Race for northern MN House seat defies convention

A political contest shaping up in Minnesota's north woods defies convention.

A half-dozen candidates are seeking the opportunity to replace the late state Rep. David Dill, who died from cancer last month. They include a former Republican running as a Democrat and a Republican who used to be a Democrat, not to mention a lobbyist who's running as an Independent.

But in a district that has long supported Democrats, next week's DFL primary is key.

The district is enormous. It's the size of Maryland. It takes six hours to drive across it, from west of International Falls, all the way to Grand Portage.

"It's absolutely huge because there are no people in it," observed Pam Brunfelt, who teaches political science at Vermilion Community College in Ely. "It's this vast geographical area with only scattered pockets of population."

International Falls is the largest city, with about 6,000 people. Other larger towns include Ely, population 3,500, and Grand Marais, with 1,300 people.

What the district is best known for is not its cities, but its lakes and woods: the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Voyageurs National Park, Superior National Forest.

Tom Coombe, editor of the Ely Echo newspaper, said the late Rep. Dill, who ran a fishing lodge, was a perfect fit for the district.

"He was very representative of his constituents, or at least of a majority," he said. "A big sportsman, very into fishing, hunting, outdoors, wildlife-type issues."

District 3A has voted overwhelmingly Democratic in recent elections. But as Brunfelt pointed out, Dill was a moderate who often sided with Republicans.

"So you have to walk somewhere down the middle in order to be elected in this district, she said. "You can't be too far to the left or to the right, it won't work."

That's what International Falls businessman Eric Johnson is banking on. Just last year he challenged Dill as a Republican. Now he's running as a Democrat.

"I've never really been a party guy, one way or the other," he said. "We need a representative who can talk with both parties. And the late Rep. Dill was an absolute master at that. And it served this district very, very well for quite some time."

Still, as political scientist Brunfelt says, in northeast Minnesota political party affiliation matters.

Koochiching County Commissioner Rob Ecklund said his labor ties distinguish him in the crowded field. He's a former union president at Boise Paper in International Falls and has received several labor endorsements.

At a candidates' forum in Ely last week, Ecklund said he wants to add two T's to the traditional priorities of taconite, timber and tourism in the region: transportation and technology.

"So what we need to strive to do is bring broadband, fiber, better cell service, all the technology we need to move us further into the 21st century," he said.

More state aid to rural Minnesota is a goal shared by all the candidates, including three-term Ely City Council Member Heidi Omerza.

"Most of the dollars get spent in the metro area, so we need to change the formulas to make it more fair and equitable to greater Minnesota, make it more fair and equitable to northeastern Minnesota, so those dollars get spent in our neck of the woods, as opposed to other places," she said.

Perhaps the thorniest issue in the campaign is copper-nickel mining. PolyMet has proposed the state's first precious metals mine, near Babbitt and Hoyt Lakes. Twin Metals is pursuing what could be the second, just outside Ely.

Three of the four DFL candidates support this new kind of mining in Minnesota, provided it meets the state's regulatory requirements.

The one exception is Bill Hansen of Tofte. He's operated Sawbill Canoe Outfitters since the 1980s. He ran for the seat twice before, in the early 2000s, after the late Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone recruited him to politics.

Hansen made clear that he supports iron ore mining — but not copper-nickel mining.

"That's a whole different kind of mining; that's a much, much more dangerous mining environmentally," he said. "It's not good economic development. ... We want economic development that's more stable in the long term."

Hansen said the mining issue is important, but he thinks it will take a back seat to more pressing concerns like economic development.

Still, people watching the race say that if Hansen wins the primary, the controversy surrounding copper-nickel mining could become a wedge issue. And that could attract a lot of interest in the December general election, far beyond the north woods.