In one of the strangest power moves in the wake of last week’s election, Minnesota’s Republican Senate majority rallied around a Democrat, elevating Sen. David Tomassoni of Chisholm to serve as Senate president.

On a near-unanimous 63-4 vote, Republicans joined with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) minority in installing Tomassoni at least temporarily as leader of the chamber.

The unusual move was triggered by fears that President-elect Joe Biden would soon name Sen. Amy Klobuchar to his cabinet.  Gov. Tim Walz is widely expected to appoint Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan to fill Klobuchar’s Senate seat, and state law automatically promotes the Senate president into the lieutenant governor’s office in case of such a vacancy.

The current Senate president, Republican Jeremy Miller of Winona, stepped aside to avoid being named lieutenant governor – and to save the Republicans from losing their 1-seat advantage in the Senate.

Another rationale for the strange turn of events:  fear that Republicans might lose Miller’s mid-state district if put to a special election.  The GOP is more confident that it could win in Tomassoni’s district in the state’s northern Iron Range.

Minnesota has seen this movie before.  In 2017, former Gov. Mark Dayton appointed his lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, to fill the remainder of Sen. Al Franken’s term.  For six months Senate President Michelle Fischbach, who by law became lieutenant governor, refused to surrender her Senate seat, insisting she could hold both jobs simultaneously.

Once Fischbach quit the Senate, a lawsuit seeking to force her from office was declared moot, leaving unresolved the underlying legal questions.

Smith won re-election in 2018 and continues to serve in the U.S. Senate.  Fischbach was recently elected to Congress from Minnesota’s 7th District.