List of Speakers of the Minnesota House of Representatives
State

List of Speakers of the Minnesota House of Representatives

Section Title: State
Table Section Text: None

#	Speaker	Took office	Left office	Party/Caucus	Notes	Session

1	John S. Watrous	2 December 1857	12 March 1858	Unknown	Minnesota Legislators Past & Present lists Watrous' party affiliation as "Not Available," while the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library's list of Speakers of the House of Representatives lists "R?," indicating that the MLRL does not know what Watrous' party affiliation was, and is merely guessing that he might have been a Republican.	1st

2	George Bradley	12 March 1858	6 December 1859	Unknown	Minnesota Legislators Past & Present lists Bradley's party affiliation as "Not Available," while the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library's list of Speakers of the House of Representatives lists "R?," indicating that the MLRL does not know what Bradley's party affiliation was, and is merely guessing that he might have been a Republican.

3	Amos Coggswell	7 December 1859	7 January 1861	Republican	2nd

4	Jared Benson	8 January 1861	5 January 1863	Republican	3rd

4th

5	Charles D. Sherwood	6 January 1863	4 January 1864	Republican	5th

6	Jared Benson	5 January 1864	1864?	Republican	6th

7	Thomas H. Armstrong	1864?	1865	Republican	Unclear whether took office in 1864 or 1865	7th

8	James B. Wakefield	1866	1866	Republican	Served as a U.S. Representative	8th

9	John Q. Farmer	1867	1868	Whig/Republican	9th

10th

10	Chester D. Davidson	1869	1869	Republican	11th

11	John L. Merriam	1870	1871	Republican	12th

13th

12	A.R. Hall	1872	1874	Republican	14th

15th

16th

13	William R. Kinyon	1875	1876	Republican	17th

18th

14	John L. Gibbs	1877	1877	Republican	19th

15	Charles A. Gilman	1878	1879	Republican	20th

21st

16	Loren Fletcher	1881	1885	Republican	22nd

23rd

17	John L. Gibbs	1885	1887	Republican	24th

18	William Rush Merriam	1887	1889	Republican	Served as Governor of Minnesota	25th

19	Charles H. Graves	1889	1891	Republican	26th

20	Ezra T. Champlin	1891	1893	Alliance	27th

21	William E. Lee	1893	1895	Republican	28th

22	Samuel Rinnah Van Sant	1895	1897	Republican	Served as Governor of Minnesota	29th

23	John D. Jones	1897	1899	Republican	30th

24	Arthur N. Dare	1899	1901	Republican	31st

25	M.J. Dowling	1901	1903	Republican	32nd

26	Leverett W. Babcock	1903	1905	Republican	33rd

27	Frank Clague	1905	1907	Republican	Served as a U.S. Representative	34th

28	Lawrence H. Johnson	1907	1909	Republican	35th

29	Anton J. Rockne	1909	1911	Republican	36th

30	Howard H. Dunn	1911	1913	Republican	37th

31	Henry Rines	1913	1915	Conservative	Served as Minnesota Treasurer	38th

32	H.H. Flowers	1915	1917	Conservative	39th

33	Ralph J. Parker	January 1917	January 1919	Conservative	40th

34	William I. Nolan	January 1919	January 1925	Conservative	41st

42nd

43rd

35	John A. Johnson	January 1925	January 1931	Conservative	44th

45th

46th

36	Oscar A. Swenson	January 1931	January 1933	Conservative	47th

37	Charles Munn	January 1933	January 1935	Liberal	48th

38	George W. Johnson	January 1935	January 1937	Conservative	49th

39	Harold H. Barker	January 1937	January 1939	Liberal	50th

40	Lawrence M. Hall	January 1939	January 1949	Conservative	Longest-serving speaker	51st

52nd

53rd

54th

55th

41	John A. Hartle	January 4, 1949	January 6, 1955	Conservative	56th

57th

58th

42	Alfred I. Johnson	January 6, 1955	January 5, 1959	Liberal	59th

60th

43	Edwin J. Chilgren	January 5, 1959	January 7, 1963	Liberal	61st

62nd

44	Lloyd L. Duxbury	January 7, 1963	January 1971	Conservative	63rd

64th

65th

66th

45	A.W. Dirlam	January 1971	January 1973	Conservative	67th

46	Martin Olav Sabo	January 1973	January 1979	DFL	Served as a U.S. Representative	68th

69th

70th

47	Rod Searle	January 1979	January 1980	Independent-Republican	71st

48	Fred C. Norton	January 1980	January 1981	DFL	Served on Minnesota Court of Appeals

49	Harry A. Sieben	January 1981	January 1985	DFL	72nd

73rd

50	David M. Jennings	January 1985	January 1987	Independent-Republican	74th

51	Fred C. Norton	January 1987	June 1987	DFL	Served on Minnesota Court of Appeals	75th

52	Robert Vanasek	June 1987	January 6, 1992	DFL	75th

76th

77th

53	Dee Long	January 6, 1992	September 15, 1993	DFL	First woman to serve as speaker.	77th

78th

54	Irv Anderson	September 1993	January 1997	DFL	78th

79th

55	Phil Carruthers	January 1997	January 1999	DFL	80th

56	Steve Sviggum	January 1999	January 2007	Republican	81st

82nd

83rd

84th

57	Margaret Anderson Kelliher	January 2007	January 2011	DFL	85th

86th

58	Kurt Zellers	January 4, 2011	January 8, 2013	Republican	87th

59	Paul Thissen	January 8, 2013	January 6, 2015	DFL	Appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 2018	88th

60	Kurt Daudt	January 6, 2015	January 8, 2019	Republican	89th

90th

61	Melissa Hortman	January 8, 2019	Incumbent	DFL	91st

Sentence(s)

In 1979, Rod Searle was selected as a Speaker.

final_sentence: In 1979, Rod Searle was selected as a Speaker.