# Democratic Party (United States) *Major U.S. political party founded in 1828; organized in Minnesota as the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party.* The Democratic Party was founded in 1828. Its Wikipedia article describes it as a liberal party of the center to center-left and as the oldest political party still active anywhere. The [[Republican Party (United States)]] has been its principal opponent since the 1850s.[^1] In [[Minnesota]] the party operates as the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL). The DFL was created when the state's Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties merged on April 15, 1944, with Hubert H. Humphrey chairing the fusion.[^2] This article treats the national party briefly. It records the party in detail where Minnesota's documents bear on it: DFL election results, the [[DFL Feminist Caucus]], laws authored by DFL legislators, and the state employment-equity statute that the federal government is now litigating. On January 14, 2026, the [[United States Department of Justice]] filed [[United States v. State of Minnesota (0:26-cv-00273)]] in the District of Minnesota under [[Title VII]] of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]. The complaint cites [[Minn. Stat. § 43A.191]] eight times.[^3] The Department's release No. 26-21 announcing the suit is titled *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*.[^4] The statute's record runs through both parties. Its history line shows an origin in a 1981 chapter under Governor Quie (R) and a 1985 rider under Governor Perpich. Thirteen amendments followed, seven of them under Republican governors, and the statute has never been repealed.[^5][^6] The project's companion study records that the State's Democratic Attorney General now defends in federal court a statute that a Republican governor's chapter created and a Democratic governor's rider put into operation.[^7] ## History ### National party Party officials commonly trace the party's descent to the Democratic-Republican Party, which Jefferson and Madison organized against the Federalists in 1792. Historians instead date the modern organization to the late 1820s and Andrew Jackson's election, and credit Martin Van Buren as its principal builder.[^1] From William Jennings Bryan's 1896 nomination onward, the party has generally stood to the Republicans' left on economic questions. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, after his 1932 election, assembled a broad electoral coalition for the party.[^1] Its Southern conservative wing began to contract after President Lyndon B. Johnson backed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That wing had largely disappeared by the 2010s.[^1] ### 1948 convention At the 1948 Democratic National Convention, Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota delivered a July 14 address calling for a civil rights plank. The plank was adopted 651½ to 582½, and Southern delegates then formed the States' Rights Democratic Party.[^8] The project's Time Table dates the Southern walkout and the formation of the Dixiecrat Party to July 17, 1948.[^9] The MPR News retrospective dates the walkout to July 15, 1948.[^8] Humphrey's address came four years after he chaired the 1944 merger that created the DFL.[^2] ### Minnesota On November 6, 1962, Karl Rolvaag (DFL) defeated Governor Elmer L. Andersen (R) by 91 votes, the closest result in Minnesota history.[^10] [[Karl Rolvaag]] was inaugurated after a recount on March 25, 1963. In 1966 he lost the DFL gubernatorial endorsement, which the Time Table records as going to an attorney-general candidate.[^11] In 1974 Emily Anne Staples left the Republican Party over the Equal Rights Amendment and joined the DFL. She later authored Minnesota's first [[Pay equity]] law.[^12] The November 5, 1974 elections were a post-Watergate DFL landslide in Minnesota.[^13] Wendell R. Anderson (DFL) was re-elected governor in a landslide, and the DFL held every statewide office.[^14] In the November 7, 1978 election, the DFL lost 32 state House seats. The result was a 67–67 split that the Time Table entry calls unprecedented.[^15] The Star Tribune attributes the losses, often called the "Minnesota Massacre," to voter reaction to Governor Anderson's 1976 appointment of himself to the U.S. Senate.[^16] In April 1991 the [[Minnesota Legislature]] debated the charter school bill enacted as chapter 265. Senator Ember Reichgott Junge (DFL-New Hope) was its lead Senate author.[^17] On November 3, 1998, [[Jesse Ventura]] (Reform Party) won the governorship in a three-way race over Hubert H. Humphrey III (DFL) and Coleman (R).[^18] On December 19, 1998, the U.S. House impeached President Clinton. Minnesota's delegation split six DFL members against and two Republicans in favor.[^19] The Time Table enters Coleen Rowley's DFL candidacy for Congress in the 2nd District under 2004, and records her loss to John Kline (R) in 2006.[^20] ### Feminist caucuses Koryne Horbal and six co-founders founded the DFL Feminist Caucus in April 1973.[^21] From the start, the caucus required DFL candidates it backed to support its platform.[^22] By 1977 it enforced platform compliance statewide.[^21] It was still enforcing compliance in 1982, its tenth year, and remained fully operational in 1986, its fourteenth. The Time Table records it continuing through 2004.[^21] The Republican counterpart was founded in June 1973 as "GOP Women for Political Effectiveness" and renamed the [[GOP Feminist Caucus]] in 1975. Its platform was substantially identical to the DFL caucus's. It added a standing commitment to advance "progressive Republican men and women" within the political system.[^7] The companion study records that each caucus applied the same personnel mechanism inside its own party.[^7] ## Name and symbols "Democratic Party" became the official name in 1844. The donkey symbol began as opponents' mockery of Andrew Jackson's name. Thomas Nast's cartoons in *Harper's Weekly* fixed it in public use from 1870.[^1] In 1904 the Alabama Democratic Party put on its ballots a rooster bearing the motto "White supremacy – For the right." The state party substituted "Democrats" for "White supremacy" on that logo in 1966. It abandoned the rooster in 1996, citing its racist connotations.[^1] ## Structure The Democratic National Committee directs campaign and organizational work between national conventions. The convention is the party's highest authority while it is in session. Ken Martin has chaired the committee since February 1, 2025.[^1] Each state has its own party committee. In 2005, DNC chairman Dean began the "50 State Strategy," which used national funds to pay full-time staff for state parties.[^1] Minnesota's state party is the DFL.[^2] ## Democratic presidents As of 2025 the party had produced 16 presidents, who served 17 presidencies.[^1] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - Hubert H. Humphrey chaired the 1944 merger that created the DFL.[^2] - Emily Anne Staples (DFL from 1974) authored the first pay equity law.[^12] - Ember Reichgott Junge (DFL-New Hope) was lead Senate author of the 1991 charter school bill.[^17] - Governors Quie (R) and Perpich (DFL) are the governors under whom the §43A.19/.191 machinery was created (1981) and put into operation (1985).[^6][^7] - Attorney General Pamela Bondi certified *United States v. State of Minnesota* as a matter of general public importance.[^4] ### What The United States' complaint, brought under Title VII, rests on Minn. Stat. § 43A.191. It cites the statute eight times, including subdivision 3(c)'s requirement that an agency explain the reason for hiring a non-affirmative candidate.[^3] The record here carries no ruling on the complaint, which is pending. In *[[Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services]]*, 605 U.S. 303 (2025), the Supreme Court held that Title VII's disparate-treatment provision "draws no distinctions between majority-group plaintiffs and minority-group plaintiffs." The Court also rejected the Sixth Circuit's heightened "background circumstances" rule for majority-group plaintiffs.[^23] The title of release No. 26-21 calls the State's apparatus Minnesota's "'Affirmative Action' Regime."[^4] The [[Iraq Liberation Act]] of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-338) states a policy of supporting efforts to remove "the regime headed by Saddam Hussein." The project's catalogue of U.S.-government "regime" usages (*[[How Minnesota Got Here]]*, note 40) finds Minnesota the only U.S. state so described.[^24] The project's master records a further pattern in the statute's history. Two enactments, 1Sp2019 c 10 and 2023 c 62, each amended in a single bill both §43A.191 and the voter-list statute §201.091, the two instruments it lists as federal-defendant instruments.[^6] The 2023 act added a governor-escalation sentence to §43A.191, which the master confirmed by comparing the 2022 and 2025 texts.[^5][^6] The master records §201.091 as amended in every era from Governor Anderson's 1973 enactment through five amendments under Governor Walz (DFL), with no repeal.[^6] The master also states the defense reading: no current official designed these instruments, and the load-bearing ones are 34 to 46 years older than the administration being sued over them. The record asserts the count and reserves the inference.[^6] A Time Table entry for 2011, the statute's thirtieth year, records that no challenge had been brought under it under any governor.[^25] In *Republican Party of Minnesota v. White*, decided June 27, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Minnesota's judicial announce clause.[^26] ### When - April 15, 1944: the Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties merge into the DFL.[^2] - July 14, 1948: Humphrey's civil rights address at the national convention.[^8] - April 1973: the DFL Feminist Caucus is founded.[^21] - November 7, 1978: the DFL loses 32 state House seats.[^15] - 1981 and 1985: the §43A.19/.191 chapter and rider.[^6] - December 19, 1998: the House impeaches President Clinton.[^19] - January 14, 2026: *United States v. State of Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-00273, is filed.[^3] ### Why The Star Tribune attributes the DFL's 1978 losses to Governor Anderson's 1976 Senate self-appointment.[^16] The record does not establish that cause's weight against other factors. ### How - The DFL Feminist Caucus conditioned its backing of DFL candidates on support for its platform.[^22] - Amendments to §43A.191 and §201.091 were carried together in single enactments in 2019 and 2023.[^6] ### How many - 91 votes decided the 1962 governor's race.[^10] - The 1948 civil rights plank passed 651½ to 582½.[^8] - §43A.191 has had thirteen amendments, seven under Republican governors, and zero repeals.[^6] - The complaint cites §43A.191 eight times.[^3] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Democratic Party (United States)* (rev. 1382022209, retrieved Oct. 26, 2026) — founding, ideology, national history, factions, symbols, structure, presidents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(United_States) [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party* — April 15, 1944 merger with Humphrey chairing the fusion (Time Table TL-0006). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Democratic%E2%80%93Farmer%E2%80%93Labor_Party [^3]: United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, *Complaint, United States v. State of Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-00273 (D. Minn. filed Jan. 14, 2026) — Title VII action; cites Minn. Stat. § 43A.191 eight times, including subd. 3(c). https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1423361/dl [^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*, release No. 26-21 (Jan. 14, 2026) — release title; Attorney General Bondi's certification of general public importance. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-department-justice-files-lawsuit-against-minnesotas-affirmative-action-regime [^5]: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, *Minn. Stat. § 43A.191* — statute text and history line. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/43A.191 [^6]: *How Minnesota Got Here* (merged master, footnoted), "The laminates," "The dual reading," and sequence tally — §43A.19/.191 (Quie 1981, Perpich rider 1985, thirteen amendments, seven under Republican governors, zero repeals); §201.091 (Anderson 1973 → Walz ×5, no repeal); shared vehicles 1Sp2019 c 10 and 2023 c 62. Validated passage; no URL in pack. [^7]: *The Instrument No One Will Name* (densified draft, June 18, 2026) — the Democratic Attorney General's defense of the statute; Republican chapter and Democratic rider; GOP Feminist Caucus founding, rename and personnel plank. Validated passage; no URL in pack. [^8]: MPR News, *75 years ago, Hubert H. Humphrey called for Dems' "bright sunshine of human rights"* (July 17, 2023) — July 14, 1948 address; plank adopted 651½–582½; Southern walkout July 15, 1948; States' Rights Democratic Party formed. https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2023/07/17/75-years-ago-hubert-h-humphrey-called-for-dems-bright-sunshine-of-human-rights [^9]: Wikipedia contributors, *1948 Democratic National Convention* (Time Table TL-0025) — walkout and Dixiecrat Party formation dated July 17, 1948. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Democratic_National_Convention [^10]: Wikipedia contributors, *Elmer L. Andersen* (Time Table TL-0129) — November 6, 1962 result, 91 votes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_L._Andersen [^11]: Wikipedia contributors, *Karl Rolvaag* (Time Table TL-0134, TL-0184) — March 25, 1963 inauguration; 1966 endorsement loss. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Rolvaag [^12]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, *Staples, Emily Anne* (legislator record) — 1974 party change; first pay equity law (Time Table TL-0276). https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?id=10650 [^13]: Wikipedia contributors, *1974 United States elections* (Time Table TL-0283) — November 5, 1974 post-Watergate results. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_United_States_elections [^14]: Wikipedia contributors, *Wendell R. Anderson* (Time Table TL-0284) — 1974 re-election; DFL statewide offices. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_R._Anderson [^15]: Minnesota Historical Society, MNopedia, *Minnesota Massacre: 1978 Election* (Time Table TL-0337) — 32 House seats lost; 67–67 split, November 7, 1978. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/event/minnesota-massacre-1978-election [^16]: Star Tribune, *DFL's mishandling of 1976 Senate appointment led to party's "Minnesota Massacre"* (Time Table TL-0333) — attribution to the Anderson self-appointment. https://www.startribune.com/dfl-s-mishandling-of-1976-senate-appointment-led-to-party-s-minnesota-massacre [^17]: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, *Laws of Minnesota 1991, chapter 265* (Time Table TL-0556) — charter school enactment; Reichgott Junge as lead Senate author. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1991/0/Session+Law/Chapter/265/ [^18]: Minnesota Secretary of State, *Historical Election Data* (Time Table TL-0674) — November 3, 1998 gubernatorial result. https://www.sos.state.mn.us/election-administration-campaigns/data-maps/historical-election-data/ [^19]: U.S. Congress, *H.Res. 611, 105th Congress* (Dec. 19, 1998) (Time Table TL-0677) — impeachment; Minnesota delegation 6 DFL no, 2 R yes. https://www.congress.gov/bill/105th-congress/house-resolution/611 [^20]: Minnesota Secretary of State (Time Table TL-0735) — Rowley candidacy, MN-2, DFL; loss to Kline in 2006. https://www.sos.state.mn.us/ [^21]: Minnesota Historical Society, *DFL Feminist Caucus records*, finding aid 00173 (Time Table TL-0262, TL-0309, TL-0414, TL-0480) — April 1973 founding; enforcement 1977, 1982, 1986; continuation through 2004. https://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00173.xml [^22]: MinnPost / MNopedia, *The formation of the DFL Party Feminist Caucus* (March 2024) (Time Table TL-0263) — platform support required of endorsed candidates. https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2024/03/the-formation-of-the-dfl-party-feminist-caucus/ [^23]: Supreme Court of the United States, *Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services*, 605 U.S. 303 (2025) — Title VII disparate-treatment holding; rejection of "background circumstances" rule. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-1039_c0n2.pdf [^24]: U.S. Congress, *Iraq Liberation Act of 1998*, Pub. L. 105-338 — "the regime headed by Saddam Hussein"; cited by the project's catalogue (How Minnesota Got Here, note 40). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-105publ338/pdf/PLAW-105publ338.pdf [^25]: Minnesota Time Table row TL-0802 (2011), citing the Revisor's *Minn. Stat. § 43A.191* — thirtieth year; zero challenges. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/43A.191 [^26]: Supreme Court of the United States, *Republican Party of Minnesota v. White*, 536 U.S. 765 (June 27, 2002) — announce clause struck. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/536/765/