Democratic primary for west metro seat will tee up special Senate election

A special election in a senate district in the Lake Minnetonka area will decide whether Democrats can maintain control of their DFL trifecta for another two years. 

While all Minnesota House seats are up for reelection in November, only one Minnesota Senate seat will be on the ballot. That’s because it’s a special election. The seat opened after former state Sen. Kelly Morrison stepped down this spring to run for Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District seat. Her departure left the state Senate split 33-33. 

Now, both Republicans and Democrats are vying for the coveted spot that will determine the Senate’s majority. 

Senate District 45 includes Minnetonka, Wayzata and Orono. The district trends purple, meaning that Democrats and Republicans have similar support among voters.

Even though Morrison, a Democrat, won her state Senate seat easily in 2022 by more than 12 points, the suburbs included in the district are considered traditional battleground areas that have significant influence over elections. 

Two Democrats are actively pursuing campaigns in the district ahead of Tuesday’s primary. The winner will face the sole Republican candidate for the seat, Kathleen Fowke. Fowke is a west metro realtor that ran against Morrison in 2022 but ultimately lost. 

One of the Democrats vying for the seat is Emily Reitan, a former CFO and a board member for the Children’s Hospital of Minnesota Foundation. Reitan has worked behind the scenes in DFL politics for the last 20 years and hopes to bring her experience as a businessperson to the Legislature next session. 

“I look at the district receiving Kelly Morrison and saying let’s put a doctor in the Senate,” said Reitan. “I think people are excited about putting a CFO in the Senate.”

If elected, Reitan hopes to help pass comprehensive gun safety laws and strengthen laws surrounding reproductive rights. She traces her political origins back to high school, and was inspired to run for Senate after observing the deep divides within the DFL party at this year’s convention. 

“Someone that can approach with pragmatic problem solving and think through both sides of the story could be really useful in our Senate,” said Reitan. 

But first, Reitan will have to beat her primary rival, former state Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart, who can speak to her experience already serving in the state Senate. When district boundaries shifted in 2022, Johnson Stewart and Morrison were placed in the same territory.

Johnson Stewart bowed out after local Democrats endorsed Morrison. But Senate District 45 only includes a small fraction of her old district, rendering her unknown to many people in the area she is hoping to represent.  

Johnson Stewart said she saved all her old campaign signs and T-shirts, just in case another opportunity would present itself down the road. 

“It was really a treat for me to be able to file and run again and get out and meet people,” said Johnson Stewart. “I’m having a wonderful time.”

Before joining the Senate in 2021, Johnson Stewart worked as a civil engineer. She also teaches civil engineering at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. 

During her term, she served on the bonding and transportation committees. She hopes to return to that work if she’s reelected. 

“What I learned when I was in the Senate is there are experts that are leaders. And what I can do is lend my support, my background, any information I have on those issues, but what I’m really going to hope to lead on are those things that are in my wheelhouse,” said Johnson Stewart. “Concrete, pavements, steel, water — all those things that most of us take for granted.”

Driving through the district, it’s not difficult to see that voters’ viewpoints here are split. It seems as if every other house has staked competing yard signs in their front lawns. A sizable portion of those are supporting the Republican state Senate candidate, Kathleen Fowke. 

Republicans believe the race is a chance to take back the Senate and break up the DFL trifecta. 

“The winner of this contest in November is going to determine what happens in the Minnesota Senate,” said Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson. R-East Grand Forks. “Whether we’re going to go back to the extreme policies of the Democrat, we’re going to have reasonable deliberative conversations with Republicans controlling the Senate.”

The district has leaned slightly Democrat in the past and voted for Biden and Walz by large margins. But Republicans still have a shot at the seat. 

“We know that Kathleen Fowke aligns with that district so well,” said Johnson. “It’s a matter of getting Kathleen out there, getting her positions known to the individuals and building those relationships.”

To break up the Democrats' trifecta, Fowke must win in November. She should know who her DFL opponent is by Tuesday night. 

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