Martin Sabo

The Making of the Modern Legislature

Lori Sturdevant

Minnesota Historical Society Press (August 2025)

Description

US Congressman Martin Sabo’s early work in Minnesota state government set the mold for how state legislatures across the country have operated since, and continues to wield influence today. 

Known best as the former US Representative of Minnesota’s Fifth District, with twenty-eight years of service including leadership roles on key committees, Martin Sabo also made significant contributions to American political life earlier in his career, while serving in the Minnesota state legislature.

Minnesota has long been acknowledged as the state that works. Its government has been celebrated, if occasionally contested, and has been emulated by other states for decades. But today’s modern, professional state legislature was not inevitable. In the late 1960s–early 1970s Minnesota took a giant step toward a state government that fairly represents all the state’s regions and populations, one that operates in public view. It was a government that shouldered increased responsibility for the education and well-being of its citizens. And it served as an operational model for legislatures around the country.

At the center of those changes was a modest young man from tiny Alkabo, North Dakota, Martin Olav Sabo. Sabo demonstrated an understanding of representative democracy and a quality of leadership that made him a highly effective catalyst for positive change. He spent his entire adult life in public service, but it was during his years as DFL minority leader and as speaker of the Minnesota House that he did his most transformative and enduring work—remaking legislatures for the better. In Martin Sabo, award-winner author Lori Sturdevant transports readers to the farm and the city, to the campaign trail and the capitol, and to the rooms where so many things happened.

Enhancing Sabo’s rich legacy, this volume focuses attention on his early career and the systemic, foundational contributions to governance his efforts accomplished. 

Author Information

Lori Sturdevant reported on state and local politics during a forty-three-year career at the Minnesota Star Tribune. The author or editor of thirteen books, she is a three-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award. She lives in St. Paul.