Duane Quam recall, Minnesota House of Representatives (2025)

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Duane Quam recall
Officeholders
Duane Quam (R)
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
Signature requirement
6,176 signatures
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2025 Recalls in Minnesota Minnesota recall laws State legislative recalls Recall reports

The effort to recall Duane Quam (R) from the District 24A seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives began on February 12, 2025. The secretary of state's office sent the recall petition to the Minnesota Supreme Court for review on February 12, 2025. On March 7, 2025, the court ruled that the petition failed to meet the grounds for recall.

Proponents of the recall effort criticized Quam for conducting business and voting on legislation despite the absence of a quorum in the 2025 state legislative session. From January 14 to February 6, 2025, House Democrats boycotted the legislative session to block Republicans from taking advantage of a temporary one-seat majority. For more information on the state legislative session boycott, click here.

Quam was first elected to the chamber in 2010 and was re-elected in 2024 with 63% of the vote.

Recall supporters

The recall petition was filed by Sarah Benson and listed the following reasons for recall:

Sarah Benson, under penalty of perjury, states as follows:

1. I am the petitioner in this matter.

2. From January 14, 2025 until about January 24, 2025, a group of members of the Minnesota House of Representatives purported to act as the Minnesota House of Representatives despite lacking a quorum.

3. Rep. Duane Quam was one of the members of the Minnesota House of Representatives purporting to act as the Minnesota House of Representatives despite the lack of a quorum.

4. The actions of the group that purported to act as the Minnesota House of Representatives were widely reported, including by the House Public Information Services Office. For example, a Session Daily post dated January 14, 2025 and entitled “Simon says no quorum, Republicans elect Demuth speaker” describes Secretary of State Steve Simon’s ruling that a 68-member quorum was not present and thus that the House was unable to conduct business, notes that Secretary Simon adjourned the body, and that 67 members of the body purported to overrule Secretary Simon and purported to carry on business as the Minnesota House of Representatives. The post is available at https://www.house.mn.gov/SessionDaily/Story/18429, and a recording of the session, including Rep. Quam purporting to vote after Secretary Simon adjourned the House, is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQJNGyUjEyg.

Background on the House Democrats' boycott of the state legislative session

After the November 2024 elections, both Democrats and Republicans secured 67 seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives, resulting in an evenly split chamber. However, legal challenges to the general election results in two districts led to a disagreement between House Democrats and Republicans over how to proceed with chamber business. Before the representatives were sworn in, a judge ruled that the general election result in House District 40B was invalid. This ruling shifted the partisan balance to a 67-66 Republican majority with one vacancy. Republicans said their 67-66 majority authorized them to elect a speaker and control committee assignments. However, Democrats said the majority was temporary, and lawmakers could take no action without 68 votes.

Democrats boycotted the first day of the session on Jan. 14, 2025, after Republican leader Rep. Lisa Demuth (R) indicated that Republicans would use their majority vote to refuse to seat the general election winner for House District 54A. Secretary of State Steve Simon (D)—acting as presiding officer—adjourned the meeting after a roll call determined that 67 members present were not enough to start the session. Republicans appealed the order, moving to replace Simon as presiding officer with Rep. Paul Anderson (R). Republicans then overturned Simon’s order, declared a quorum, and elected Demuth as speaker.

In response, House Democrats petitioned the Minnesota Supreme Court, arguing that House Republicans’ actions after Simon gaveled the meeting closed were unlawful. Simon filed a separate petition asking the court to weigh in on how many members need to be present to conduct business. The court heard oral arguments regarding the case on Jan. 23, 2025. On Jan. 24, the court ruled that 68 members must be present to declare a quorum in the chamber.

On Feb. 4, the Minnesota Republican Party announced they would start circulating recall petitions for all House Democrats. On February 5, 2025, Democrats and Republicans reached a power-sharing agreement, bringing an end to the boycott.

Recall opponents

Quam said he was surprised to learn he was the subject of a recall effort, stating, "It was out of the blue. I showed up on the day it said we should show up. And, you know, did the work that we're supposed to do." He also mentioned that he was unaware of any bills being voted on or moved out of committee during the boycott, disputing one of the claims made in the recall petition.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Minnesota

First, a proposed recall petition must be submitted to the Minnesota Secretary of State specifying the grounds upon which the official should be recalled. The grounds for recall must be one of the following: malfeasance, nonfeasance, or a serious crime. For statewide offices, the petition must also include 25 signatures from eligible Minnesota voters. The secretary of state verifies the signatures and, if valid, submits them to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

The court has 10 days to decide whether to dismiss the proposed petition or to schedule a public hearing to assess if the grounds for recall are sufficient. If a hearing is deemed necessary, the court will appoint a special master to handle the case. The hearing will take place within 21 days of the case being assigned, and the special master will submit a report to the court within seven days of the hearing. The court will make a decision on the proposed petition within 20 days of receiving the special master's report. If the court determines that the grounds for recall are valid, the court will order the secretary of state to issue a recall petition.

Once the recall petition is issued, petitioners have 90 days to collect signatures amounting to 25% of the votes cast for the affected office in the previous election. After the signatures are collected, the petitions must be submitted to the secretary of state for verification. If the signatures meet the requirements, the petition will be forwarded to the governor, and a date for the recall election will be scheduled.

The election will be a Yes/No ballot in which voters will select Yes if they are in favor of removing the official from office or No if they are against it. If a majority of voters vote Yes, the office will be declared vacant.

Historical state legislative recalls

Ballotpedia tracked 186 recall efforts against 168 state lawmakers from 1913 to 2024. During that time, 40 recalls made the ballot and 22 state legislators were successfully recalled.

Michigan led the way with 60 state legislative recall efforts from 1913 to 2024. Of those 60 recall efforts, three were successful. Wisconsin followed with 32 state legislative recall efforts. Six of those recalls were successful.

Recall context

See also: Ballotpedia's Recall Report

Ballotpedia covers recall efforts across the country for all state and local elected offices. A recall effort is considered official if the petitioning party has filed an official form, such as a notice of intent to recall, with the relevant election agency.

The chart below shows how many officials were included in recall efforts from 2012 to 2024 as well as how many of them defeated recall elections to stay in office and how many were removed from office in recall elections.

Election history

2024

See also: Minnesota House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 24A

Incumbent Duane Quam defeated Heather Holmes in the general election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 24A on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Duane Quam (R)	63.4	15,661
		Heather Holmes (D)	36.5	9,019
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	23

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 24,703
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Heather Holmes advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 24A.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Duane Quam advanced from the Republican primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 24A.

2022

See also: Minnesota House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 24A

Incumbent Duane Quam defeated Keith McLain in the general election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 24A on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Duane Quam (R)	64.0	12,015
	Submit photo	Keith McLain (D)	36.0	6,758
		Other/Write-in votes	0.0	8

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,781
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Keith McLain advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 24A.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Duane Quam advanced from the Republican primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 24A.

2020

See also: Minnesota House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 25A

Incumbent Duane Quam defeated Kim Hicks in the general election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 25A on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Duane Quam (R)	57.5	14,479
		Kim Hicks (D)	42.4	10,692
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	21

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 25,192
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Kim Hicks advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 25A.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Duane Quam advanced from the Republican primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 25A.

2018

See also: Minnesota House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 25A

Incumbent Duane Quam defeated Jamie Mahlberg in the general election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 25A on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Duane Quam (R)	53.6	10,376
		Jamie Mahlberg (D)	46.3	8,957
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	17

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 19,350 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 25A

Jamie Mahlberg advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 25A on August 14, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Jamie Mahlberg

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 25A

Incumbent Duane Quam advanced from the Republican primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 25A on August 14, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Duane Quam

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

See also

• Ballotpedia's Recall Report
• Minnesota House of Representatives
• Recall campaigns in Minnesota
• Political recall efforts, 2025
• State legislative recalls

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Duane Quam's House profile

Footnotes

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