Competition was slim for two University of Minnesota-area state representatives, Rep. Mohamud Noor, DFL-Minneapolis, and Sen. Kari Dziedzic, DFL-Minneapolis, who both won their seats for another term.
Noor was uncontested for the 60B seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Noor won the seat in 2018. Before that, he spent four years as the executive director of the Confederation of Somali Community Minnesota in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. Noor said he has been in public service, working for the county and the state, for nearly 20 years.
According to Noor, because the University is in his district, whatever happens in his district impacts the entire state.
“This is … about working together, you know. You have to establish relationships, you have to work with others in order to get things done,” Noor said. “When you’re in there, you may represent a district, but you’re representing the state of Minnesota.”
Without a challenger, Noor spent Election Day campaigning for other candidates in greater Minnesota, especially St. Cloud, where he said he is “cautiously optimistic.”
With 100% of precincts reporting, Dziedzic had nearly 86% of votes.
She spent much of Election Day by the phone, calling constituents to make sure they voted. Now, Dziedzic is waiting to see if the state Senate is flipped.
Dziedzic won a special election for her seat in 2012 and has since served the area — which covers Northeast and Southeast Minneapolis and Cedar-Riverside
Dziedzic’s Republican challenger for the Senate District 60 seat, Mary Holmberg, does not have a significant social media presence and her campaign website does not share any extensive details about her platform or experience.
Housing has been a keystone of Dziedzic’s platform. She pushed forward a tenants’ rights bill alongside Rep. Noor last year, which passed with bipartisan support. Moving forward, she said lawmakers need to find a way for more people of color to own homes.
“Now we just need to make sure every vote gets counted,” Dziedzic said. “That will take time. Like everything else in 2020, it looks different, but the integrity of the process is there.”
