Key dates in Minnesota's political history

March 3, 1849: Minnesota organized as a territory.

Sept. 3, 1849: First state Territorial Legislature convenes.

Feb. 26, 1857: Congress passes enabling act authorizing a state government for Minnesota.

June 1, 1857: Republican and Democratic delegates elected to state's constitutional convention.

July 13-Aug. 29, 1857: Minnesota constitutional convention held in St. Paul.

Oct. 13, 1857: Minnesota voters ratify state constitution and elect executive, legislative and judicial officers.

Dec. 3, 1857: First Minnesota Legislature convenes.

May 24, 1858: Minnesota state officers take oaths of office. Henry H. Sibley assumes office as Minnesota's first governor.

1868: Minnesota voters ratify constitutional amendment giving blacks the right to vote. 39,493 voted in favor of the amendment, while 30,121 voted no.

Aug. 22, 1888: Minnesota Farm and Labor Party organized from the combined Minnesota Alliance, a farmers group, and the Knights of Labor. The Farm and Labor party disintegrated following the failure of Ignatius Donnelly's candidacy for governor that year.

June 7-10, 1892: Minnesota hosts Republican National Convention.

Sept. 18, 1900: First direct primary election in the U.S. is held in Minnesota.

Aug. 24, 1918: Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party organized from the Nonpartisan League and the Minnesota Federation of LaborSeptember 1919: Minnesota becomes the 15th state to ratify the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote in state and national elections.

Jan. 2, 1923: Minnesota Legislature convenes with its first women members in the House.

Nov. 4, 1930: Floyd B. Olson elected governor on the Farmer-Labor ticket promising radical economic reform in response to the Great Depression.

Nov. 8, 1938: Republican Harold Stassen elected governor at age 31, sweeping Farmer Labor officials from office.

April 27, 1943: Stassen resigns to enter the Navy.

Nov. 2, 1948: Hubert H. Humphrey elected to U.S. Senate.

Nov. 2, 1954: Coya Knutson elected to U.S. House, becoming the first woman from Minnesota to be elected to Congress.

March 21, 1963: Karl Rolvaag declared winner of 1962 Minnesota gubernatorial race, defeating incumbent Elmer L. Andersen by 91 votes in a recount that took 139 days.

Nov. 3, 1964: Minnesota Senator Hubert H. Humphrey elected U.S. vice president.

Aug. 28, 1968: Hubert H. Humphrey wins the Democratic presidential nomination.

Nov. 3, 1970: Minnesota voters ratify constitutional amendment reducing the voting age from 21 to 19.

Nov. 7, 1972: The DFL gains control of the Legislature; it's the first time since 1859 that Democrats have a majority in both houses.

Aug. 13, 1973: Gov. Wendell Anderson appears on the cover of Time magazine as a symbol of the “good life” in Minnesota.

Nov. 2, 1976: Senator Walter Mondale elected vice president of the United States.

June 1977: Justice Rosalie Wahl becomes the first woman appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Jan. 25, 1978: Muriel Humphrey is appointed to her late husband's Senate seat becoming the first woman to serve in the Senate from Minnesota.

Nov. 8, 1978: Republicans end decades of DFL dominance as they win two U.S. Senate seats and the governorship in the “Minnesota Massacre”.

1980: Minnesota voters ratify constitutional amendment requiring campaign spending limits for executive and legislative offices and public disclosure of campaign spending for all state candidates.

Nov. 2, 1982: Minnesota voters ratify constitutional amendment authorizing on-track pari-mutuel betting on horse racing.

1988: Minnesota voters ratify constitutional amendment to permit the legislature to authorize a state-operated lottery.

Nov. 3, 1998: Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is elected governor of Minnesota.

Jan. 29, 2002: Mee Moua becomes the nation's first Hmong state legislator when she wins a special election to fill the seat vacated when Randy Kelly was elected mayor of St. Paul.

Oct. 25, 2002: U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone dies in plane crash.

Nov. 5, 2002: Former St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman defeats Walter Mondale in U.S. Senate election; state Rep. Tim Pawlenty elected governor.

Sept. 27, 2006: Twin Cities chosen as site of 2008 Republican National Convention.