Tag Archives: Fundraising

Donors Choose Fundraising Update 2

Posted on by
3

First, an update from Ms. Stone, the teacher who requested funding for Chromebooks:

I am so excited to receive the Chromebooks and distribute them to students and families! As explained earlier, this project was posted in June, when teachers were unsure what learning model we would be using. Since announcing distance learning late in the summer, the district has been providing devices to students. However, after spending these first few weeks with my third graders, I’m finding that many of them have unreliable devices (issues with cameras, microphones, keyboards, etc.). One prime example: a mother reached out to say her daughter’s device stopped working. The student was unable to sign in for learning for two days since Mom works full-time and was unable to make it to the school to pick up a new one. Having these new, reliable devices will be key in having students consistently engaged in learning.

I’ve also noticed some Donors have been generously giving gift cards to our class even after the Chromebook project was funded. This is WONDERFUL! It means I will be able to create a new project to meet even more of our students’ needs, such as good headphones, learning games, and interactive learning platforms.

Again, I am incredibly grateful for your role in guiding your readers toward DonorsChoose projects. It is so meaningful to me as a teacher right now to have community support. It makes a true difference in our students lives!

And now some additional fundraisers I’d like to point people to:

Mini-Engineering Labs for students at Lucy Laney doing distance learning.

A book-return system for the North High school library, so that books can circulate during distance learning.

Sets of contemporary novels, including Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Talents, for 11th and 12th graders at Como Park High School in St. Paul.

I do not have a Patreon, but take a lot of pleasure from seeing these projects fund. Thank you to everyone who has donated!

Advertisement

DonorsChoose Fundraising Update

Posted on by
4

In the comments of my last post, JB posted:

Quick question on the fundraiser. Thanks for highlighting it. I’m a bit confused, because as a parent of a MPS child who’s in distance learning 2nd grade this year, we had the choice of a district supplied iPad OR Chromebook. Why isn’t this MPS school having the same option? It is a district wide policy? I looked on the link you have, and it doesn’t really explain it. My tax dollars are already supporting this, as far as I can tell.

I e-mailed the teacher and here’s what I found out. Yes: the school district is providing laptops. When she posted the fundraiser in June, there had been zero communication from the district about what, if anything, was going to be provided for distance learning. By the time the district announced what they were doing, she’d gotten some contributions and thus didn’t want to just take the whole fundraiser down. Unfortunately, there’s no way to revise a Donors Choose fundraiser after launch. At this point, she’s hoping that it does NOT fund — because (assuming people who donated agree to send the money as a gift card for the classroom) she will be able to use that money for other key distance-learning needs, like headphones and supplies and books that she can send to the kids’ homes. She is absolutely over the moon at the generosity and has a lot of ideas on how she can enhance the learning of these third-grade students but would, in fact, prefer not to spend it on laptops (although she noted that if a corporate donor swoops in and donates the last of the money, as sometimes happens, they’ll be new computers, nice ones, something her students rarely get to experience, and I am going to hazard a guess that the school will not have surplus technology for very long.)

But for now:

I’m going to ask people to, if they have donated to Ms. Stone’s fundraiser, to send the money back to her classroom as a gift card if it does not fund.

But, if they have not donated to that fundraiser and would like to make a different donation that would please me very much, I have found a number of other Minneapolis and St. Paul public school classrooms that could use a hand with supplies and technology for distance learning.

(Update: all of these have funded! I’ve found some additional Donors Choose fundraisers to point people at, and you can find them here.)

Ms. Anglin, a math teacher at Washington Technology Magnet School in St. Paul, would like to provide her students with noise-cancelling headphones. 96% of the students at Washington Tech receive free or reduced-price lunch, and 70% are English-language learners. https://www.donorschoose.org/project/investment-for-distance-learning-success/5040842/

Mr. Andy, an autism teacher at Sullivan Elementary in South Minneapolis, would like to provide his students with task boxes, to decrease the amount of required screen time during distance learning. https://www.donorschoose.org/project/especially-distance-learning-task-boxes/5170363/

There are a number of teachers at the Barak and Michelle Obama Elementary School who are looking for help with supplies for at-home learning.

Mrs. Harper would like linking math cubes and also white boards for students to write answers on: https://www.donorschoose.org/project/all-hands-on-deck/5158760/ and https://www.donorschoose.org/project/help-me-respond-write-away/5185420/

Ms. Holden would like graphic novels and a webcam for her third-grade students: https://www.donorschoose.org/project/distance-learning-for-all/5169000/

Ms. Proeschelt would like write-and-wipe alphabet cards and alphabet floor puzzles to build reading skills in her pre-K students: https://www.donorschoose.org/project/abc-puzzles-for-everyone/5185232/ annd https://www.donorschoose.org/project/we-can-write-our-letters/5185174/

Finally, I just want to share the e-mail I got via my website from Ms. Stone about a day after I first shared her project:

Wow. You posted a link via your blog and our DonorsChoose project has raised at least $1,500 in one day. Thank you, thank you from our hearts. The support of the community is what students, families, and teachers really need right now. I’m not currently on social media myself, so every share is meaningful.

Please know that even if our lofty $ goal is not fully met, every dollar will raised will still be put towards the basic educational needs of our students. We will already be able to provide so much with what has been raised! I can’t wait to send Thank You photos (or screenshots, future being unknown!).

With Gratitude,

Ms. Stone

Thank you to everyone for your support of these projects — it means a lot to me, but it means even more to the teachers and the students they teach.

Election 2020: Let’s Do This

Posted on by
9

The candidate lists are up on the Minnesota Secretary of State site, and here are the contested national, statewide, and metro-area races plus the Minneapolis ballot questions, which unfortunately are not going to involve policing. (Fuck the charter commission.)

I’m not planning to write about all the legislative races because there are 36 of them, most are only barely contested, and for fuck’s sake, people, it tells you on the ballot which one’s the Democrat! Just vote for the Democrat! (There is one Green running, I’ll try to do that race. There are also a few races with candidates from the two (two!) Yay Weed parties. You’ll get my rant on that at the end.)

I’m going to try to get these done a lot earlier than I did with the primary races, because I know a lot of people are planning to vote early. (As happened with the primary races, this plan may get pre-empted by edits arriving from my publisher.)

The Presidential ballot is not actually available yet on the My Ballot site — I assume because there isn’t officially a Republican candidate yet (and possibly because whether Kanye gets on our ballot is still up in the air). I’ll write about it at some point, mostly just because researching all the weirdos like Kanye is entertaining. But, that’s why I’m not listing that race on this post.

US Senate

Tina Smith (DFL)
Jason Lewis (GOP)
Oliver Steinberg (WEED)
Kevin O’Connor (WEED)

US House – District 4

Betty McCollum (DFL)
Gene Rechtzigel (GOP)
Susan Sindt (WEED)

US House – District 5

Ilhan Omar (DFL)
Lacy Johnson (GOP)
Michael Moore (WEED)

Minneapolis: City Question 1

Redistricting of Wards and Park Districts

Shall the Minneapolis City Charter be amended to allow ward and park district boundaries to be reestablished in a year ending in 1 and to allow the use of those new boundaries for elections in that same year; to allow ward and park district boundaries to be modified after the legislature has been redistricted to establish City precinct boundaries; to provide that an election for a Council Member office required by Minnesota law in a year ending in 2 or 3 after a redistricting shall be for a single 2-year term; and to clarify that a regular election means a regular general election?

Minneapolis: City Question 2

Special Municipal Elections

Shall the Minneapolis City Charter be amended to comply with Minnesota election law related to uniform dates for special municipal elections and to provide that a special election be held on a legal election day under Minnesota law that is more than 90 days from a vacancy in the office of Mayor or Council Member?

Minneapolis School Board At-Large

Michael Dueñes
Kim Ellison

Minneapolis School Board District 2

KerryJo Felder (Incumbent)
Sharon El-Amin

Minneapolis School Board District 4

Adriana Cerrillo
Christa Mims

Saint Paul School Board

Jamila Mame
Jim Vue
James Farnsworth
Keith Hardy
Omar Syed
Charlotte “Charlie” Castro

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (Statewide)

Paul Thissen
Michelle MacDonald

2nd District (Ramsey County) Court 8

Ngozi Akubuike
Pat Diamond

STATE LEGISLATURE

Senate District 59

Bobby Joe Champion (DFL)
Paul Anderson (GOP)

House District 59A

Fue Lee (DFL)
Marcus Harcus (WEED)

House District 59B

Esther Agbaje (DFL)
Alan Shilepsky (GOP)
Lisa Neal-Delgado (GREEN)

Senate District 60

Kari Dziedzic (DFL)
Mary Holmberg (GOP)

House District 60A

Sydney Jordan (DFL)
John Holmberg (GOP)
Calvin Lee Carpenter (Veteran’s Party of America)

House District 60B

Mohammed Noor (DFL) (Unopposed)

Senate District 61

Scott Dibble (DFL)
Jennifer Zielinski (GOP)

House District 61A

Frank Hornstein (DFL)
Kurtis Fechtmeyer (GOP)

House District 61B

Jamie Long (DFL)
Lisa Pohlman (GOP)

Senate District 62

Omar Fateh (DFL)
Bruce Lundeen (GOP)

House District 62A

Hodan Hassan (DFL)
Arjun Kataria (GOP)

House District 62B

Aisha Gomez (DFL)
Ross Tenneson (GOP)

Senate District 63

Patricia Torres Ray (DFL)
Diane Napper (GOP)
Chris Wright (WEED)

House District 63A

Jim Davnie (DFL)
Penny Arcos (GOP)
David Wiester (WEED)

House District 63B

Emma Greenman (DFL)
Frank Pafko (GOP)
Dennis Schuller (WEED)

Senate District 64

Erin Murphy (DFL)
Sharon Anderson (GOP)
Patricia Jirovec McArdell (WEED)

House District 64A

Kaohly Her (DFL)
Sherry Schack (GOP)

House District 64B

Dave Pinto (DFL)
Georgia Dietz (GOP)

Senate District 65

Sandra Pappas (DFL)
Paul Holmgren (GOP)

House District 65A

Rena Moran (DFL)
Amy Anderson (GOP)

House District 65B

Carlos Mariani (DFL)
Margaret Mary Stokely (GOP)

Senate District 66

John Marty (DFL)
Greg Copeland (GOP)

House District 66A

Alice Hausman (DFL)
Brett Rose (GOP)

House District 66B

Athena Hollins (DFL)
Mikki Murray (GOP)

Senate District 67

Foung Hawj (DFL)
Alexander Deputie (GOP)

House District 67A

John Thompson (DFL)
John Stromenger (GOP)

House District 67B

Jay Xiong (DFL)
Fred Turk (GOP)

Regarding the YAY WEED parties:

There are two weed parties, the “Grassroots – Legalize Cannabis” and the “Legal Marijuana Now” parties. They are, under state law, “Major” parties in the State of Minnesota. Would you believe that as of August 23rd, neither one has a working website?

There are, I am sure, differences between the two parties — for example, the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis party is at least willing to acknowledge that if marijuana legalization is actually something they care about, they should be concerned about the obvious Republicans hopping onto tickets in swing Senate districts to try to swing the race to the Republicans, since if the DFL has a pretty goddamn great marijuana legalization bill in the House and what’s going to keep that from becoming state law is the CURRENT REPUBLICAN CONTROL OF THE STATE SENATE. Also, the Legal Marijuana Party has a candidate whose slogan includes the phrase “No Whores.”

But, fundamentally, the complete inability of both of these two “major parties” to so much as have a functioning website for their party and their candidates makes me want to note, for the record, that they are both embodying every stereotype of the stoners I remember from high school.

Dear organizers for the “Legal Marijuana Now” party and the “Grassroots – Legalize Cannabis” party: the State of Minnesota may be required by state law to engage in the pretense that you are “major” parties, but I am not.

And hey, for everyone else who’s read to the bottom:

I took the time to look over on Donors Choose for some Minneapolis public school teachers who could use some financial help during These Difficult Times and in particularly with distance learning. I’ve got three small projects, and one big project, to point everyone to.

  1. Ms. Stenzel, a teacher at Lucy Laney (an elementary school in North Minneapolis), is thinking about ways to doing distance learning with her students and would like a rock tumbler to get them interested in geology. She needs $167.
  2. Ms. Stenzel would also like some books for herself to help her improve her teaching. Titles include books on teaching kids mindfulness and self-calming strategies, and also books on anti-racism. She needs $326.
  3. Ms. Stephanie, who teaches autistic and developmentally disabled students at Andersen United School, would like materials that she can send to her students’ homes to help them engage with distance learning. She needs $581.
  4. Finally: Ms. Stone is a teacher at Cityview Elementary in North Minneapolis. She will be teaching third graders this year, and to help them succeed with distance learning, she is requesting a set of Chromebooks for her class. To equip this class of children with the basic technology they will need for distance learning will require another $8,456 to be raised by October 3rd. Can my readers raise that much? If not, can they at least get it to within sight of the finish line so a corporation or foundation will be inspired to swoop in and match our donations? I think it’s worth trying.

(I don’t have a patreon or a ko-fi but I take a lot of satisfaction from seeing projects fund after I point people at them. Please donate!)

 

Election 2018: Races That Could Use Your Money (including money you can get back)

Posted on by
4

If you are a Minnesota resident, once a year you can donate $50 to a campaign and have it refunded by the government. Eligible races include people running for the Minnesota House or Senate, Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and State Auditor. You can also donate it to a political party. Note that you can’t use the PCR to donate to Amy or Tina, or to city or county races, because this is usable for people in state-level races and political parties only.  (You can still donate to them! You just can’t then get that money refunded.) Also note that you have to pick one candidate for the whole $50. I mean, you can donate less, if that’s what works for you, but you can’t give $10 to five people and send in five forms — you can only send in one you can only send in one form: if you donate $10 each to five people, you have to send in all the receipts together, with a single form.

You’ll want a receipt, which you send in with this form by postal mail. A couple of weeks later, you’ll get a check for $50.

I live in a safe DFL district: in 2016, my DFL representative got almost 75% of the vote. So my question was, which House races might be on the cusp? Where could I donate my $50 where it might do some real good? We need to swing 11 seats to take the Minnesota House for the DFL, and that seems eminently do-able, if we donate and volunteer. But where to target?

MinnPost made this question a whole lot easier to answer with this excellent overview of all the races. But here are my picks: all of these were races where it was 55/45 or closer in 2016 (okay, I picked a couple seats that were 56/44, due to other factors), where the Democrat seems like they have a shot, and where there’s a website set up so you can donate online.

(Let me just add, regarding my brief write-ups for each candidate — when I say they highlighted certain issues, that mostly means they put them first, or they caught my eye as being a relatively unusual or specific idea. Most covered additional issues on their websites.)

If did this based almost entirely on how close the vote was last time; there are sometimes other reasons to believe that a candidate has a good shot. Feel free to leave a comment if I left out one of your favorites.

Donate to Swing

Minnesota House District 5A

John Persell is running to re-take this seat; he lost narrowly in 2016, 54%-46%. From his site: “Since graduating from Bemidji State University, I’ve had a long career as a water quality specialist dedicated to making sure our children and grandchildren can enjoy clean water. I believe the best way for Democrats to regain the House is to fight for a progressive agenda built on social and economic justice for every Minnesotan.”

Donate to John Persell.
Volunteer for John Persell.

Minnesota House District 5B

Pat Medure is running. He is a former Sheriff and school board representative running on a platform of government transparency, educational excellence, and economic diversification. This district went 54/42 last time, with a Green candidate taking most of the balance.

Donate to Pat Medure.

Minnesota House District 14A

Aric Putnam is running. He teaches at St. John’s/St. Ben’s, and his wife is a school principal; not surprisingly, education is the first issue he mentions. He also talks about elder care, economic development, health care, and constituent services. District 14A is in St. Cloud, MN, and went 55/45 in 2016.

Donate to Aric Putnam.
Volunteer for Aric Putnam. (His checklist of things you can do includes phone-banking and text-banking — things you can do without necessarily driving up to St. Cloud.)

Minnesota House District 14B

Dan Wolgamott is running. He’s a realtor and high school football coach. The Republican has been in office since 1994, but had a razor thin margin of victory in 2016: 51/49. This district is in St. Cloud. Dan is running on a solidly progressive platform, including a ban on so-called “conversion therapy,” paid parental leave, and allowing anyone who wants to buy into MinnesotaCare.

Donate to Dan Wolgamott.
Volunteer for Dan Wolgamott.

Minnesota House District 21A

Lori Ann Clark is running. She is a small business owner who came to politics by way of her Indivisible group. Her priorities include affordable housing and child care (which she frames as key economic development issues), health care, rural broadband, and gun safety. The Republican incumbent was first elected in 2016 with a 55/45 margin.

Donate to Lori Ann Clark.
Volunteer for Lori Ann Clark.

Minnesota House District 28B

Thomas Treehus is running. He’s highlighting health care, farming, rural broadband and transportation issues. He ran in 2016 against the incumbent and is running again; in 2016, this district went 55/45.

Donate to Thomas Treehus.
Volunteer for Thomas Treehus.

Minnesota House District 32B

Jeff Peterson is running. The Republican incumbent was elected in a 2017 special election, 53/47 (defeating a different candidate). Jeff is a carpenter and school board member. One of his children was born with a heart problem: “Their family quickly learned what it’s like to make choices between paying for medical bills or their mortgage.” He highlights education, economic opportunities, and affordable health care.

Donate to Jeff Peterson.
Volunteer for Jeff Peterson.

Minnesota State House District 34B

Kristin Bahner is running. Kristin is an IT consultant and entrepreneur, and came into politics after helping to organize the Minnesota Women’s March in 2016. Her website highlights education (including universal Pre-K and helping schools to hire more teacher’s aides); the environment; and economic security (including livable wages). This district went 56/44 in 2016.

Donate to Kristin Bahner.
Volunteer for Kristin Bahner.

Minnesota House District 37B

Amir Joseph Malik is running. He is a lawyer from Illinois who now lives in Blaine, and emphasizes living-wage jobs, health care, the property tax burden on seniors, and education. Over on his Facebook page he has a post up saying that people who wear the Confederate flag to the Minnesota State Fair are spitting on the graves of Minnesota veterans (I like this guy) although as a constitutional rights attorney he recognizes their right to be assholes.  This district had a razor-thin margin in 2016 (50.26/49.52, or 168 votes), and the Republican incumbent is utterly reprehensible — possibly the comment about Confederate flags was a subtweet. GO DONATE TO THIS GUY.

Donate to Amir Malik.
Volunteer for Amir Malik.

Minnesota House District 38B

Ami Wazlawik is running. It went 57/43 last time, but this is an open seat. Ami went to St. Olaf College and did a stint in AmeriCorps; now she works for the White Bear Lake school district. Her website highlights her support for Marty’s Minnesota Health Plan; solving the achievement gap; and protecting the environment.

Donate to Ami Wazlawik.
Volunteer for to Ami Wazlawik.

Minnesota House District 42A

Kelly Moller is running. She’s a prosecutor who was inspired to go to law school after hearing her friends’ stories about sexual assault, and she works in the Hennepin County Attorney’s office. On her website, she highlights education (making sure students have mental health support; schools can meet the needs of students with disabilities; and college is made more affordable); health care (allowing anyone to buy into MinnesotaCare); environmental protection; jobs and transportation (including collective bargaining rights). This was an extremely close race in 2016, decided by 125 votes.

Donate to Kelly Moller.
Volunteer for Kelly Moller.

Minnesota House District 44A

Ginny Klevorn is running. She’s a business owner and professional mediator who has worked as a guardian ad litem in juvenile court. Her website highlights education (predictable funding that keeps pace with inflation — you’d think this would be obvious, wouldn’t you?); health care (she wants to allow Minnesota residents to buy into the same health plan legislators get); and support for small businesses. She is trying again against the Republican incumbent. This district went 54/46 in 2016.

Donate to Ginny Klevorn.
Volunteer for Ginny Klevorn.

Minnesota House District 49A

Heather Edelson is running. She is a psychotherapist who was a first-generation college graduate (after what sounds like a very difficult childhood; she describes her mother as “loving but strong-willed” and she moved out at 16). She has also volunteered as a guardian ad litem in child-protection cases. She talks about the usual issues (education, health care, seniors) with a strong emphasis on mental health issues, since she’s coming from that background. (Under “Gun Safety,” she includes, “Support initiatives to help increase student mental health service access in schools, to improve awareness of mental illness, and to improve outcomes.”) This district was 51/49 in 2016.

Donate to Heather Edelson.
Volunteer for Heather Edelson.

Minnesota House District 52B

Ruth Richardson is running. She’s a black woman, so if you’re skimming this list overwhelmed by the white-bread-ness of most of the candidates, go donate to her (or to Amir Malik). She comes from a large blue collar family and worked three jobs to put herself through law school. Her website highlights gun safety legislation; better school funding and universal Pre-K; union support; and reproductive rights. In 2016, this race was decided by 121 votes.

Donate to Ruth Richardson.
Volunteer for Ruth Richardson.

Minnesota House District 54A

Anne Claflin is running. She is a research scientist for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and not surprisingly, her signature issue is water. (Instead of an “Issues” page, she has a “Clean Water” page. Her Twitter feed is also heavily water-focused.) This district went 52/48 in 2016.

Donate to Anne Claflin.
Volunteer for Anne Claflin.

Minnesota House District 54B

Tina Folch is running. She works in government, doing strategic planning. Her website highlights infrastructure, affordable higher education, and affordable health care. She also mentions protecting local government control. (So, the right of cities like Minneapolis to impose their own minimum wage ordinance.) This district went 55/45 in 2016.

Donate to Tina Folch.
Volunteer for Tina Folch.

Minnesota House District 55A

This is an open seat. Brad Tabke is running. He’s a former mayor of Shakopee who has a “Manifesto” instead of an issues page, where he highlights workforce development, a transportation system, affordable housing, and education. He also talks about working to reduce racial disparities. (“It is unconscionable to me that Minnesota can simultaneously rank second best in the nation for raising a family while also being second worst in the nation for racial inequities.”) This district went 56/44 in 2016, but it’s an open seat, which I think makes it potentially a pickup.

Donate to Brad Tabke.
Volunteer for Brad Tabke.

Minnesota House District 56B

Alice Mann is running. She is a family-practice doctor who immigrated to Minnesota from Brazil when she was a child. In addition to working at the Lakeville Family Health Clinic, she’s done volunteer stints providing medical care in Puerto Rico after Maria, and in a Syrian refugee camp. Not surprisingly, her website emphasizes health care policy, as well as education and affordable childcare. This district went 53/48 in 2016.

Donate to Alice Mann.
Volunteer for Alice Mann.

Minnesota House District 57B

John Huot is running. He has a particularly interesting bio: he lost his older brother in the Vietnam War, then his mother to cancer, and since his father was unable to care for him alone, he was raised by an older sister. He was befriended by a predator priest who molested him, and he was one of the first in Minnesota to receive a settlement. As an adult, he became a firefighter/EMT, worked for thirty years in emergency services, started a flower shop that failed, and is now a realtor. His website emphasizes living wages and union organizing; affordable health care that does not depend on an employer; environmental protection (he’s currently on the Community Advisory Council to the Pine Bend Refinery); veteran services (he notes that his father had PTSD from his service); and public safety. He also ran in 2016; that race went 54/46.

Donate to John Huot.
Volunteer for John Huot.

Donate to Hold

These are races where a Democrat currently holds the seat, but it was very close last time, and you should consider donating because we will also need to hold swing seats if we want to take the House!

Minnesota House District 19A

This is currently held by a Democrat who is not running again. Jeff Brand is the DFL candidate this year. His platform emphasizes transportation, education, agriculture, and child care. The district went 53/47 in 2016. The Republican (who also ran last time) is pro-tobacco (seriously!) and wants to deregulate day cares (I mean, he’s probably correct that there’s be less of a day care shortage if fewer expectations like “don’t leave the Tide Pods where the kids can eat them” were imposed on day care providers, but I’m not sure that’s a great solution here?)

Donate to Jeff Brand.
Volunteer for Jeff Brand.

Minnesota House District 20B

Again: currently a Democratic seat, but the incumbent legislator is not running again. Todd Lippert is running. He’s a UCC Minister and has been very involved with ISAIAH, which is a left-wing Christian organizing group. He highlights health care and “the caring economy” (child care, elder care, end-of-life care); education; and clean energy. This district went 54/46 last time.

Donate to Todd Lippert.
Volunteer for Todd Lippert.

Minnesota House District 25B

Duane Sauke is the incumbent. A former public school teacher, he narrowly won this seat for the first time in 2016 (52/48). He is highlighting civility, education (including early childhood education, and lowered tuition for public university students), and economic development (including affordable housing and livable wages).

Donate to Duane Sauke.
Volunteer for Duane Sauke.

Minnesota House 37A

Erin Koegel is the incumbent. She was elected for the first time in 2016, and the vote went 47/45/8, with the 8% being taken by a Libertarian who doesn’t appear to be in the race this time. Her website highlights transportation, small business development, and education.

Donate to Erin Koegel.
Volunteer for Erin Koegel.

Minnesota House District 48A

Laurie Pryor is the incumbent. She was first elected in 2016; the race went 52/48. Her website emphasizes gun safety laws; better regulation of assisted living facilities; a hands-free cell phone law; and requiring pharmaceutical companies to pay to help solve the problem of opiate addiction.

Donate to Laurie Pryor.
Volunteer for Laurie Pryor.

Minnesota House District 57A

This was Erin Maye Quade’s district, which she won fairly narrowly (52/48) in 2016. Robert Bierman is running. He’s a small business owner. His website emphasizes education (including increasing access to trade schools, magnet schools, and internship programs); environmental issues; health care (negotiating lower prescription drug costs and expanding access to MinnesotaCare); and gun safety (he supports funding public health research).

Donate to Robert Bierman.
Volunteer for Robert Bierman.

Bonus Races to Donate To

Joe Perske for Minnesota Senate, MN-13

This was Michelle Fischbach’s district until she got yanked out to serve as Lieutenant Governor. She was initially pretty cranky about this, then decided she liked the job, and ran as Tim Pawlenty’s running mate. Then (SURPRISE!) he lost in the primary.

Anyway, this is a serious long-shot race: Michelle Fischbach won with 69% of the vote in 2016. But if the Democrats can take it, that would flip the Senate. This race qualifies for the PCR.

Donate to Joe Perske.

Dave Hutch for Hennepin County Sheriff

Dave Hutch is running against aggressively assholish Trump-supporting racist, Rich Stanek. Hennepin County overwhelmingly went for Clinton over Trump — 63% to 28% overall, and even most of the suburban precincts are blue. I think Dave Hutch has a real shot here if he has the resources to make sure people know what they’re getting in Stanek vs. from him. This race is not eligible for the PCR.

Donate to Dave Hutch.
Volunteer for Dave Hutch.

A Tweet from February 2020 suggesting places to donate this year: