Rep. John Thompson won’t have the support of the Minnesota DFL as he heads into his first reelection contest.
Thompson lost the endorsement to Liz Lee during the Senate District 67 DFL’s Saturday convention. It’s unclear if Thompson still plans to run in the DFL primary.
Lee was congratulated by House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who leads the House DFL Caucus. That caucus voted to expel Thompson during a closed-door meeting in September after the release of police reports that described his alleged history of domestic abuse. Thompson has never been convicted of domestic abuse and denied the allegations.
The Thompson scandal began when he was pulled over July 4 for driving without a front license plate and presented police with a Wisconsin driver’s license.
This prompted questions about whether he actually lives in the St. Paul district he was elected to represent, since he renewed his Wisconsin license the same month he was elected and opted to keep his address private for security reasons when filing to run for office.
Thompson now has a Minnesota license and took a reporter to his East Side home in October to prove his residency.
While Thompson was dealing with the fallout from his domestic abuse allegations, he was on trial for a misdemeanor obstruction charge for his involvement in a 2019 brawl at North Memorial Hospital. A jury found him guilty.
The first-term Democrat burst onto the political scene in August 2020 when he led a protest outside the home of the former Minneapolis police union president.
Other incumbents who lost their endorsements over the weekend include Republican Sen. Eric Pratt, Republican Rep. Tony Jurgens, and Democratic Sen. Jason Isaacson, who lost to fellow incumbent John Marty.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
