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Jason Isaacson

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Jason Isaacson
Image of Jason Isaacson

Democratic Party

Prior offices
Minnesota House of Representatives District 42B
Minnesota State Senate District 42
Successor: Bonnie Westlin

Education

Bachelor's

North Dakota State University, 1998

Graduate

North Dakota State University, 2005

Personal
Birthplace
Moorhead, Minn.
Religion
Christian
Profession
College professor
Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Personal Facebook

Personal Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Jason Isaacson (Democratic Party) (also known as Ike) was a member of the Minnesota State Senate, representing District 42. He assumed office in 2017. He left office on January 3, 2023.

Isaacson (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Minnesota State Senate to represent District 42. He won in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Isaacson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Isaacson is a former Democratic-Farmer-Labor member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, representing District 42B from 2013 to 2017. In the 2013-2014 legislative session, Isaacson served as an Assistant Majority Leader.

Isaacson did not seek re-election to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2016.

Biography

Jason Isaacson was born in Moorhead, Minnesota. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from North Dakota State University in 1998 and 2005, respectively, and pursued a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. Isaacson's career experience includes working as a college professor.[1]

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2021-2022

Isaacson was assigned to the following committees:

2019-2020

Isaacson was assigned to the following committees:

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Minnesota committee assignments, 2017
• Agriculture, Rural Development, and Housing Policy
• Higher Education
• Human Services Reform
• Jobs and Economic Growth

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Isaacson served on the following committees:

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Isaacson served on the following committees:

Minnesota committee assignments, 2013
• Education Policy
• Environment and Natural Resources Policy
• Housing Finance and Policy
• Jobs and Economic Development Finance and Policy

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.


Elections

2022

See also: Minnesota State Senate elections, 2022

Jason Isaacson did not file to run for re-election.

2020

See also: Minnesota State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Minnesota State Senate District 42

Incumbent Jason Isaacson defeated Ben Schwanke in the general election for Minnesota State Senate District 42 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Jason Isaacson
Jason Isaacson (D) Candidate Connection
 
58.7
 
29,647
Image of Ben Schwanke
Ben Schwanke (R) Candidate Connection
 
41.1
 
20,771
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.2
 
78

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 50,496
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Jason Isaacson advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota State Senate District 42.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Ben Schwanke advanced from the Republican primary for Minnesota State Senate District 42.

Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Campaign finance

Endorsements

To view Isaacson's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.

2016

See also: Minnesota State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for the Minnesota State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on August 9, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was May 31, 2016. Incumbent Bev Scalze (D) did not seek re-election.

Jason Isaacson defeated Candy Sina in the Minnesota State Senate District 42 general election.[2][3]

Minnesota State Senate, District 42 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Jason Isaacson 54.30% 24,962
     Republican Candy Sina 45.70% 21,008
Total Votes 45,970
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State


Jason Isaacson ran unopposed in the Minnesota State Senate District 42 Democratic primary.[4][5]

Minnesota State Senate, District 42 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party Candidate
    Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Jason Isaacson  (unopposed)


Candy Sina ran unopposed in the Minnesota State Senate District 42 Republican primary.[4][5]

Minnesota State Senate, District 42 Republican Primary, 2016
Party Candidate
    Republican Green check mark transparent.png Candy Sina  (unopposed)

2014

See also: Minnesota House of Representatives elections, 2014

Elections for the Minnesota House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election was held on August 12, 2014, and a general election took place on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 3, 2014. Incumbent Jason Isaacson was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Heidi Gunderson was unopposed in the Republican primary. Isaacson defeated Gunderson in the general election.[6][7][8]

Minnesota House of Representatives, District 42B General Election, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngJason Isaacson Incumbent 52.3% 8,814
     Republican Heidi Gunderson 47.5% 8,014
     Write-in Write-in 0.2% 26
Total Votes 16,854

2012

See also: Minnesota House of Representatives elections, 2012

Isaacson won election in the 2012 election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 42B. He was unopposed in the Democratic primary on August 14 and deafeated Ken Rubenzer (R) in the general election on November 6, 2012.[9]

Minnesota House of Representatives, District 42B, General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngJason Isaacson 57.7% 12,884
     Republican Ken Rubenzer 42.3% 9,462
Total Votes 22,346

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Jason Isaacson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Isaacson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

My wife and I live with our three children (7, 5, & 4) in Shoreview Minnesota. My family has a golden lab puppy named Waffles. My career is as a professor in communications. I have a Bachelors and Masters degree from North Dakota State University and I am ABD in my PHD at the University of Minnesota. I love fishing, traveling, and Star Wars. My wife and I value making a positive impact on young persons life through coaching sports. As a person who has been in recovery for over 30 years, I am active in supporting the addiction recovery community. I was first elected to the Minnesota State House in 2012 and 2014. In 2016 I was elected to the Minnesota State Senate. I am currently running for a second term.
  • Working for strong public schools for ALL children.
  • Working for a robust economy that supports small business and a living wage.
  • Supporting healthcare for all Minnesotans.
I am passionate about supporting our students and their teachers. Bringing career and technical education back to junior and senior high school. Ensure that all Minnesotans have access to quality healthcare. Ending homelessness, particularly youth homelessness focusing on housing and economic development as a key part of solving this problem.
My dad, Barrack Obama, MLK jr., my confirmation pastor, and my great aunt Betty. They all taught me a little bit on how to be a better person and that it is my responsibility to make the world a better place.
I am a big fan of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau and how their work led to the idea of a "social contract" between the governed and the state. the Idea that the state has a responsibility to provide for the safety and wellbeing of their citizens. In providing for their safety and wellbeing there are several safeguards that protect the citizen from authoritarianism. In many ways made better by our founding fathers adding that we have the "right to pursue happiness".
being authentic, honest, and genuinely interested in helping others.
1. Constituent services.

2. Responsibly managing the states revenue and infrastructure.
3. Problem solving the daily issues that face our communities.

4. Helping at risk or vulnerable communities navigate state government.
In 9th grade we watched the Space Shuttle Challenger take off and explode.
McDonalds, 2 years in high school.
The Big Fish
Obi Wan Kenobi
Daddy shark because I am always surrounded by my amazing kids.
Two chambers provides every stake holder more opportunity to have their voice heard and the issue at hand to be properly vetted.
Not at all.
Three that are connected. Education, health care, and the state budget.
A a partner who works together but can act as an important check and balance between branches.
It is vitally important to build relationship with other legislators. Particularly important to build those relationships with members of the other political party. This is very important because it humanizes issues and events and allows members to be less effected by partisan differences.
A nonpartisan committee of citizens to decide the redistricting lines for our state.
I am an educator and grew up with a family owned manufacturing business. I see education and economic development as the perfect intersection to providing the most amount of people the opportunity to pursue happiness.
I would like to be a committee chair in education, jobs, or housing.
GOP congressman Jim Ramsted was a successful bipartisan legislator who also valued many of the same things I do in mental health, recovery, and helping people.
Not at this time.
I have a constituent who was in a devastating car accident. He sat in an emergency room unconscious and had not information on how to contact his family to help make important health decisions. He visited me in my office a few years later asking to create a law that allowed people to put emergency contacts on their license for just that situation. We passed that bill last year and was signed into law by the governor.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2012

Isaacson's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[10]

Education

  • Excerpt: "I view public education as the most important line of defense for the middle class. It is the most important tool we have to battle poverty."

Marriage Amendment

  • Excerpt: "In my opinion, this amendment is a violation of our inherent right to pursue happiness."

Right-to-Work

  • Excerpt: "I oppose right to work on several principles."

Voter ID

  • Excerpt: "There is simply no evidence of voter fraud that would warrant this kind of legislation. Additionally, upon careful examination of the proponents of this legislation, it is clear that the real purpose is voter suppression."

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Jason Isaacson campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2020Minnesota State Senate District 42Won general$82,809 N/A**
2016Minnesota State Senate, District 42Won $867 N/A**
2014Minnesota House, District 42BWon $47,281 N/A**
2012Minnesota House, District 42BWon $25,986 N/A**
2002Minnesota House, District 37BLost $9,972 N/A**
Grand total$166,915 N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Minnesota

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Minnesota scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.




2022

In 2022, the Minnesota State Legislature was in session from January 31 to May 23.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to labor issues.
Legislators are scored on their support for the organization's principles, which it defines as "provid[ing] a basis for a constitutionally limited government established to sustain life, liberty, justice, property rights and free enterprise."
Legislators are scored on their votes on labor issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.


2021


2020


2019


2018


2017


2016


2015


2014


2013


See also

2020 Elections

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External links

Candidate

Minnesota State Senate District 42
  • Website
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
    		•

    Personal

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
    		•

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 16, 2020
    2. ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "Candidate Filing Search," accessed August 25, 2016
    3. ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "General election results, 2016," accessed December 19, 2016
    4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Minnesota Secretary of State, "Candidate Filings," accessed June 3, 2016
    5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Minnesota Secretary of State, "Minnesota State Primary: Tuesday, August 9, 2016," accessed August 9, 2016
    6. ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "State Canvassing Board Report," August 19, 2014
    7. ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "2014 State General Election Candidate Filings," accessed July 25, 2014
    8. ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "2014 Election Results," accessed November 4, 2014
    9. ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "2012 State General Election Candidate Filings," accessed June 18, 2012
    10. ↑ "isaacsonfor42b," Official Campaign Website

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    -     		Minnesota State Senate District 42
    2017-2023    		 Succeeded by
    Bonnie Westlin (D)
    Preceded by
    -     		Minnesota House of Representatives District 42B
    2013-2017    		 Succeeded by
    -


    Current members of the Minnesota State Senate
    Leadership
    Senate President:Bobby Champion
    Majority Leader:Erin Murphy
    Minority Leader:Mark Johnson
    Senators
    District 1
    District 2
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    District 4
    Rob Kupec (D)
    District 5
    Paul Utke (R)
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    Jeff Howe (R)
    District 14
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    Vacant
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    Susan Pha (D)
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    Ann Rest (D)
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    Ron Latz (D)
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    Democratic Party (33)
    Republican Party (32)
    Vacancies (2)


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