Once again, this is pretty quick (the tl;dr is just vote for the DFLers, obviously) and I remembered this time to say “in Minneapolis and Saint Paul” instead of “in the metro,” because I don’t write about the suburbs (but you should vote for all the Democrats there, too) (also, for people looking for information on suburban races, check out https://candidatenotes.com/, a blog by someone who is trying to do something similar to this blog but including more than just the cities.) I am relying on MinnPost’s roundup of who’s running.

Senate District 59

Bobby Joe Champion is running unopposed.

Senate District 60

Kari Dziedzic is running unopposed.

Senate District 61

Scott Dibble is running unopposed.

Senate District 62

Omar Fateh is the DFL incumbent. The Republican running against him, Andrew Schmitz, doesn’t have a website but does have a Twitter account where he signal-boosts Jim Schultz and JK Rowling (her post about how her enormous royalty checks reassure her that her anti-trans bullshit is just fine). I would absolutely vote for Omar Fateh.

Senate District 63

Long-time State Senator Patricia Torres Ray is not running again. Zaynab Mohamed is the DFLer running to replace her. Shawn Holster is the Republican. Zaynab’s priorities include a $15/hour minimum wage, paid family and medical leave, the Minnesota Health Plan, and funding for universal Pre-K. Shawn Holster’s priorities include centering cars as much as possible (he calls transit funding “the attempts to limit mobility,” which makes me wonder if he knows anyone over the age of 70, because the absolute #1 reason I’ve seen seniors lose their independence is that they lose the ability to drive while living somewhere with shit transit), school vouchers, and fewer regulations. Also he’s apparently a 3%er. I would vote for Zaynab Mohamed.

Senate District 64

The DFL incumbent is Erin Murphy. Robert Bushard is the Republican. I like Erin a lot (she’s actually my Senator.) Robert is a crank whose website demands a solution to inflation but clearly doesn’t know what that would entail, objects to taxes more or less as a concept, and promotes conspiracy theories about voter fraud. I am going to vote for Erin Murphy.

Senate District 65

The DFL incumbent is Sandy Pappas. Paul Holmgren is the Republican. I think he’s a Qanon-er and he thinks Justice John Roberts is a liberal. I would vote for Sandy Pappas.

Senate District 66

Another confusing redistricting situation — the current Senator for SD 66 is John Marty, but thanks to redistricting he’s now in SD 40, so this is a vacant seat. (There’s a longer explanation here.) The DFLer running is Clare Oumou Verbeten. She’s a solid progressive and is endorsed by all the area Democrats. The Republican running is Mikki Murray. She’s anti-union, pro-school-vouchers, and focuses her website on being pro-cop and anti-taxes. There’s also a Libertarian in this one, Jeremy Peichel. Jeremy is striking for being the first Libertarian I’ve ever seen run on a libertarian affordable-housing platform — I’ve been muttering for years about the fact that “if you own property, you should be able to build a giant apartment complex on it if you want, and capsule apartments and SROs should all be legal” is absolutely a reasonable Libertarian position on the best way to solve the housing crisis, so kudos, dude. (I am curious what his thoughts are on antitrust regulation given that part of the housing affordability crisis has apparently been driven by landlords using a computer algorithm to engage in price-fixing.) He’s also in favor of police reform, transit, and tax form reform (where instead of you having to fill out a complicated form for your tax return, the state sends you a form and lets you send in corrections if something doesn’t look right to you). He also thinks gun owners should have to get a license. Basically: far and away the most tempting Libertarian I have ever seen. I would still vote for Clare Verberten, but there are races where I’d have been tempted by Peichel.

Senate District 67

Foung Hawj is running unopposed.

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