An election contest lawsuit has been filed by the Minnesota House Republican candidate Aaron Paul in Scott County. It seeks to block an apparent win by the Democratic incumbent Brad Tabke by having his election certificate withheld and the seat declared vacant. That’s after Scott County acknowledged last week that about 20 ballots were accidentally discarded without being counted. Tabke’s margin of victory was 14 votes.

It’s all intensified further by an election that left the state House of Representatives split down the middle for 2025. And the Scott County race isn’t the only district that could push the house to one side or the other. To explain further, MPR News senior politics editor Brian Bakst joined the program.