Todd Mikkelson
Todd Mikkelson was a 2014 Democratic candidate for District 33A of the Minnesota House of Representatives.[1]
Campaign themes
2014
Mikkelson's website highlighted the following campaign themes:
| “ | Our Schools
If there's one thing we all agree on in this district, it's that our schools are supremely important. We've got some of the best school districts in the state and the 2013 Legislature approved free all-day Kindergarten, enhanced funding for pre-K and improvements to higher education support. My opponent voted against all these measures, however. Studies show that investment in our schools is one of the surest ways of getting a high return: it gives our kids a promising future; it strengthens our workforce and helps grow our state's economy; and it enhances property values. Minnesotans have shown that they overwhelmingly support strengthening our schools. Our House Representative who sits on the Education Finance Committee should recognize that. Our Economy Smart investments in infrastructure and schools are good for our kids, our workforce, and our economy. Those investments will improve our standard of living, attracting more people and businesses, and most importantly, create new jobs." LGA legislation from the 2013 legislative session can help reverse the last twelve years of neglect of our infrastructure that has lead to crumbling roads and falling bridges. At the same time, it will help create new jobs and relieve individual cities from needing to raise property taxes to fund city functions. This new legislation includes new formulas for better fairness in distribution, but it still only restores one sixth of what has been lost since 2002. There should also be a more robust bonding bill, especially with such low borrowing rates. My opponent seems to think the austerity measures of the last twelve years is the way to go, even though that way has been proven to be harmful to our state’s schools, our safety, and our economy. Area Lakes Time keeps marching on, invasive species keep invading, and preventative measures keep getting postponed. Right now there are a lot of good people across our state that are trying hard to protect all the lakes in Minnesota, and I have ideas on how to help them. Campaign Financing This is not how our great country is supposed to work. Like you, I'm sick of hyperbolic, slanderous campaign commercials and the way that special interest money has corrupted our politics. I believe strongly that current campaign finance law is the disease that causes all these symptums. Minnesota has often been a leader forward progress for our country. It's time for our state to be a leader in campaign finance reform. Health Care Reform My opponent is one of those complaining, yet offering no alternatives or solutions. We currently spend 18% of GDP on health care costs while other developed countries spend 9%. --- this problem needed to be tackled and I’m eager to do all I can to help make the current law the best it can be. Sure there'll be problems. Let's fix them! It is after all a bipartisan law, conceived by Republicans and finally implemented by Democrats twenty years later. The stories of people benefiting from the new health care law are encouraging and growing in number every day. I would be honored to pitch in on the fine-tuning of this long-overdue legislation. For example, contracts between providers and insurance companies should be made public for true competition to occur and for health care costs to go down.[2][3] |
” |
2012
Mikkelson's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[4]
Fiscal Responsibility
- Excerpt: "I have no choice but to run my own business in a fiscally responsible fashion and they should do the same thing at the capitol."
Our Schools
- Excerpt: "The state needs to support schools well enough so that we don’t need to lay off teachers, and schools don’t need to take out loans just to keep up. "
Jobs
- Excerpt: "These are the things our state government is supposed to be taking care of. Right now, with interest rates as low as they’re ever likely to be is the best time to use bonding to invest in our state. It would produce thousands of jobs."
Area Lakes
- Excerpt: "We voted to raise our own taxes for the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment because we wanted to ensure the protection of our state’s natural resources. That money should never be used to fix our state’s budget deficit, and proposals to do so need to stop."
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. Todd Mikkelson was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Incumbent Jerry Hertaus was unopposed in the Republican primary. Hertaus defeated Mikkelson in the general election.[5][6][7]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Jerry Hertaus Incumbent |
65.7% | 12,003 | |
| Democratic | Todd Mikkelson | 34.2% | 6,246 | |
| Write-in | Write-in | 0.1% | 21 | |
| Total Votes | 18,270 | |||
2012
Mikkelson ran in the 2012 election for Minnesota House of Representatives District 33A. He ran unopposed in the Democratic primary on August 14 and was defeated by Jerry Hertaus (R) in the general election on November 6, 2012.[8][9]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jerry Hertaus |
62.1% | 14,717 | |
| Democratic | Todd Mikkelson | 37.9% | 8,963 | |
| Total Votes | 23,680 | |||
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Todd + Mikkelson + Minnesota + House"
See also
- Minnesota House of Representatives
- Minnesota House of Representatives District 33A
- Minnesota House of Representatives elections, 2014
- Minnesota State Legislature
External links
- Official campaign website
- Todd Mikkelson on Facebook
- Todd Mikkelson on Twitter
- Todd Mikkelson on LinkedIn
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Legislative profile from Project Vote Smart
Footnotes
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "2014 State General Election Candidate Filings," accessed July 1, 2014
- ↑ Friends of Todd Mikkelson, "Issues," accessed October 21, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Friends of Todd Mikkelson, "Issues," accessed October 21, 2014 (Archived)
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "State Canvassing Board Report," August 19, 2014
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "2014 State General Election Candidate Filings," accessed July 25, 2014
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "2014 Election Results," accessed November 4, 2014
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "2012 State General Election Candidate Filings," accessed June 18, 2012
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "Minnesota State Canvassing Report - State Primary - Tuesday, August 14, 2012," accessed April 23, 2014
