State Legislature: Sundin won't run again

For the first time in 10 years, Esko’s Mike Sundin will not be a District 11A candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Now in his fifth term in the district — which includes all of Carlton County and smaller parts of St. Louis and Pine counties — Sundin said it was health issues and a desire to spend more time with family that prompted his decision.

“After three major surgeries in the past seven years, I’ve decided to hang up the legislative career … for now,” he said. “I dearly love to serve the public. I’m not giving it up, I’m giving it up for now.”

Redistricting was not a factor, he said.

“Redistricting was actually kind to me,” Sundin said. “It’s simply all the medical attention I have needed and will need gives you a different medical perspective on what you want to do with your remaining years.”

Sundin is the current chair of the House Agriculture Finance and Policy committee and said he is particularly proud of the way he has been able to work with members of both parties to get things done. “Last year we were the first ones out in the regular session and we had the most bipartisan bill last year,” he said.

He is working on moving a drought relief bill for farmers in the current session.

Reflecting

Sundin said his experience as a union organizer was crucial to developing negotiating skills, and time on the Cloquet school board also helped.

“I pride myself on cooperation, looking for solutions rather than fights,” he said. “If you’re looking for a fight, you’ll find it. If you’re looking for solutions, then finding a solution will be more likely.”

Sundin will leave office at the end of the year with a long list of things he helped pass, he said. Things like the “creative” legislation that allowed the Moose Lake school district to get 60 percent of its new building costs from the state because of the 2012 flood, along with the waterline from Carlton to Twin Lakes Township that will help people gain access to cleaner and more plentiful water. The line also makes future development such as the planned justice center and jail more feasible. He pushed for financing for the seawalls in Duluth, and supported a female offender program in the county. “Those are meaningful issues for taxpayers,” he said.

In 2019, as chair of the House Labor Committee, he played an instrumental role in the passage of the toughest wage theft prevention and enforcement law in the country. He also successfully championed “Helmets to Hardhats” legislation, a program providing a pathway for veterans to earn apprentices in skilled construction trades.

Sundin said he’ll miss the constituent interactions the most. He tells the story of getting a call from a distraught father whose daughter was born deaf and needed a time-sensitive procedure to help her hear — but he couldn’t get her an appointment because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I threw an elbow toward a Duluth institution and doggone it, they got her in posthaste, and it was pretty touching,” Sundin said with emotion in his voice. “She can hear now and she’s doing fine.”

Holding the seat

Sundin will be 65 when he retires. He is in his 10th year in the state House of Representatives, and has been the only state representative for District 11A since it was created after the 2010 Census. He has been unopposed in the DFL primary since the first election, when he defeated former Cloquet mayor Bruce Ahlgren. In the first general election, Sundin had 64 percent of the votes to Republican Jim Putnam’s 30 percent and Independent candidate Cory Pylkka’s nearly 6 percent. The closest any Republican candidate has come to defeating him was in 2020, when Jeff Dotseth — running for the second time — had 48.5 percent to Sundin’s 51.4 percent. Dotseth said at the February Republican caucus that he is running again.

“I can’t thank people enough for sending me there,” Sundin said. “It's been a wonderful part of my life and I will miss so much of the action, the people. But now it’s time to move on. I’ve got a wonderful wife who I will enjoy more time with.”

Sundin is the 28th member of the House to not seek reelection, according to a list compiled by the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. There are 14 members who plan to seek other seats, mainly in the Senate. There are 134 members of the House.

Sundin is not anointing any successor.

“That’s up to the voters, just like it was when I ran,” he said. “I know there are some promising people who would serve this area quite well, but I’m not going to name names.”

Sundin encouraged constituents to reach out to him with questions, ideas, or requests for assistance by phone at 651-296-4308 or email at [email protected].

Editor's note: A shorter version of this story ran in the print issue of the Pine Knot News.