFL became the dominant party in the state, retaining every executive office, winning majorities in the state House and Senate, and re-electing all incumbent congressional representatives. With their newly elected trifecta, the DFL pursued a progressive agenda in their first legislative session. Governor Tim Walz described the session as "the most successful legislative session, certainly in many of our lifetimes and maybe in Minnesota history." The newly elected government passed large expansions in welfare programs and spending. Notable policies passed include the expansion of abortion rights, new programs to provide reproductive healthcare, protection of gender affirming care, the ,legalization of recreational cannabis, indexing education spending to inflation, investments in public transit, and paid sick leave for Minnesota workers. Former president Barack Obama praised the state government's actions, saying that "Minnesota has made progress on a whole host of issues – from protecting abortion rights and new gun safety measures to expanding access to the ballot and reducing child poverty. These laws will make a real difference in the lives of Minnesotans." The trifecta was broken with a split legislature following the 2024 Minnesota elections.