Move or move on? New districts put some incumbents in tough spot
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At noon on Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen found out she’d been shifted into the same district as fellow DFL Sen. Ron Latz in new court-drawn political maps.
By noon Thursday, she was still on the fence about her next move, which might involve an actual move.
“I'm getting calls from real estate folks,” the Edina lawmaker said with a laugh.
“There's different considerations. And I don't think anybody makes a decision of this nature overnight,” she said. “So that's what I'm telling my members and my colleagues — to give us grace. Anybody in that position that they need to make a determination, we have a weekend ahead. I think a lot of us are going to take that weekend and talk to family and friends.”
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The district López Franzen landed in is just a fraction of the one she represents now and comprises much more of the territory that Latz, of St. Louis Park, has represented in the House and Senate since 2003. He previously announced his bid for reelection and for now is pressing ahead.
“We respect and admire each other professionally,” Latz said of the odd spot he and his caucus leader are now in. “And as long as we treat each other that way, I don't see how any corrosiveness will develop, let alone spread in any other direction.”
Similar quandaries are happening across the Capitol.
There are more than 20 pairings in the House, although some involve incumbents who previously said they wouldn’t try for another term. The Senate has nine member versus member districts, but that list shrinks when retiring senators are removed from the equation.
Across the two chambers, 29 lawmakers have already said they wouldn’t run again or they would aim for a different job, either at the Capitol or elsewhere in politics. That retirement list is sure to grow in a year when all 201 seats are on the line.
Sen. Julie Rosen, one of the Republican caucus’ most-senior members and chair of the powerful finance committee, joined the roster of departures on Thursday. She found herself paired with Sen. Rich Draheim of Madison Lake, chair of the housing committee and a second-term lawmaker.
“Representing the people of southern Minnesota for two decades has been a tremendous honor and I have treasured my time in the Senate,” Rosen said in a statement in which she endorsed Draheim.
Some lawmakers have already announced they would or already had moved since their last race. And others are working to find harmony in private.
Most of the faceoffs involve members of the same party — a product of partisan concentration by geography — but there are a handful where incumbents of opposite parties could square off in November.
The new maps were delivered by a special five-judge court panel, which said incumbency was not a consideration. The courts acted because the Legislature failed to finish its maps before a Feb. 15 deadline.
There have been a cascade of candidate announcements since.
Republican Sen. Gene Dornik of Hayfield declared he would move rather than face GOP Sen. Carla Nelson of Rochester, chair of the tax committee.
Former Republican Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch said she was struck by how many incumbents were thrown together. And she said she was worried about the number of pairings that involve women given that far more men serve in the Legislature. She said she hopes that’s a factor in candidate recruiting for open seats.
“It’s important to have a mix of voices. And just in general in politics, women are still underrepresented. So I always say, find the best candidate,” she said. “But I will also say, when all everything is equal, choose a woman candidate.”
For those who do decide to uproot, they actually have to change their residence, not just rent a room or bring their toothbrush to a new town on occasion.
Residency challenges have been brought before, and the state Supreme Court has invalidated candidates, including incumbents, who have tried to get too loose with their home address. In 2016, Republican Rep. Bob Barrett was removed from the ballot after his residency came under scrutiny; Barrett accused Democratic opponents of spying on him.
Candidates have until six months prior to the general election on Nov. 8 to establish their new residency. That means moving by early May, but practically speaking a relocation must come sooner because endorsing conventions will occur before then.
First-term GOP Rep. Bjorn Olson said he had moved – he had occupied the boyhood home of former Vice President Walter Mondale in Elmore — to Fairmont. It shifted him away from one pairing but left him with another potential incumbent matchup — against Rep. Jeremy Munson of Lake Crystal, who is part of a breakaway Republican caucus.
López Franzen isn’t the only leader who got lumped with a fellow caucus member. Republican House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt of Zimmerman found himself with longtime Rep. Sondra Erickson of Princeton; a resolution to that situation is still pending.
López Franzen said she has to account for her young family as she contemplates her future. And she grasps that many of her current constituents would be outside the lines of the new district if she doesn’t move.
“I would be introducing myself to 75 percent of a new district and I would have to move to represent the other 75 percent I used to represent,” she said.
As for Latz, he said, “We’re just going to let the process play out.”