The incumbents held strong, easily retaining several posts in the Minnesota Legislature in Tuesday’s elections.
In District 66, Sen. Ellen Anderson, D-St. Paul, was re-elected to her fourth term in office with 71 percent of the vote at press time.
Anderson, an attorney and college instructor, was first elected to the Legislature in 1992.
Anderson is the chairwoman of the Jobs, Housing and Community Development Committee and has focused on neighborhood revitalization, energy, the environment and children’s issues.
Anderson’s challenger, Republican Jeff Carnes, received 29 percent of the vote.
Fellow DFL candidate and incumbent in District 59 Sen. Larry Pogemiller, D-Minneapolis, was also re-elected with 76 percent of the vote.
Pogemiller was first elected to the state Senate in 1980, and this term will be his seventh.
Pogemiller chairs the committee on taxes and also serves on the Education, Environment and Natural Resources and Rules and Administration committees.
Republican challenger Steve Sumner garnered 24 percent of the vote.
In the House, the DFL candidates also prevailed.
In District 66B, Rep. Alice Hausman,
D-St. Paul, was re-elected to her eighth term in office with 69 percent of the vote.
Hausman was first elected to the state House in 1989 and serves on the Environment and Natural Resources Policy Committee, the Transportation Finance Committee and the Transportation Policy Committee.
Republican challenger Andy Carlson, who lobbied against public funding for a stadium and increased funding for education, received 30 percent of the vote.
Rep. Phyllis Kahn, D-Minneapolis, will serve her 18th term representing District 59B after receiving 95 percent of the vote.
Kahn ran unopposed after challenger Jason Samuels, a University senior, was ordered off the ballot by a state Supreme Court ruling in October.
Samuels, who moved in June, had checked the boundaries to make sure he would still be in District 59B. However, new boundaries-drawn in March – had not been updated on the secretary of state’s Web site.
Kahn has served on the Legislature since 1972 and sits on the Capital Investment Committee, the Governmental Operations and Veterans Affairs Policy Committee, the Regulated Industries Committee and the State Government Finance Committee.
