MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Democrat Xp Lee won a special election Tuesday to fill the Minnesota House seat of a top Democratic leader who was assassinated, restoring a 67-67 tie and preserving a power-sharing deal that has forced both parties to work together.

Rep. Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, held the seat until her death in June.

Lee is a former Brooklyn Park City Council member. He defeated Republican real estate agent Ruth Bittner in the heavily Democratic district.

Lee promised he would “work hard every day” to honor Hortman’s legacy.

“We did our best to make her proud: knocking on doors daily, making phone calls, and texting every neighbor we could,” Lee said in a victory statement.

Lee’s win maintains a power-sharing arrangement that existed for most of the 2025 legislative session, after the 2024 elections cost House Democrats their majority.

Former House Speaker Hortman brokered that agreement, which ended Democrats’ three-week boycott. Under the deal, she agreed to end her six-year tenure as speaker and let Republican Lisa Demuth take the position. Hortman then took the title speaker emerita. Most legislative committees became evenly split between Republican and Democratic members, with co-chairs from each party.

The tie in the House meant some level of bipartisan agreement was required to pass anything in this year’s session.