Few people south of Brainerd know that there’s a special election that’s going to be held in the next month. People living in International Falls, Grand Portage and Grand Marais know it well because their representative in the 2015 session, David Dill, passed away this summer after a tough fight with cancer. The DFL hoped to avoid lots of bloodshed by not holding an endorsing convention, which I wrote about here.
I wrote then that “Paul Fish, the DFL chairman of the district, issued a statement on why they chose not to hold an endorsing convention, saying ‘The residents of House District 3A lost a true champion with the passing of Rep. David Dill. The voters of 3A deserve the opportunity to select the DFL candidate who best represents their interests. Therefore, a DFL endorsing convention for the 3A seat will not be held. Participation in the September 29th primary is encouraged.'”
Fish won’t get his wish of not having a food fight after Bill Hansen’s unhinged moment. When talking about PolyMet, Hansen, a hardline environmental activist, flamed out, saying “We need the jobs. Jobs are important. But those aren’t the jobs we want. In this modern age, these projects are going to be man camps … that clear out the community, create a lot of crime, prostitution, gambling. All kinds of community problems and tend to drive out other sustainable jobs.”
That’s stunning. Saying that in a mining district right before a special election can’t be good. Labor’s response was predictable:
“Mr. Hansen has degraded our members for his own personal and political gains. He clearly has a delusional and skewed view of current-day construction workers and the value they bring to their families and community.” — Mike Syversrud, President of the Iron Range Building and Construction Trades Council
I won’t predict the outcome of this special election. I’ll just say that this special election has the potential for some serious fireworks.
fyi - The latest is Branden Petersen will not only decline to run again, but is resigning; so there will be another special election, SD35; GOP side so far filed, (per a report where I lack a link so Gary, please check it out), alphabetical order - Jim Abeler, Andy Aplikowski, Wayne Huizenga. I hope that’s correct and spellings are right. But look into it. I am unaware of any DFL action about the seat, where folks might have previously been waiting on a different timetable.
Detail on timing etc. re a special election is not something I have seen reported online. You might ask Andy.