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naomikritzerSo I'm just going down the ballot in order, and next up on your ballot will be State Rep. I used to live in 63A, where I was represented by Jim Davnie. Now I live in 64B, where I am represented by Michael Paymar but won't be for very much longer because he's retiring.
All the interesting stuff in 64B actually happened back in March, when there was an endorsing convention. I went. It was, to my surprise, significantly faster and more efficient than the endorsing conventions in Minneapolis have ever been. The DFL endorsed candidate is Dave Pinto, who I like quite a bit, though he wasn't my first choice going in. (My first choice going in didn't even make it to the second round of voting, alas.)
Anyway, I'll do Minneapolis first. For State Representative District 63A, your choices are:
KYLE BRAGG - REPUBLICAN
JIM DAVNIE - DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR
Kyle Bragg appears to have no website. When I googled for his name, I found a union organizer who lives in Queens; I'm thinking this is probably a different Kyle Bragg. (I mean, there are Republican union members -- it does happen -- but you can't run for the Minnesota House of Representatives if you life in New York.) The New York Kyle Bragg actually sounds pretty damn cool
The Minneapolis Kyle Bragg has a LinkedIn profile that says he's a lease specialist for an office machines company; his Facebook page has a lovely picture of Minnehaha Falls in winter, so I'm pretty sure I'm looking at the right guy.
Anyway, the bottom line is, he's not a serious candidate; if you can't even be bothered to set up a Facebook page for your candidacy, you're not actually running for office even if you've filed for it.
Jim Davnie
I have known Jim for over fourteen years; I was pregnant with Molly (and his wife was pregnant with their older daughter) when he ran for office the first time. Jim is smart, funny, honest, thoughtful, and an amazing speaker. If you live in his district, not only should you vote for him, you should seek him out at neighborhood events to chat. Jim is freaking awesome. I would vote for him for anything. Well, maybe not Attorney General. I think you're supposed to have gone to law school to be AG.
On to St. Paul.
This district has been represented by Michael Paymar since 1996. Paymar is stepping down at the end of this session, so there's no incumbent. You might think this would have led to a bunch of people filing, but nope. For State Representative District 64B, your choices are:
DANIEL SURMAN - REPUBLICAN
DAVE PINTO - DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR
According to the Pioneer Press, Daniel Surman is an office director for a Republican campaign office covering the 4th Congressional District. In the MNGOP notice about the endorsing convention they held in July, they note that Daniel Surman is the only candidate who filed, and adds, "With the retirement of former-Rep Michael Paymar, he hopes to rally Republicans in our community to make sure our next State Representative will be a Republican!"
So possibly the problem is "rallying Republicans in our community." I mean, I know there are a few. But you'd be hard-pressed to find them. Even though Daniel is so Republican he works for the party, and even though he has a Twitter, a blog, and another blog (this one's with a group of bloggers), he doesn't seem to have a campaign site of any kind. In other words, like the guy in 63A, he filed but he's not actually running.
If you're a Republican you'll probably vote for him anyway, although you might ask yourself, don't you want a State Rep who acts like he wants the job of representing you?
Dave Pinto is a county prosecutor. During endorsement season he held "conversations" (with topics) rather than meet-and-greets, which was an interesting idea. He doorknocked us at least once and I also talked with him on the phone; I found him thoughtful and engaged. When he doesn't have an answer, he'll ask for your ideas (as opposed to pulling buzzwords out of his ass to try to make it sound like he has all the answers.)
Anyway, I think Pinto's going to be an excellent State Rep, and I'm planning to vote for him.
All the interesting stuff in 64B actually happened back in March, when there was an endorsing convention. I went. It was, to my surprise, significantly faster and more efficient than the endorsing conventions in Minneapolis have ever been. The DFL endorsed candidate is Dave Pinto, who I like quite a bit, though he wasn't my first choice going in. (My first choice going in didn't even make it to the second round of voting, alas.)
Anyway, I'll do Minneapolis first. For State Representative District 63A, your choices are:
KYLE BRAGG - REPUBLICAN
JIM DAVNIE - DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR
Kyle Bragg appears to have no website. When I googled for his name, I found a union organizer who lives in Queens; I'm thinking this is probably a different Kyle Bragg. (I mean, there are Republican union members -- it does happen -- but you can't run for the Minnesota House of Representatives if you life in New York.) The New York Kyle Bragg actually sounds pretty damn cool
The Minneapolis Kyle Bragg has a LinkedIn profile that says he's a lease specialist for an office machines company; his Facebook page has a lovely picture of Minnehaha Falls in winter, so I'm pretty sure I'm looking at the right guy.
Anyway, the bottom line is, he's not a serious candidate; if you can't even be bothered to set up a Facebook page for your candidacy, you're not actually running for office even if you've filed for it.
Jim Davnie
I have known Jim for over fourteen years; I was pregnant with Molly (and his wife was pregnant with their older daughter) when he ran for office the first time. Jim is smart, funny, honest, thoughtful, and an amazing speaker. If you live in his district, not only should you vote for him, you should seek him out at neighborhood events to chat. Jim is freaking awesome. I would vote for him for anything. Well, maybe not Attorney General. I think you're supposed to have gone to law school to be AG.
On to St. Paul.
This district has been represented by Michael Paymar since 1996. Paymar is stepping down at the end of this session, so there's no incumbent. You might think this would have led to a bunch of people filing, but nope. For State Representative District 64B, your choices are:
DANIEL SURMAN - REPUBLICAN
DAVE PINTO - DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR
According to the Pioneer Press, Daniel Surman is an office director for a Republican campaign office covering the 4th Congressional District. In the MNGOP notice about the endorsing convention they held in July, they note that Daniel Surman is the only candidate who filed, and adds, "With the retirement of former-Rep Michael Paymar, he hopes to rally Republicans in our community to make sure our next State Representative will be a Republican!"
So possibly the problem is "rallying Republicans in our community." I mean, I know there are a few. But you'd be hard-pressed to find them. Even though Daniel is so Republican he works for the party, and even though he has a Twitter, a blog, and another blog (this one's with a group of bloggers), he doesn't seem to have a campaign site of any kind. In other words, like the guy in 63A, he filed but he's not actually running.
If you're a Republican you'll probably vote for him anyway, although you might ask yourself, don't you want a State Rep who acts like he wants the job of representing you?
Dave Pinto is a county prosecutor. During endorsement season he held "conversations" (with topics) rather than meet-and-greets, which was an interesting idea. He doorknocked us at least once and I also talked with him on the phone; I found him thoughtful and engaged. When he doesn't have an answer, he'll ask for your ideas (as opposed to pulling buzzwords out of his ass to try to make it sound like he has all the answers.)
Anyway, I think Pinto's going to be an excellent State Rep, and I'm planning to vote for him.
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Date: 2014-09-10 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-11 02:46 am (UTC)Some qualified Republican who's willing to lose?"
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Date: 2014-09-11 02:58 am (UTC)The thing is, every now and then something really weird happens, like the person everyone expected to win gets indicted. Or drops dead. Or is caught up in a scandal involving skinny-dipping teenagers. And you can win by default, if you're on the ballot. But somebody has to run.