| The special election to fill the District 28B seat vacated by former House Speaker Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon) has finally arrived.
DFLer Linda Pfeilsticker defeated several other candidates at a special party convention, including the 2006 endorsed candidate, Jeff Flaten, and went on to garner more than a thousand votes in a landslide primary victory. She is opposed by Steve Drazkowski, who was the 2006 Republican nominee for the Senate race in District 28 against Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing).
The district is relatively conservative if one looks solely at election numbers, but the DFL has made significant inroads in rural areas of Minnesota, especially in the southern part of the state, in recent elections. The rapid election schedule has also been impacted by the I-35 bridge collapse, turning a spotlight on transit funding issues in both urban and rural parts of the state.
Pfeilsticker has not said one way or the other whether she would support an increase in the gas tax to support increased support for transit maintenance and building projects, only that she "would not rule out" such an increase. Reached by email Monday, Steve Drazkowski gave a similar response to that offered to the Star Tribune's Mark Brunswick:
Governor Pawlenty has indicated his willingness to explore new transportation funding options, including an increase in the gax tax, and I am very open to the discussion on how such proceeds would be used. Other funding options, such as bonding will likely be part of the picture. The discussion should not be limited to a gas tax increase only.
This position seems to put Drazkowski in the same boat as his 2006 opponent, Sen. Steve Murphy, who has said in the aftermath of the bridge collapse that he would be amenable to options in addition to an increase in the gas tax.
The outcome of the 28B race is somewhat tilted in relative importance to the major parties. For the Republican House caucus, a victory or a loss would leave them in a similar position to before Sviggum's departure: hold the entire caucus together or get steamrolled by the DFL majority. For the DFL, however, a victory puts their majority one vote closer to being able to override Governor Pawlenty's vetoes without assistance from Republican members. As such, both major parties have been involved closely in the race, sending out both positive and negative mailings to voters in the district.
In a special House elections, votes have totalled close to 5,500 in several recent races. The secretary of state's website will tell the tale Tuesday night: first to 2,800 will most likely be the winner. |
