The Hillary 12 vs. the Donald 7: meet the districts that may decide control of the Minnesota House
Insiders call them “borrowed ground” or even “rented districts.”
They are the dozen or so Minnesota state House districts carried by Hillary Clinton two years ago but narrowly won by Republicans lawmakers in the same election. Now they are the focus of both parties’ attempts to control the body.
With an open governor’s seat and the state Senate likely to remain in a one-seat GOP majority, the 134 House seats on the November ballot will either give the Republicans complete control of the state Legislature — or ensure that Democrats have a share of power.
Rep. Dario Anselmo, R-Edina, has the distinction of being at the top of DFL’s target list. Anselmo lost the district narrowly to Republican-turned-DFLer Ron Erhardt in 2014, and probably should have lost it by even more in 2016, given that the district went for Clinton by a margin of 27.3 percent over Trump. But Erhardt proved vulnerable, partly due to his own antics on the House floor that included licking a coffee cup while debating a bill that would have made it a crime to put bodily fluids in someone’s food or drink.
his time around, Heather Edelson, also of Edina, is the DFL candidate in District 49A, and the party has already been sending mail into the district attacking Anselmo. The ad is similar to mail pieces that have gone into other targeted districts, and it accuses GOP incumbents of supporting corporate tax breaks while underfunding public schools.
Unlike Anselmo’s, some of the Clinton districts have Republican incumbents with electoral histories that go back further than the 2016 election. Rep. Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth, has been in District 44A since 2006. Rep. Jenifer Loon, R-Eden Prairie, has represented District 48B since 2008.
The others districts among the Hillary 12 are 33B (Cindy Pugh of Chanhassen), 34B (Dennis Smith of Maple Grove), 42A (Randy Jessup of Shoreview), 52B (Regina Barr of Inver Grove Heights), 53B (Kelly Fenton of Woodbury), 54A (Keith Franke of South St. Paul), 56A Drew Christensen of Savage), 56B (Roz Peterson of Lakeville) and 57B (Anna Wills of Rosemount).
https://www.minnpost.com/uncategorized/2018/08/hillary-12-vs-donald-7-meet-districts-may-decide-control-minnesota-house/
= new reply since forum marked as read
