Half the Minnesota House stood empty on Tuesday when the state Legislature convened for its session and Democrats didn't show up amid a bitter power dispute.

A one-seat Republican majority in the Statehouse and a looming special election made for a tense start to a new era of divided government.

Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar, both of Texas, were the only Democrats to side with Republicans on Tuesday to pass legislation meant to bar transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports.

The House voted to pass a bill that would ban transgender athletes from participating in women and girls' sports in federal funded schools.

The new House made transgender students in sports one of its first priorities for 2025. The bill’s path in the Senate is unclear.

Steve Simon, who as secretary of state initiates the first House proceedings, ruled there was not a quorum present and adjourned the session. Republicans argued he couldn’t do that.

Lubbock Republican state Rep. Dustin Burrows clenched the speakership of the Texas House on Tuesday in the culmination of an unusually long and unusually public mudfight for the role. As expected, Burrows relied on a coalition of Democratic and Republican members to win,

The trial lawyer from Lubbock has served in the House since 2015, slowly building his stature and overcoming a scandal in 2019.