Today I met Tina Liebling, a Minnesota state representative who is running for governor in 2018. It feels so early to be thinking about the 2018 campaign for Minnesota governor. But if I’ve learned anything about the 2016 campaign it’s that we need to be more involved.
Everybody complained in 2016 that they didn’t like any of the candidates. Well, if you want a candidate on the ballot that you like, you need to get involved early and support the candidate you want to see.
Candidates So Far
So after meeting Tina, I did some quick Googling to see who else was running. With no incumbent, it’s a wide open field and lots of people jumping in to run and there’s wild speculation about lots more.
On the Republican side so far we have:
- Christopher Chamberlin
- Matt Dean (current State Representative)
- Blake Huffman (current Ramsey County Commissioner)
- Jeff Johnson (current Hennepin County Commissioner)
On the DFL side so far we have:
- Chris Coleman (current Mayor of Saint Paul)
- Tina Liebling (current State Representative)
- Erin Murphy (current State Representative)
- Rebecca Otto (current Minnesota State Auditor)
- Tim Walz (current U.S. Representative)
And we’ll probably have more (and I’ve probably missed some).
Women for Governor
Other than having met Tina, I don’t know much about any of the candidates. But I do notice one thing: We’ve got three women in the race so far.
Minnesota has never had a female governor. We’ve had seven consecutive female lieutenant governors since 1982, but not one female governor. Minnesota has some interesting history with women in politics, but this is one glass ceiling we haven’t broken yet.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: More women need to run. Non-partisan organizations such as She Should Run are ready with resources to help.
Maybe 2018 is when a woman finally becomes governor of Minnesota. If you want that to happen (or if you want a candidate you can proudly support, regardless of gender), you better start listening and getting involved.