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Shawn Savela
Shawn Savela (Republican Party) ran for election to the Minnesota House of Representatives to represent District 8B. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Savela completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Shawn Savela was born in Ely, Minnesota. He graduated from Duluth Central High School. He earned a bachelor's and a graduate degree from the University of Minnesota, Duluth in 1990 and 2021, respectively. His career experience includes working as a software consultant and business owner.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Minnesota House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 8B
Incumbent Alicia Kozlowski defeated Shawn Savela in the general election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 8B on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Alicia Kozlowski (D) | 68.5 | 17,440 |
 | Shawn Savela (R)  | 31.3 | 7,954 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 55 | ||
| Total votes: 25,449 | |||
| = 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
Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 8B
Incumbent Alicia Kozlowski advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 8B on August 13, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Alicia Kozlowski | 100.0 | 3,818 |
| Total votes: 3,818 | |||
| = 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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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 8B
Shawn Savela defeated Timothy Meyer in the Republican primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 8B on August 13, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Shawn Savela | 61.8 | 908 |
| Timothy Meyer | 38.2 | 561 | ||
| Total votes: 1,469 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Savela in this election.
Pledges
Savela signed the following pledges.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Shawn Savela completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Savela's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I decided to run as a state representative after watching what happened in the last session. A seventeen billion dollar surplus was completely spent. Then, with the taste of spending still in their mouths, they added another ten billion dollars to the budget, increasing it by 40%. When reading about this I was reminded of an interview with John D. Rockefeller, at one time one of the richest people in the world. The interviewer asked “How much is enough”, and his answer was “A little bit more”. That seems to be the sentiment around spending with the current party that controls of all branches of the Minnesota government.
I grew up in a modest household in rural Duluth, graduating from both Central High School and UMD. My dad was a Boilermaker and my mom worked as a secretary for the City of Duluth. I’ve owned my own small business for 26 years, and have years of experience in planning, negotiations, budgeting, and producing results. I bring both knowledge of a Union household and that of a business owner, and I’ve learned from and appreciated aspects of both. I’ve worked with and am friends with people from almost every race, religion, and creed. I’m also a Teddy Roosevelt Republican – I love the outdoors, clean air and clean water. I’m stepping out of my comfort zone to run for office.- We need to get control of state spending and fraud. Spending an entire $17 billion surplus, then adding another $10 billion to the budget is taking money out of our pockets that we need to live and buy food for our families. I will work to cut spending where appropriate and push to give Minnesota taxpayers a fighting chance in this economy.
- We need energy diversity - all options on the table. By funneling all of our power to electricity and then sourcing the electricity from only solar and wind, we're creating the potential for an energy crisis and scarcity.
Energy sources should be redundant and abundant. Solar and wind can be the primary source, if possible, but we need systems for backup and to provide extra energy when necessary.
Abundant energy drives down cost to get goods to market, which drives down prices and gives us a chance to have some extra money in our pockets after we've been to the grocery store. - Regulations need to be reviewed and reduced where appropriate. We have many regulations that are hurting businesses and preventing job growth. The "prove it first" bill is preventing mining companies from even attempting to prove they can mine minerals safely and cleanly.
An elected official also must be able to empathize with people with different backgrounds and who they may not even agree with. All people who live in the area of representation must know they are not only being heard, but that the official is also actively taking their suggestions into account when making decisions.
I learned a valuable work ethic there. They had a saying "if you have time to lean, you have time to clean". I've held onto that work ethic my entire career.
Legislators that are far right or far left can make a lot of noise and drum up conflict, but rarely get support for their bills. We need people who are able to work together to get the best legislation possible for the people of this state.
Transparency also means introducing bills with enough time for everyone to review them before being voted on. In the last session, the one party in full control introduced and passed a 1,400 page omnibus bill with 10 minutes remaining in the session. Nobody had time to debate or even read what was in the bill. This is unacceptable.
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.
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.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 12, 2024
