Minnesota House of Representatives District 40A candidate surveys, 2022

Elections in Minnesota, 2022

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This article shows responses from candidates in the 2022 election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 40A who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

• Click here to see candidates and election results.
• Click here to see Candidate Connection survey responses.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 40A

Incumbent Kelly Moller defeated Ben Schwanke in the general election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 40A on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kelly Moller (D)	61.6	12,302
		Ben Schwanke (R)	38.3	7,652
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	14

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 19,968
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

Click on a candidate's name to visit their Ballotpedia page.

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.

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Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Ben Schwanke (R)

With inflation out of control, we are taking home less money than we were a year ago. It is more important now than ever, that government waste is eliminated. With families struggling to just get by, our state should not be taking in a $10 billion surplus. As inflation increases, our sales tax automatically takes in more of your money and will disproportionately hurt our lower income families. In Minnesota we have the opportunity to make policy adjustments that will have an impact. ​ We can start with repealing outdated laws such as the state requiring gas stations to make at least 8 cents a gallon profit over the wholesale price. I also am against the DFL proposal to increase the Minnesota gas tax up to twenty cents more per gallon.

Crime is out of control, with a small portion of our population being allowed to terrorize our community. We need to be laser focused on violent crimes. For example, carjacking is not a defined crime in Minnesota. I will fight for passage of a law to make this a serious offense. Instead of continually letting violent offenders back into our community, we need to draw a hard line. ​ While we all suffer from rising crime rates, our youth are especially affected. Whether they are being used by adults to commit crimes or if they are victims of violent crimes themselves, their future is bleak if we allow this to continue. We need to make Minnesota a safe place where kids can play in their backyards or walk home from school.

As a teacher, I know that the Minnesota Public School system funding is unjust and unfair. The zip code where a child lives should not determine their value to the state. I will fight this immoral funding formula disparity between zip codes as they only create uncertainty for district operations. School funding formulas should be simplified and state mandates reduced. Local school boards and parents should be empowered.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Ben Schwanke (R)

I believe inflation, increase crime, energy, and education all need to have a serious conversation. In almost all of these cases we need an "all of the above approach" and we need elected officials to get serious about crafting solutions that do this.

See also

More about these elections:

• Minnesota House of Representatives elections, 2022

Select a district below to read responses from candidates in those races:

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