I was at a wake this evening for a long time DFLer

[dflprincess]

2. The Democratic Farmer Labor party

Once upon a time in Minnesota there were two parties (besides the Republicans), the Democratic and the Farmer Labor party. The Farmer Labor party, more to the left, had some success during the Depression but as the economy improved it became apparent that the two parties were splitting the vote and allowing the Republicans to win elections. So, in 1944 they merged and became the Democratic Farmer Labor party.

After the merger, Hubert Humphrey and other Democrats set about trying to purge the Farmer Laborites from the party (claiming they were commies) - how successful they were depends on who you talk to. Every now and then someone in the party makes some noise about dropping the Farmer Labor part of the name but (to date) that has proved unpopular.

Here's the strict party line on the history - note how they don't really tell you much about the Farmer Laborites:

https://www.dfl.org/about-our-party/overview-dfl-history/

I think Wiki may have some info on the Farmer Labor party but I can't get the link to work.