Leigh Finke recall, Minnesota House of Representatives (2025)

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Leigh Finke recall
Officeholders
Leigh Finke (D)
Recall status
Did not go to a vote
Signature requirement
5,608 signatures
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2025 Recalls in Minnesota Minnesota recall laws State legislative recalls Recall reports

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This page covered one of the 29 recalls against Democratic state legislators in Minnesota. To read more about the 2025 Minnesota recalls, click here.

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The effort to recall Leigh Finke (D) from the District 66A seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives began on February 18, 2025. The secretary of state's office sent the recall petition to the Minnesota Supreme Court for review on February 20, 2025. On March 17, 2025, the court dismissed the recall petition due to a "failure to allege specific facts that, if proven, would constitute grounds for recall."

Proponents of the recall effort criticized Finke and other House Democrats for their role in the boycott that delayed the start of the 2025 state legislative session. Click here to read more about the 2025 recall efforts against Democratic legislators in Minnesota.

Finke was first elected to the chamber in 2022 and was re-elected in 2024 with 81% of the vote.

Recall supporters

The official language for the recall petition was not available, but according to the Minnesota Republican Party, the reasons for the recall were related to Democrats boycotting the beginning of 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.

State Republican Chair Alex Plechash released the following statement on the recalls: "These legislators have failed in their responsibility to the people of Minnesota, and we are making sure taxpayers hold them accountable. If you refuse to show up for work, you shouldn’t get paid. That’s why thousands of Minnesotans are standing together to say: Enough is enough."

He added, "The DFL has been irresponsible with taxpayer money—burning through an $18 billion surplus and leaving Minnesota facing a potential deficit. At the same time, crime is increasing, fraud is widespread, and our students are falling behind. Minnesotans deserve stronger leadership, and this recall effort is the path to reclaiming our state."

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

As of February 21, 2025, Finke had not issued a response to the recall effort.

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. A breakdown of the state legislative recall efforts by year is displayed in the chart below:

Michigan state legislators drew more recall petitions than any other from 1913 to 2024. Three of those 60 recall efforts have been successful. Wisconsin and California followed with 32 and 25 recall efforts, respectively. Wisconsin led all states with six legislators recalled, while California had five. The most recent successful recall effort against a state lawmaker was in 2018 with California state Senator Josh Newman (D). A breakdown of the various recall efforts is displayed in the chart below:

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 66A

Incumbent Leigh Finke defeated Fadil Jama in the general election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 66A on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Leigh Finke (D)	81.0	18,166
		Fadil Jama (R)	18.6	4,180
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	84

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 22,430
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Leigh Finke advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 66A.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Fadil Jama advanced from the Republican primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 66A.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jesse Smith (R)

2022

See also: Minnesota House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 66A

Leigh Finke defeated Trace Johnson in the general election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 66A on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Leigh Finke (D)	81.1	15,635
		Trace Johnson (R)	18.5	3,569
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	64

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 19,268
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 66A

Leigh Finke defeated Dave Thomas in the Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 66A on August 9, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Leigh Finke	63.2	4,034
		Dave Thomas	36.8	2,352

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 6,386
= 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Yakasah Wehyee (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 66A

Trace Johnson advanced from the Republican primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 66A on August 9, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Trace Johnson	100.0	646

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 646
= 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
• Minnesota recalls of Democratic state legislators, 2025

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Leigh Finke's House profile
• Minnesota Recall website

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