Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District elected Rep. Martin Olav Sabo to his tenth term in Congress on Tuesday.
Sabo, 62, comfortably defeated Republican challenger Frank Taylor, a retired Minneapolis school teacher, and Libertarain candidate Chuck Charnstrom.
Sabo said his first legislative priority in the 100th Congress will be to pass ……. He also said he will continue to sit on the House Appropriations Committee and its transportation subcomittee.
Sabo also said he would “save Social Security.”
Sabo garnered 70.75 percent of the vote, Taylor 19.13 and Charnstrom with 2.51, with 89.29 percent of the polls reporting.
Taylor ran for Sabo’s seat in 1998, winning 28 percent of the vote in that election.
The 2000 election season was low-key in the Fifth District, featuring few lawn signs or television ads. Sabo spent much of the time campaigning for his daughter, Julie Sabo, who won a bid for the state Senate.
His political career began in 1960 when, just 22 years old and fresh out of Augsburg College, Sabo won a seat in the Minnesota Legislature. He became House minority leader in 1968 and speaker of the house after the DFL won the majority in 1972.
Six years later, Sabo was elected to Congress.
Among his chief legislative accomplishments of the last term, Sabo secured funding for a light-rail project in Minneapolis and an air traffic control school at Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prarie.
In 1993, acting as chairman of the House Budget Committee, Sabo played a pivitol role in a push to reduce the budget deficit by supporting a package of spending cuts and tax increases.
Sabo usually votes with the liberal wing of the House, supporting traditional liberal causes such as affordable housing and public transportation.
Todd Milbourn welcomes comments at [email protected]. He can also be reached at (612) 627-4070 x3234.