Candidate Profiles: Minnesota House of Representatives

The candidates on your ballot for this race will depend on which Legislative District you live in. To find your Legislative District, put your address in here. You can also find your current representative by putting in your address here.

See the responses to our candidate questionnaire for these races here.

*Denotes incumbent

State Representative District 60A

Diana Halsey

Party: Republican

Policy Stances:

• No information could be found online

Sydney Jordan*

Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Policy Stances:

• Environment
  • We must strengthen the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s ability to protect our air and water by prohibiting self-reporting of emission levels from large scale polluters and cleaning up existing heavy industrial pollution which blocks our riverfront and creates adverse health effects.
• Guns
  • I will fight to pass common-sense gun safety “red flag” and background check laws, as well as an assault weapons ban.
• LGBTQ+ Rights
  • Ban conversion therapy statewide, remove barriers to updating state IDs to reflect changes in gender identity, and pass Logan’s Law
• Public Safety
  • We must reduce incarceration rates, focus on rehabilitation and growth instead of punishment, and eliminate practices that create racial and economic disparities.
• Reproductive Justice
  • I will fight any attempts to restrict access to abortion, and work to undo existing restrictions that stand in the way of our reproductive freedom.
• Voting Rights
  • Election Day should be a state holiday, so that everyone has time to participate in democracy if they choose. I was happy to see a Ranked-choice voting provision in the House Elections bill in 2019 and would support similar measures.

State Representative District 62A

Hodan Hassan*

Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Policy Stances:

• Environment
  • I will be a strong advocate for education and awareness around climate change, and will make sure my advocacy for state energy policies reflects this as well.
    I will pursue green job creation, a cleaner environment and be a voice for these issues in the state legislature
• LGBTQ+ Rights
  • Conversion therapy is still a reality in the state of MN. I will be a bold advocate to end this anti-scientific practice
    I oppose legislation that restricts students to use the bathroom of their choosing and their gender.
    Health coverage that includes transgender people should create robust coverage that is tailored to their specific and unique health needs.
• Public Safety
  • Expand community policing with more police officers coming from the communities that they are intended to serve.
    A civilian oversight committee could help to track police misconduct, and provide a public structure with stronger remedies for police discipline.
    Promote better training programs for de-escalation and cultural competence for our police officers.

Taylor Hammond

Party: Republican

Policy Stances:

• No information could be found online

MN State Representative District 63A

Kyle Bragg

Party: Republican

Policy Stances:

• No information could be found online

Samantha Sencer-Mura

Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Policy Stances:

• Ethnic Studies
  • Implement statewide ethnic studies requirements so students can have access to honest, accurate, and reflective curriculum.
• Environment
  • Job training and investment to create a green workforce.
    Stand with water protectors and support environmental conservation of wild spaces.
    Increase funding for quality public transportation, pedestrian, and bicycle infrastructure.
    Implement rapid decarbonization to get to net-zero emissions.
• Guns
  • Allocate state funding for municipalities to prevent and respond to gun violence.
• LGBTQ+ Rights
  • Fund support to those who experience houselessness at a higher rate, such as LGBTQIA+ youth and adults.
• Public Safety
  • Fund alternatives to armed officers for traffic enforcement, domestic violence response, unhoused community outreach, and mental health crises.
• Reproductive Justice
  • Ensure access to sexual and reproductive healthcare for all people and defend the right to choose, especially for those most marginalized.

State Representative District 64A

Dan Walsh

Party: Republican

Policy Stances:

• Public Safety
  • Maintaining public order and safety, enforcing the law, and preventing, detecting, and investigating criminal activities, are functions we need from policing. Police are entrusted and their support is needed.

Kaohly Her*

Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Policy Stances:

• Environment
  • I will protect our waters from pollutants, ensure our air is clean, support sustainable practices of our food source, and I will invest in sustainable and clean energy.

State Representative District 64B

Dave Pinto*

Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Policy Stances:

• No selected policy areas were addressed

Lorraine Englund

Party: Republican

Policy Stances:

• No information could be found online

State Representative District 65A

John Schonebaum

Party: Republican

Policy Stances:

• No information could be found online

Miki Frost

Party: Legal Marijuana Now

Policy Stances:

• No information could be found online

Samakab Hussein

Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Policy Stances:

• Environment
  • Push for greater renewable energy and green material requirements for new public works and construction projects
    Seek to equitably expand access to public and green transit options
    Ensure that corporations are held accountable for violations of environmental protection laws and standards
• Guns
  • Strengthen common-sense gun violence prevention laws and seek greater compliance and enforcement of existing regulations
    Sponsor legislation that will increase the minimum age to purchase firearms to 21
    Work with fellow legislators to pass red flag laws
• Public Safety
  • Push for legislation that would empower civilian police oversight boards to make findings of fact related to police conduct complaints, and, where misconduct is found, impose sanctions or make enforceable recommendations
    Advocate for divestment from police to other crisis services where appropriate
• Reproductive Justice
  • Do everything in my power to protect a woman’s right to choose
    Support safe-haven legislation that protects women traveling to Minnesota from another state to receive abortion care

MN State House District 65B

Kevin Fjelsted

Party: Republican

Policy Stances:

• No information could be found online

María Isa Pérez-Hedges

Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Policy Stances:

• Ethnic Studies
  • Support teaching accurate Indigenous People’s history
• Environment
  • Prioritize investment in healthy, green infrastructure that uplifts all residents of the district and regenerates our air, land, and waters.
  • Invest in community solar so that our district can be a leader in building an inclusive, healthy economy

State Representative District 66A

Leigh Finke

Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Policy Stances:

• Environment
  • Push strict climate regulations on existing fossil fuels generation.
    Build lots of renewable energy
• Guns
  • Pass red flag laws
    Ban the sale of semi automatic rifles.
• LGBTQ+ Rights
  • I support solidifying our LGBTQ status, starting with a state-wide Equal Rights Amendment. I will also dedicate myself to creating explicit protections that affirm and support trans and gender non-conforming Minnesotans of all ages.
    Lower barriers to healthcare access for insured transgender patients.
    Ban conversion therapy
• Public Safety
  • Anti-racist trainings, de-escalation trainings, end militarization of police and “warrior traninings”
    Fund community-led public safety systems that work with residents and organizers
    Holding cops accountable by ending qualified immunity
    Ban no-knocks warrants and other ‘act-first’ policing tactics.
• Reproductive Justice
  • Protecting access to legal, safe abortion is absolutely necessary.
• Voting Rights
  • Protect the right to vote expand to those who’ve lost their voting rights due to arrest

Trace Johnson

Party: Republican

Policy Stances:

• No selected policy areas were addressed

MN State House District 66B

Athena Hollins*

Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Policy Stances:

• Environment
  • A statewide commitment to 100% clean energy.
    A green economy founded on good, accessible union jobs.
    Electric school buses and public transportation.
    Collaboration with communities of color
• LGBTQ+ Rights
  • Banning Conversion Therapy
• Public Safety
  • Fight to statutorily change the standard for use of force in Minnesota.
    Allow citizens to bring excessive force and equal protection cases, while circumventing the qualified immunity doctrine.
    Push for a creation of state-wide database of all police misconduct.
• Reproductive Justice
  • Ensuring that access to birth control and abortion rights are protected in the state of Minnesota.

Jay Hill

Party: Republican

Policy Stances:

• Ethnic Studies
  • Prohibit race-based and age-inappropriate curricula
• Public Safety
  • Although I do not support defunding the police, I do believe that police reform is needed, including better mental and personality screening to become licensed, actually holding officers accountable for improper acts instead of allowing the legal system and unions to sweep them under the rug and providing additional funding for continued education and training for law enforcement personnel.

State Representative District 67A

Beverly Peterson

Party: Republican

Policy Stances:

• No information could be found online

Liz Lee

Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Policy Stances:

• Environment
  • As we work to rebuild a community for future generations, Liz will welcome investments in green infrastructure and green technology.
• Public Safety
  • By tackling the school-to-prison pipeline, and coming together around policies like fully funding mental health services and investing in affordable housing, we can reduce crime and keep our families safe.

MN State House District 67B

Jay Xiong*

Party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Policy Stances:

• COVID-19 Safety
  • I co-led legislation with my colleague, Rep. Dr. Kelly Morrison, to address disparities in the vaccine rollout program which led to the creation of an equity department in the Minnesota Department of Health.
• Environment
  • I also served as a key negotiator during our working group meetings with the Senate for the Legacy portion of our budget, which invests in protecting and enhancing Minnesota’s outdoor heritage, clean water, arts and cultural heritage, and parks and trails.
    Put our state on a path to reach 100 percent clean energy.
• Guns
  • This also includes moving on popular gun violence prevention methods- banning A.R.s, closing loopholes with universal background checks, and instituting red flag laws.
• Public Safety
  • The Public Safety & Criminal Justice Reform Committee, on which I serve, continued to emphasize the need for community-centered public safety and police accountability, as well as other critical criminal justice reforms needed to address the disproportionate harm our current system has on BIPOC Minnesotans.
• Reproductive Justice
  • Protect Reproductive Rights

Fred Turk

Party: Republican

Policy Stances:

• COVID-19 Safety
  • We need to pass legislation that limits the amount of time that a governor can have executive power and lockdowns.
• Environment
  • I believe that a revenue-neutral carbon tax is the best way to conserve natural resources and slow global warming. In other words I favor lowering income taxes and making up for the lost revenue by raising energy taxes.
    I believe we should stop light rail construction
• Public Safety
  • We need to support our law enforcement and I call for violent criminals to be caught, convicted, and imprisoned.