On Tuesday, Minnesotans cast their votes for the candidates they believe will best serve our country. Emotions were high as numbers trickled in for president, U.S. House, Minnesota State Senate and Minnesota House of Representatives. Late into the evening and early Wednesday morning we watched as Donald Trump became the next President of the United States.
Our future commander in chief has a vision for his first 100 days in office; part of that vision includes plans for energy and the environment. Trump, an outspoken climate denier has said he plans to cancel billions of dollars in payments to the United Nations climate change programs. He also plans to undo the Clean Power Plan, Waters of the U.S., limit the power of the Environmental Protection Agency, lift restrictions on fracking and boost American oil and natural gas production. If that isn’t bad enough, Trump has also said that he would lift roadblocks to the Keystone Pipeline, a project President Obama stopped after considering the potential environmental risks.
In addition to electing our next president, Minnesota chose who will represent us at the capitol in St. Paul. Clean Water Action endorsed a variety of first time candidates and incumbents with a proven record of working to protect our environment and public health. While the Minnesota GOP picked up 8 seats, giving them control of the Minnesota State Senate, the majority of our pro-environment incumbents were re-elected. In fact, out of the 13 senators we endorsed, only one, Senator Kevin Dahle (DFL) was defeated. We also endorsed 5 other candidates for the Minnesota State Senate, two of which were elected. In district 48, Steve Cwodzinski (DFL) defeated minority leader David Hann (R) and in district 54, Dan Schoen (DFL) was elected to the open seat vacated by Senator Katie Sieben (DFL). During his time in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Dan Schoen demonstrated strong commitment to protecting the environment and public health, after the 2015 legislative session he was awarded Clean Water Action’s Legislator of the Year award.
As for the Minnesota House, there wasn’t much room for growth after gains by the GOP during the 2014 election. The House GOP picked up 6 seats, two from greater Minnesota and 4 from the metro area suburbs. The DFL picked up two metro area seats including district 57A, where the seat formerly held by Representative Tara Mack (R) was won by Clean Water Action endorsed candidate, Erin Maye Quade (DFL). As for our other endorsed candidates, we saw a similar result to the senate election. Out of the 23 incumbents we endorsed, only 3 were defeated including Representative John Persell (DFL), Representative Barb Yarusso (DFL) and Representative Ron Erhardt (DFL). In addition to the aforementioned 57A victory by an endorsed CWA candidate, out of 9 other endorsements, 2 were elected. In district 48A, Laurie Pryor (DFL) was elected to the open seat formerly held by Representative Yvonne Selcer (DFL) and in district 60B, Ilhan Omar (DFL) was elected. Earlier this year, Ilhan defeated longtime incumbent Representative Phyllis Kahn (DFL) in a historic primary. On Tuesday, Omar made history again when she became America’s first Somali-American legislator.
It is clear that there are mixed feelings about the results of this week’s election. For Clean Water Action it isn’t about who is in control of the majority, not all Republicans are anti-environment and not all Democrats are pro. While some issue areas are, the quality of our environment and public health should not be a partisan issue. Everyone wants access to safe consumer products, clean and affordable energy and clean and abundant water, it is up to all of us to continue to communicate that no matter who is in office.
