ST PAUL — All 134 seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives are up for reelection this year. Many of those races are already decided and will likely be won by incumbents or the party with influence in the region.
But the elections in the three states could be indicators of the state’s future political trends, especially in northeastern and southeastern Minnesota.
Both regions are already in transition, and this election could mark the end or the beginning of a battle over which party will control these regions.
While the rest of southeastern Minnesota still appears to be dominated by Republicans, Olmsted County, the state’s largest county, began moving leftward in the 2008 presidential election, when voters cast a modest support for Democrat Barack Obama.
Today, the region’s once moderately conservative heartland has become a staunch Democratic outpost, at times more aligned in values and politics with the Twin Cities than the more conservative rural counties surrounding it.
Rochester Democratic caucus members Andy Smith and Kim Hicks will face off against a new breed of Republican candidate modeled on former President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.
Hicks, who was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2022, will face off against Rochester sales executive Ken Navitsky.
Navitsky said he was running to reduce crime, cut red tape, lower taxes and improve the education system.
Navitsky ran in the Republican special election primary to replace the late Rep. Brad Finstad in the 1st Congressional District, where he was elected. Navitsky also ran to represent the 25th Senate District in 2022, but lost to Sen. Liz Boldon, a Democrat.
Smith’s opponent, Wes Rand, also takes many standard Republican positions such as lowering taxes and tougher sentencing. He has become a fixture in Rochester politics, frequently posting videos on social media attacking Rochester Mayor Kim Norton and blasting a city he sees as being run by incompetent liberals.
Both Smith and Hicks have campaigned on reproductive rights, affordable health care and environmental protections.
Northeastern Minnesota faces a similar situation to Olmsted County, but the DFL is at a disadvantage as it continues to lose support from voters in the Iron Range.
Recently, Rep. David Lisselgard, D-Aurora, announced he would not seek reelection. He was first elected to the House in 2018, but three candidates — one Democrat and two Republicans — are trying to fill the void left by his decision.
For the DFL, Lorie Giannatopoulos is no political newcomer: She ran for St. Louis County Commissioner in 2010 and unsuccessfully for the Minnesota State House in 2012.
She previously worked for the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency in Virginia and Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
She said on her campaign website that her local experience will help her tackle issues such as workforce development, education and natural resource management.
She is likely to face off against Republican-endorsed candidate Carl Worwas in November.
Worwas, the steelworkers’ union leader, is the type of politician who has undermined Democratic influence in northeastern Minnesota, and his focus on expanding mining opportunities on the Iron Range will be a challenge that Janathopoulos will have to address as November approaches.
Despite receiving the Republican endorsement, Worwas will face off against Matt Matasich in the August primary.
Matacic ran unsuccessfully for state representative from 2000 to 2016 and ran unsuccessfully for St. Louis County commissioner in 2022.
During the 2022 campaign, he said that if elected, “county bureaucracy will have to develop new ways of operating that are taxpayer-friendly.”
If Giannatopoulos fails to secure a Democratic victory, Sen. Grant Hauschild, D-Hermantown, will be the last remaining Democrat in the Iron Range district.
