The tl;dr here: just vote for the DFLer in all of these. My least-favorite Democrats are all still better than Republicans.
State Senate District 59
Bobby Joe Champion is running unopposed.
State Senate District 60
Senator Doron Clark (originally elected in the special election in 2025, after Senator Kari Dziedzic died of cancer) is running for re-election. Back during the Special Primary, people described him over and over as the kind of guy who shows up, and he’s continued showing up since getting elected. Republican Abigail Wolters is running against him again. I e-mailed her when she ran in 2022 asking who she thought won the 2020 election; she did not reply. She wants school vouchers, she wants to “eliminate unfunded mandates” which generally means special ed, and she scaremongers about crime. Vote for Doron Clark.
State Senate District 61
Scott Dibble is running unopposed.
State Senate District 62
Omar Fateh had an opponent in the primary but is unopposed in the general.
State Senate District 63
Zaynab Mohammed was elected in 2022. Her website has a lot of focus on affordable housing. Diane Napper ran for House in 2024. She is married to Trumpy weirdo Shawn Holster, who ran for this senate seat in 2022. Her website talks about how bad the schools are (I assume she’s pro-voucher but she doesn’t say), how bad crime is, and how bad taxes are. I e-mailed her in 2024 to ask who she thought won the 2020 Presidential election and she did not reply. Vote for Zaynab Mohammed.
State Senate District 64
Erin Murphy is my State Senator and is terrific. She’s probably best known for her work on health care for all. Robert Bushard is an elderly crank who ran for Ward 4 City Council in 2023 and bragged about personally clearing a homeless encampment; referred to the murder of George Floyd as “the death of a career criminal;” scaremongered about LGBTQ+ people; suggested banning bail funds; and flirted with election denial. His current website calls Tim Walz “Governor Runaway Tampon Timmy Awolz.” Vote for Erin Murphy.
State Senate District 65
Senator Sandy Pappas is not running again, so this is an open seat. The DFLer running is Robyn Gully, a West St. Paul City Council Rep who has spent years working in labor organizing. She sounds great. The woman she beat in the primary, who failed to respond to my question about her stances on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, Natasha Bennett, is running a write-in campaign. There is also a Republican in the race, Chris Rocco, who apparently is on the ballot as “_Rocco” (the underscore is included on the ballot). His absolute jaw-dropping awfulness is summed up pretty neatly by the fact that he’s the guy woxesho proposed the “moment of silence” for convicted murderer Derek Chauvin at the GOP State Convention (the motion passed and they did, in fact, hold a moment of silence for a murderer; bear that mind the next time Republicans yap about being tough on crime.) He’s also been putting campaign stickers on people’s mailboxes (which is illegal) and in the discussion thread about that, someone alleged that he sexually assaulted them. None of the Republicans running are good; Rocco is a dumpster fire in a toxic waste dump, and the more you look the worse he gets. Vote for Robyn Gully.
State Senate District 66
Clare Oumou Verbeten is the DFLer who is just finishing her first term. Her website calls out “fighting fascism” as her top issue. Her Republican opponent, Kathleen Bart, is running on hating trans girls specifically, massively reducing family and medical leave, and getting rid of universal free lunches (“Why are taxpayers paying for wealthy children’s meals?” Well, for one thing, because there are no wealthy children. There are children with wealthy parents, and some wealthy parents are jerks. We can collect from the wealthy parents by raising taxes on them!) Vote for Clare.
State Senate District 67
Foung Hawj has been in the State Senate since 2013. His website highlights the rental assistance passed in the legislature to help people struggling during and after Metro Surge. His Republican opponent, Toby Hesselgrave, has no website and has responded to no questionnaires but I did find his Facebook. It’s a mix of right-wing AI slop, transphobia, racism, classic cars (apparently he does classic car restoration — whether as a business or a hobby, I’m not sure) and insisting that Katie Zacharia is a lawyer even though she never passed the bar. Vote for Foung Hawj.
State House District 59A
Fue Lee is unopposed.
State House District 59B
Esther Agbaje was elected in 2019. Her website highlights first-time buyer help and tenant protections (especially during the pandemic) as well as authoring the CROWN Act, barring hairstyle-based discrimination against Black people in schools and workplaces. (I think it actually bans hairstyle-based discrimination against anyone, but this comes up a lot more for Black people.) Her Republican opponent is Kenneth Smoron, a Log Cabin Republican (which is to say, he’s gay but apparently hates taxes more than he likes having rights.) Vote for Esther Agbaje.
State House District 60A
The incumbent is Sydney Jordan, who originally won in a special election in early 2020. Her website highlights a focus on education, from preschool through college. Her Republican opponent John Holmberg has what looks to me like an AI-generated image of Northeast on the front page of his website. He offers almost zero biographical information (he and his wife Mary have lived in Northeast for 30 years. That’s it: nothing about what he does for a living, what his civic involvement has been, etc.) and I found no social media. He highlights school vouchers and longer sentences for criminals as his main issues. I e-mailed to ask him for an example of an unfunded mandate that “eats up school budgets” and he did not reply. Vote for Sydney Jordan.
State House District 60B
Mohamud Noor was challenged in the primary but is unopposed in the general.
State House District 61A
Katie Jones is unopposed.
State House District 61B
Jamie Long is unopposed.
State House District 62A
Aisha Gomez is unopposed.
State House District 62B
Anquam Mahamoud is just finishing her first term in the State Legislature. Her website highlights her commitment to health care and bodily autonomy. Bob Sullentrop is a perennial candidate who has run for Park Board (2017) (on a “prioritize the golf courses” platform), Ward 8 City Council (2021), Ward 8 City Council again (2023) (those runs were on a “I hate bike lanes and also any steps towards pedestrian safety that inconvenience me in my car” platform — seriously, he complained about speed limits), Minnesota House 62B (2024), and Ward 8 City Council again (2025) on an “I hate the DSA” platform. Vote for Anquam Mahamoud.
State House District 63A
Samantha Sencer-Mura has been in the legislature since 2023. She’s an educator, writer, and activist, and she highlights education and climate justice on her website. Kyle Bragg is running against her. Kyle Bragg has run repeatedly but this is the first time he’s ever had a website. It doesn’t help much. (He says he wants safer streets, better schools, and more government integrity, but with zero detail on what he means or what he’d do.) Vote for Samantha.
State House District 63B
Emma Greenman was first elected in 2020. Her website highlights legislation she passed banning junk fees, strengthening Minnesota Care, and defending voting rights. Her opponent, Nick Peters, has a website that highlights the old flag and says he’s trying to raise enough money by July 20th to qualify for a public subsidy. Vote for Emma.
State House District 64A
Meg Luger-Nikolai is unopposed.
State House District 64B
Dave Pinto is unopposed.
State House District 65A
Samakab Hussein is unopposed.
State House District 65B
Sebastian Ellefson was challenged in the primary but is unopposed in the general.
State House District 66A
Leigh Finke was first elected in 2022. She’s a trans woman who highlights civil rights and racial justice on her website. Her Republican opponent, Mark Born, added a sign to his signs saying “Normal Guy, Normal Name,” which several DFL State Senators have noted is both a transphobic statement and either a xenophobic or antisemitic swipe at Leigh’s last name. He highlights his hostility toward trans girls on his website. Vote for Leigh Finke.
State House District 66B
Athena Hollins was first elected in 2020. Her website highlights public safety, affordable housing, and climate justice. (Note: her public safety section talks about re-thinking how we respond to problems that don’t actually require armed intervention, and responding vigorously to police misconduct.) Her opponent, Mary O’Neal, says on her website, “Together, I am focused on issues that matter to Minnesotans: Voter ID, School choice, Restoring the original state flag.” Mary also filed a groundless complaint against the DFL after the 2024 election because when she went to early vote at the Plato building, she saw someone with a Kamala Harris sign tucked under one arm standing in the parking lot having a conversation. You are required to keep campaign materials 100 feet from the polling place; this was well over 100 feet and this woman was not holding the sign up or campaigning. Vote for Athena Hollins.
State House District 67A
Liz Lee was first elected in 2022. Her website highlights education, child care, and infrastructure issues, including transit. Her Republican opponent Jennifer McPherson offers a grab bag of random grievances but honestly doesn’t sound like she’d be especially comfortable at a Republican convention. Her current campaign Facebook page includes reshares of Republican complaints about taxes and fraud but also an Angela Davis quote about being anti-racist, a Malcolm X quote about being fooled into hating your fellow oppressed people, and objections to data centers. That’s all within the last day.
Jennifer has also run for school board twice, in 2019 and 2021. Her school board race Facebook is also still up and if you scroll down a bit you’ll find a whole lot of pro-remote-learning posts from early 2022 (see also here and here). (Schools had mostly gone back to in-person in the fall of 2021, but late 2021 / early 2022 was when Omicron wave hit.) There’s also a “lock him up” post that’s clearly referring to Trump, and a re-share from Gender Inclusive Schools. Her current website talks about trans kids and sports and I’m just going to quote verbatim because I am honestly not sure what she’s saying here: “Sports for all genders. MN has to be the leader and allow all children to play sports while following federal laws creating transgender sports teams we are ensuring equality for all while taking the target off children so they can be children and showcase their talents.” She also posted about this issue on her current campaign Facebook: “I will fight for ALL CHILDREN TO FREELY PLAY SPORTS IN MN!! TRUMP WILL NOT TAKEAWAY FREEDOM FROM OUR MN CHILDREN.” She also in that post describes herself as an Independent, despite running as a Republican.
Anyway, I’ll note that the area Republicans seem to be largely ignoring Jennifer. Vote for Liz Lee!
State House District 67B
Jay Xiong is unopposed.
And with that, I think I’m done with this year’s election blogging? (Unless I forgot something. I have been known to miss a race.)
This seems like a good year to fundraise for a trans nonprofit, so I’m fundraising this year for TIGERRS. I don’t have a Patreon, and a fundraiser lets me see in a tangible way that people value my work, which is really helpful as a motivator. (This project is a lot of work.) I raised $7,230 during primary season so I’ve raised the goal.
I also have a new book out! Obstetrix is about an obstetrician who gets kidnapped by a cult because they want someone on hand to deliver their babies; it’s a story about enduring, surviving, and not giving up. You can buy it anywhere fine books are sold, and I’ve been doing my best to keep Uncle Hugo’s, Moon Palace, and Dreamhaven Books in signed copies.
