The following legislative update was written by Elaine Keefe, library lobbyist for the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) and Information Technology Educators of MN (ITEM).

Received Wednesday, November 5, 2014 at 4:35 pm

Statewide Races:  Last night Governor Dayton was re-elected with just over 50% of the vote.  It is the first time since 1994 that a Minnesota governor was elected with more than 50% of the vote.  Attorney General Lori Swanson and State Auditor Rebecca Otto were re-elected and Steve Simon was elected Secretary of State, completing a DFL sweep of the state constitutional offices.

Minnesota House of Representatives:  Republicans picked up 11 seats and won a 72-62 majority in the House.  No Republican incumbents were defeated.  11 DFL incumbents were defeated.  10 of those who were defeated represented Greater Minnesota.  6 of them were in their first term.

The incumbents who were defeated are:

Rep. Roger Erickson (DFL – Baudette)

Rep. Joe Radinovich (DFL – Crosby)

Rep. John Ward (DFL – Baxter)

Rep. Tim Faust (DFL – Hinckley)

Rep. Jay McNamar (DFL – Elbow Lake)

Rep. Zach Dorholt (DFL – St. Cloud)

Rep. Andrew Falk (DFL – Murdock)

Rep. Mary Sawazky (DFL – Willmar)

Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL – Faribault)

Rep. Shannon Savick (DFL – Wells)

Rep. Will Morgan (DFL – Burnsville)

Contact Your House Member:  Now is the ideal time to send a friendly note congratulating your House member on being elected or re-elected.  Offer to be a resource to him or her on any library issues.  You can find contact information for all new and returning House members in a directory posted on the House website: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hinfo/leginfo/elecdir14.pdf

Elaine Keefe
Capitol Hill Associates
525 Park Street, Suite 310
St. Paul, MN 55103
office 651-293-0229
cell 612-590-1244
elaine@capitolhillassoc.com

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/p4m2ool, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0