OUR VIEW: Parties make their election choices

Last week, we pointed out that elections are right around the corner. With social distancing affecting traditional campaigning, and also becoming an issue in itself — should our representatives have such power to quarantine us for so long? — our need for “normalcy” affects how we’ll all vote this fall.

So we were interested to see the endorsements made by the two major parties for Minnesota State House District 11A, which is essentially all of Carlton County.

The incumbent received the DFL party’s endorsement: Rep. Mike Sundin, from Esko, has represented Carlton County in the House since he was first elected in 2012. His experience as a union labor leader led to chair of the House labor committee, and he also serves on three other committees: environment and natural resources; job growth and energy affordability; and transportation. If re-elected, he plans to continue his work while focusing on workers’ ability to get a fair shot at fair wages, as he told the Pine Knot News.

His challenger is Jeff Dotseth, a Moose Lake area real estate agent and businessperson who ran — unsuccessfully but surprisingly well — against the DFL incumbent in 2018. Dotseth is a conservative who believes the state’s tax burden is too high, and that government is too big but could be used more efficiently to help business, especially small businesses, and jobs flourish. If elected, he said to the Pine Knot News, his goal is to help families and businesses recover from the sacrifices they have made during the pandemic.

Expect to see and hear from both candidates as they campaign for Minnesota House District 11A this season. Providing information on candidates is important to the Pine Knot News, and we encourage voters to educate themselves on all candidates as they decide whom to support in this fall’s elections.

We welcome your input to the Pine Knot News.

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