69th Minnesota Legislature

The sixty-ninth Minnesota Legislature first convened on January 7, 1975. The 67 members of the Minnesota Senate were elected during the General Election of November 7, 1972, while the 134 members of the Minnesota House of Representatives were elected during the General Election of November 5, 1974. The sixty-ninth Legislature was the first Minnesota Legislature to sit after the repeal of the requirement that Minnesota legislators be chosen in legally nonpartisan elections.

Sixty-ninth Minnesota Legislature
← 68th Minnesota Legislature 70th Minnesota Legislature →
Overview
Legislative body	Minnesota Legislature
Jurisdiction	Minnesota, United States
Meeting place	Minnesota State Capitol
Term	January 7, 1975 (1975-01-07) – January 3, 1977 (1977-01-03)
Website	www.leg.state.mn.us
Minnesota State Senate
Members	67 Senators
President	Alec G. Olson
Majority Leader	Nicholas D. Coleman
Minority Leader	Robert O. Ashbach
Party control	Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Minnesota House of Representatives
Members	134 Representatives
Speaker	Martin O. Sabo
Majority Leader	Irvin N. Anderson
Minority Leader	Henry J. Savelkoul
Party control	Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party

Sessions

The legislature met in a regular session from January 7, 1975 to May 19, 1975. A continuation of the regular session was held between January 27, 1976 and April 7, 1976. There were no special sessions of the 69th Legislature.^[1]

Party summary

Resignations and new members are discussed in the "Membership changes" section, below.

Senate

	Party[2] (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total	Vacant
	DFL	Ind.	R
End of previous Legislature	38	1	27	66	1
Begin	38	1	27	66	1
February 10, 1975			28	67	0
December 29, 1976	37			66	1
Latest voting share	56%	2%	42%
Beginning of the next Legislature	48	0	18	66	1

House of Representatives

	Party[3] (Shading indicates majority caucus)		Total	Vacant
	DFL	R
End of previous Legislature	78	56	134	0
Begin	104	30	134	0
January 27, 1976	103	31
Latest voting share	77%	23%
Beginning of the next Legislature	104	30	134	0

Leadership

Senate

President of the Senate

Alec G. Olson (DFL-Spicer)^[4]

Senate Majority Leader

Nicholas D. Coleman (DFL-Saint Paul)^[5]

Senate Minority Leader

Robert O. Ashbach (R-Saint Paul)^[5]

House of Representatives

Speaker of the House

Martin O. Sabo (DFL-Minneapolis)^[6]

House Majority Leader

Irvin N. Anderson (DFL-International Falls)^[7]

House Minority Leader

Henry J. Savelkoul (R-Albert Lea)^[7]

Members

Senate

House of Representatives

Membership changes

Senate

District	Vacated by	Reason for change	Successor	Date successor seated
33	None	Incumbent Conservative/Republican Harold G. Krieger was elected to the office of district court judge of Olmsted County in the General Election of 1974, and was hence forced to resign from the Senate. The exact date of Krieger's resignation is unknown, but was prior to the convention of the 69th Legislature, and hence this seat was already vacant when the 69th Legislature convened.	Nancy Brataas (IR)	February 10, 1975[8]
21	Alec G. Olson (DFL)	Incumbent DFLer and then-Senate President Alec G. Olson had been reelected during the General Election of 1976. However, during the same election cycle, U.S. Senator Walter Mondale was elected Vice President of the United States, causing Mondale to resign from the U.S. Senate. Governor Wendell Anderson proceeded to appoint himself to Mondale's vacated seat, which caused Lieutenant Governor Rudy Perpich to succeed to the office of Governor, and hence created a vacancy in the office of Lieutenant Governor. As per the provisions of the Minnesota Constitution, Olson, as the last-elected President of the Senate, then succeeded to the office of Lieutenant Governor, causing him to automatically resign his seat in the Minnesota Senate effective December 29, 1976. Thus, this seat was still vacant when the 70th Legislature convened.	Remained vacant