Tom Kuster was born in Sarnia, Ontario. He earned a bachelor's degree from Northwestern College in 1961, a graduate degree from Indiana University in 1962, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1969. His career experience includes teaching, specifically courses in problem solving, interpersonal relationships, conflict management, leadership, and related disciplines.[1]
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Tom Kuster advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 15B.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Paul Torkelson advanced from the Republican primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 15B.
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Kuster in this election.
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Tom Kuster advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 15B.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Paul Torkelson advanced from the Republican primary for Minnesota House of Representatives District 15B.
Tom Kuster completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kuster's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
Tom Kuster is a retired teacher with 45 years of college teaching experience. He is 82 years old, and entered this race because he believes that democracy means voters deserve a choice and the incumbent was about to run unopposed. He has held numerous leadership positions in state and national educational organizations, and worked in support of a variety of political campaigns as well as-successful fund-raising for local projects and the local school district. He served for more than a decade on his city Human Rights Commission and was president of a statewide human rights organization for three years, receiving a governor's commendation for his work. He and Judy, his wife of 55 years, raised nine children, seven of them adopted, and have hosted several refugee and immigrant families in their home.
Our district is largely and proudly agricultural. While I am not a farmer, I can be an effective advocate for the economic interests and traditional values of farmers, especially farm families. I am also interested in social services. While every aspect of state government touches peoples' lives, the social services government provides touch families most closely and are especially important to troubled families. Those are the two areas i will hope to work in especially in the legislature.
My campaign is based on these "bedrock principles that are fully explained on my website at tom4rep.net.
• I will always encourage and respect precious votes.
• I will respect your intelligence as a citizen and voter.
• I will respect your personal integrity and that of every individual.
• I will not impose my religious beliefs on you nor seek to write them into law.
• I will support policies that maximize opportunity for everyone.
• I will be FULLY pro-life.
• I will be conservative where it is important.
• I will not fight for you.
• I will try to promote your vision for a future that will make all of our lives better.
• I will do all I can to preserve our democracy in the face of authoritarian threats.
Minnesota has been doing well – it has been well-governed and most of its people are prospering (even if they complain a lot, which is their right). The biggest challenge will be to maintain that positive momentum while making sure that everyone is brought along, that opportunity and wealth gaps do not grow larger but shrink. That will take a lot of study and working together to accomplish.
Relationship building would be fundamental to my functioning in the legislature. It's through relationships of trust that problems get effectively explored and solutions are discovered and put into effect. By relationships things get done.
There sill always be tensions in politics – even between any two people. The important factor is mutual respect that grows out of honesty and trust – that people mean what they say and stand by it. When that goes away, the situation is far from ideal, something we have too much of in politics today. I will work hard on relationships in the legislature.
Compromise means that each side gives up something in order to get things done. The first goal for a legislator is to try to collaborate, which means to work together with the other side to discover and accomplish a "win-win." If that is impossible, then we drop back to explore ways to compromise that will not sacrifice important basic principles. It is important to get things done that make peoples' lives better.
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.
Note: Kuster submitted the above survey responses to Ballotpedia on July 11, 2022.
Tom Kuster is a retired teacher with 45 years of college teaching experience. He is 82 years old, and entered this race because he believes that democracy means voters deserve a choice and the incumbent was about to run unopposed. He has held numerous leadership positions in state and national educational organizations, and worked in support of a variety of political campaigns as well as fund-raising for local projects and school districts. He served for more than a decade on his local Human Rights Commission and was president of a statewide human rights organization for three years, receiving a governor's commendation for his work. He and Judy, his wife of 55 years, raised nine children, seven of them adopted, and have hosted several refugee and immigrant families in their home.
Our district is largely and proudly agricultural. While I am not a farmer, I can be an effective advocate for the economic interests and traditional values of farmers, especially farm families. I am also interested in social services. While every aspect of state government touches peoples' lives, the social services government provides touch families most closely and are especially important to troubled families. Those are the two areas i will hope to work in especially in the legislature.
My campaign is based on these "bedrock principles that are fully explained on my website at tom4rep.net.
• I will always encourage and respect precious votes.
• I will respect your intelligence as a citizen and voter.
• I will respect your personal integrity and that of every individual.
• I will not impose my religious beliefs on you nor seek to write them into law.
• I will support policies that maximize opportunity for everyone.
• I will be FULLY pro-life.
• I will be conservative where it is important.
• I will not fight for you.
• I will try to promote your vision for a future that will make all of our lives better.
• I will do all I can to preserve our democracy in the face of authoritarian threats.
To listen to constituents, to care for and about them, and to work hard and honestly to advocate for their interests and find ways to make their lives better.
I remember the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It happened when I was five years old, and the reason I remember it is that the radio was playing funeral music and the Lone Ranger wasn't on.
After mowing lawns for neighbors, my first real job was gas station attendant, back in the days when attendants pumped gas and cleaned windshields. I learned to do lube jobs and oil changes, and shocked my boss by cleaning the men's and women's rooms (for the first time ever I think) without being asked to. I had that job for one summer.
There sill always be tensions in politics – even between any two people. The important ideal factor is mutual respect that grows out of honesty and trust – that people mean what they say and stand by it. When that goes away, the situation is far from ideal, something we have too much of in politics today.
Minnesota has been doing well – it has been well-governed and most of its people are prospering (even if they complain a lot, which is their right). The biggest challenge will be to maintain that positive momentum while making sure that everyone is brought along, that opportunity and wealth gaps do not grow larger but shrink. That will take a lot of study and working together to accomplish.
Experience is always valuable, but it comes in different flavors. I have no experience as a political office-holder, but I've occupied many positions of leadership in organizations that get things done. And if elected, I will quickly gain experience as a political office-holder. It's good to have a mix of various kinds of experience.
Relationship building would be fundamental to my functioning in the legislature. It's through relationships of trust that problems get effectively explored and solutions are discovered and put into effect. By relationships things get done.
Gerrymandering should be illegal. It is fundamentally undemocratic. Redistricting should be done in a non-partisan manner, either by the judiciary or by an independent commission.
Representing an agricultural district I would seek some committee role in which I could be an effective advocate for farmers, their economic interests and values. In addition, I would like to be part of a committee dealing with human services because they deal most directly with families, and are particularly helpful to troubled families.
Dennis Fredrickson was a state senator from our district that worked quietly and effectively, through relationships of trust, to get things done. If I could be something like him I would consider myself a success. (He was an old-style Republican.)
Compromise means that each side gives up something in order to get things done. The first goal for a legislator is to try to collaborate, which means to work together with the other side to discover and accomplish a "win-win." If that is impossible, then we drop back to explore ways to compromise that will not sacrifice important basic principles. It is important to get things done that make peoples' lives better.
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.
Note: Kuster submitted the above survey responses to Ballotpedia on July 10, 2022.
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.
Tom Kuster campaign contribution history
Year
Office
Status
Contributions
Expenditures
2024*
Minnesota House of Representatives District 15B
Lost general
$19,734
$19,130
2022
Minnesota House of Representatives District 15B
Lost general
$14,523
$14,524
Grand total
$34,257
$33,654
Sources: OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
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= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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.
