State Rep. Peggy Bennett is in her twelfth year as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. During her time in office, she has helped craft state budgets, risen to the rank of committee co-chair, and worked on many different policy issues.
However, Bennett has come away with a grim assessment of Minnesota’s political system, telling Alpha News, “I’m a six-term legislator and have spent 12 years inside this system. Do you know how much we’ve accomplished? Almost nothing! The system is broken.”
Prior to joining the legislature in 2015, Bennett was an elementary school teacher in Albert Lea for more than 30 years. In 2014, she was elected to the Minnesota House and has won reelection ever since. She has routinely beaten her DFL opponents by large margins.
A supporter of term limits, Bennett has decided not to seek reelection this year. Instead, she is taking on a far greater challenge, running to be the next governor of Minnesota.
Alpha News contacted Bennett to learn more about her gubernatorial campaign. Bennett submitted written answers to a series of questions and stressed the need for reform in the state, saying “if we don’t reform the system, we’ll continue to fix nothing.”
Bennett wants to reform omnibus bills and state agencies as governor
Bennett told Alpha News she is running for governor “to fix fraud, education, and crime, but, just as important, I’m here to be a system fixer.” First atop her proposals to fix the state’s political system is reforming the Minnesota Legislature’s use of omnibus bills.
Routinely, lawmakers in the state legislature churn out massive bills filled with hundreds of different policy provisions. Generally, these omnibus bills are sorted by subject area, such as the public safety omnibus bill or the agriculture omnibus bill.
However, those omnibus bills force lawmakers to take a single up-or-down vote on legislation that will change state law in hundreds of ways. Bennett said “these mammoth bills are a major reason our state is in such a mess with all the bad laws.”
In turn, Bennett said she has introduced a bill that will fix this issue “at the committee level.” That bill, HF 3037, would prevent single-subject bills from being folded into large omnibus bills unless two-thirds of a legislative committee approves such a move.
In addition to fighting for that bill as governor, Bennett said she will “veto any omnibus bill with bad legislation in it — send it back for a redo like incomplete homework.”
Highlighting the need for reform at state government agencies, Bennett said she sees state agencies that have “an adversarial relationship with the public built upon promoting fines and penalties, along with tons of red tape.”
Under her administration, Bennett said “every government agency will be focused on, and responsive to, the people and entities they serve — individuals, schools, businesses, farmers, etc.” She said every agency will “operate with customer service as a focus.”
Bennett also wants to reform the administrative rules process used by state agencies. In Minnesota, state agencies adopt internal rules to administer laws passed by the legislature. However, Bennett said agencies “interpret our bills and put rules in place the legislature never intended.”
To fix this, Bennett wants to require agencies to get their rules approved by the legislature.
An uphill battle in the Republican primary for governor
Bennett announced her campaign for governor in January of this year. Since then, she has toured the state and campaigned at local Republican events. However, she is an underdog in the Republican primary race for Minnesota governor.
In the GOP primary, much of the media focus has been on House Speaker Lisa Demuth, businessman Kendall Qualls, and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell. Those three candidates performed the best in February’s precinct caucus straw poll and have raised the most money.
Like Bennett, the other candidates for Minnesota governor have been traveling the state to meet with delegates. In just a few weeks, Republicans will gather at their state convention in Duluth to endorse a candidate for governor.
However, Bennett is not abiding by the GOP endorsement for governor.
“Our current endorsement system is not working,” Bennett told Alpha News. “We keep doing the same thing over and over and endorsing candidates who can never win statewide — yet [we keep] expecting different results.”
Bennett also critiqued Republicans for not “engaging all generations of conservative voters — especially the younger generations,” adding that those voters “need a voice in choosing candidates but will not participate in caucus activities for many different reasons.”
As such, Bennett is going straight to the primary election. To win, she said she will “do exactly what I’ve done in my own district,” which is getting out and listening to people.
“When I meet people, they understand the message and who I am, and they tell their friends,” she said. “The more people I talk to, the more [people] support me because I’m not a typical candidate.”
No Republican who lost the endorsement for governor has gone on to win the GOP primary since 1994. That year, incumbent Gov. Arne Carlson lost the endorsement to Allen Quist, but Carlson went on to win the primary.
A Republican has not won a statewide election in Minnesota since Gov. Tim Pawlenty secured reelection in 2006 by less than one point.
“We are all tired of the screaming back and forth in politics and nothing getting done,” Bennett told Alpha News. “I’m a conservative with strong principles, but that doesn’t mean I can’t talk with people I disagree with. I don’t attack; I listen.”
“When I meet people, we may not always end up agreeing,” she added. “But it’s important to me that they walk away knowing that I am always willing to listen, I will treat them respectfully, and that I care — because I do care.”
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
