Minnesota Democratic � Farmer � Labor Party

Party Name

Democratic � Farmer � Labor Party

Chairman

Ken Martin

Senateleader

Tom Bakk

Houseleader

Paul Thissen

Foundation

April 15, 1944

Position

Centre-left

Colours

Blue

Ideology

American Liberalism
Progressivism
Social Democracy Populism

Seats1

Seats in the State Senate

UHseats

Minnesota Democratic � Farmer � Labor Party

Home | American State Political Party | Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party


Seats2	Seats in the House
LHseats
National	Democratic Party
Headquarters	255 Plato Blvd E Saint Paul, MN 55107-1623

The Minnesota Democratic � Farmer � Labor Party (DFL) is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer � Labor Party. Leading the merger effort were Elmer Kelm, the head of the Minnesota Democratic Party; Elmer Benson, effectively the head of the Farmer-Labor Party by virtue of his leadership of its dominant left-wing faction; and rising star Hubert H. Humphrey, who chaired the Fusion Committee that accomplished the union and then went on to chair its first state convention. Members of the party are frequently referred to as "DFLers".

Orville Freeman was elected the state's first DFL governor in 1954. Important members of the party have included Minneapolis mayor Hubert H. Humphrey and Minnesota Attorney General Walter Mondale, who each went on to be United States Senators, Vice Presidents of the United States, and unsuccessful Democratic nominees for president, Humphrey in 1968 and Mondale in 1984; Eugene McCarthy, a Senator who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968 as an anti-Vietnam War candidate; and Paul Wellstone, a Senator from 1991 � 2002 who became an icon of populist progressivism. The party's headquarters are in Saint Paul.