Alpha News Elections Update
In Inver Grove Heights Representative Joe Atkins has announced he is not seeking reelection in 2016. This announcement comes a week after news broke that his children received scholarships from an organization he runs. Atkins did not mention the controversy in his press release, but did previously say that he played no part in choosing who received the scholarships. Atkins says he is considering a bid for Dakota County Commissioner.
In district 21A Democrat Lisa Bayley of Red Wing announced she is running against Republican Incumbent Tim Kelly. Bayley is a city council woman and runs her own law office. Bayley claims she is not a “traditional democrat” on certain issues, saying, “There are some things that I’m probably not your traditional democrat, I have strong opinions on land use, personal property rights.”
Bayley says she will focus on bringing workforce housing to her district, explaining, “We’re just crying for workforce housing, there’s not enough places for people to live. We have relatively low unemployment in Red Wing, we have some fantastic large businesses here that employ thousands of people – they can’t get people to move here because there’s nowhere to live.”
A challenger has emerged against Republican United States Representative Erik Paulsen. Democrat Jon Tollefson announced he is running against Paulsen in Minnesota’s Third Congressional District. Tollefson lost during the primary in a 2014 bid for the Minnesota House.
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