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GOP Pick Gazelka For Minn. Senate Majority Leader

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — There's a new face at the center of Minnesota's political power: Sen. Paul Gazelka, a lawmaker from the central part of the state who was elected Senate majority leader by Republicans in the chamber that has a new majority.

Senate Republicans don't quite have a lock on control for 2017. That hinges on a pair of automatic recounts in St. Cloud and Plymouth-area districts, where the GOP candidates have slim leads. In all, the GOP flipped eight districts to wrest a four-year majority away from Democrats on Tuesday. Republicans lost their previous caucus leader, Eden Prairie Sen. David Hann, and a Lakeville district.

Gazelka replaces Hann atop the Republican caucus, and will join Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt at the negotiating table with Gov. Mark Dayton as the Legislature is tasked with setting a two-year budget next year. Eyeing a legislative session with a GOP Legislature going up against a Democratic governor, Gazelka said he'd work to avoid a repeat of 2011, when budget negotiations stalled and led to a 20-day government shutdown.

"I guarantee to do my part to do the best for Minnesota," said Gazelka, a third-term senator from Nisswa with roots in Minnesota's Iron Range. "We have to be able to reach out to the governor and with the House."

Gazelka's selection as majority leader reflects the rural gains Republicans made to take control from Democrats. All but one of the eight seats where the GOP beat incumbent Democrats were in outstate Minnesota.

But despite Republicans' jubilation about holding the state House and retaking the Senate, Gazelka will have to manage a diverse caucus operating within just a one-seat margin. That means he'll have to keep all 34 GOP senators together to pass bills, and earn plenty of Democratic support on major public works borrowing packages that require a three-fifths majority.

Much like Daudt, Gazelka listed tackling exploding health care costs and access questions as a top priority for the legislative session. But among his first decisions: Republican senators will move across the street into a 1-year-old, $80 million Senate Office Building. While in the minority, the Senate GOP had remained in an older structure and described Democrats who used the new building as out of touch and self-serving.

"We decided ahead of time: Once the election was over, we were going to move in," Gazelka said.

(© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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