Down-ballot: My picks in St. Paul and Minneapolis

A couple of people have asked me who I recommend voting for in down-ballot races. Down-ballot races make a huge difference in post-election life, which is to say, in all of our lives, every day of every year. So I’ve looked at my own sample ballot in St. Paul, and also at some Minneapolis races. For more on down-ballot races in general, see Voting down-ballot in Minnesota. For more on voting in general, see Vote – to answer the attack on democracy. Without further ado, here are my recommendations for St. Paul and Minneapolis voting:

St. Paul

U.S. Representative – Betty McCollum

And in the legislature:

State Senator District 64 – Richard Cohen
State Representative District 64A – Erin Murphy
State Representative District 64B – Dave Pinto

State Senator District 65 – Sandy Pappas
State Representative District 65A – Rena Moran
State Representative District 65B – Carlos Mariani

State Senator District 66 – John Marty
State Representative District 66A – Alice Hausman
State Representative District 66B – John Lesch

State Senator District 67 – Foung Hawj
State Representative District 67A – Tim Mahoney
State Representative District 67B – Sheldon Johnson

Constitutional Amendment 1 – Remove Lawmakers’ Power to Set Their Own Pay
Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to remove state lawmakers’ power to set their own salaries, and instead establish an independent, citizens-only council to prescribe salaries of lawmakers?

You can vote Yes or No. If you leave it blank, that counts as a No. I’m probably going to vote yes on this one, though I think that, as a matter of principle, legislators ought not to be chickenshit about setting reasonable pay scales. Here’s an extended discussion by Naomi Kritzer, currently my go-to favorite for intelligent race-by-race analysis of MN elections.

Associate Justice – Supreme Court 6 – Natalie Hudson (This is an important vote. The state loon is a fine bird, but not so good as a candidate for the highest court.)

Court of Appeals and District Court judges – no contests in any of these races.

Soil and Water Supervisor District 2 Gwen Williams (only candidate running)

St. Paul School Board – Jeanelle (Jeanie) Foster is my pick. (For a summary of all of the five candidates, see this excellent blog post by Naomi Kritzer.)

Minneapolis

U.S. Representative – Keith Ellison

And in the legislature:

State Senator District 59 – Bobby Joe Champion
State Representative District 59A – Fue Lee
State Representative District 59B – Raymond Dehn

State Senator District 60 – Kari Dziedzic
State Representative District 60A – Diane Loeffler
State Representative District 60B – Ilhan Omar

State Senator District 61 – Scott Dibble
State Representative District 61A – Frank Hornstein
State Representative District 61B – Paul Thissen

State Senator District 62 – Jeff Hayden
State Representative District 62A – Karen Clark
State Representative District 62B – Susan Allen

State Senator District 63 – Patricia Torres Ray
State Representative District 63A – Jim Davnie
State Representative District 63B – Jean Wagenius

Constitutional Amendment 1 – Remove Lawmakers’ Power to Set Their Own Pay
Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to remove state lawmakers’ power to set their own salaries, and instead establish an independent, citizens-only council to prescribe salaries of lawmakers?

You can vote Yes or No. If you leave it blank, that counts as a No. I’m probably going to vote yes on this one, though I think that, as a matter of principle, legislators ought not to be chickenshit about setting reasonable pay scales. Here’s an extended discussion by Naomi Kritzer, currently my go-to favorite for intelligent race-by-race analysis of MN elections.

Associate Justice – Supreme Court 6 – Natalie Hudson (This is an important vote. The state loon is a fine bird, but not so good as a candidate for the highest court.)

Judges: Most of these races are uncontested. For the two that are contested, the picks are pretty obvious.
Judge – 4th District Court 37 – Carolina A. Lamas
Judge – 4th District Court 45 – Paul R. Scoggin

Minneapolis School District Funding Referendum – Yes (of course)

Minneapolis School Board
Mostly, I’m not sure about the school board candidates. I haven’t followed the campaigns closely, as I don’t live in Minneapolis. I’ve linked the candidate names to their websites. You could also check out this Minnpost article on school board candidates, which summarize the races.

School Board District 2 – Kimberly Caprini or Kerry Jo Felder (DFL-endorsed)

School Board District 4 – Josh Reimnitz (incumbent) or Bob Walser (DFL-endorsed)

School Board District 6 – Tracine Asberry (incumbent) or Ira Jourdain (DFL-endorsed)

School Board Member at Large – Kim Ellison would be my pick over perennial candidate Doug Mann