During her Duluth City Council campaign, Diane Desotelle met volunteers who were getting involved in local politics in response to what was happening nationally.
Pitching in on a local race offered a “little light of hope,” said Desotelle, a first-time candidate who won 79.8% of the vote to represent the city’s second district.
“People were finding joy and they were excited about grassroots-up local government issues,” she said. “They said they felt better because they were so stressed about what’s going on nationally.”
Local issues loom largest in municipal elections, and this Election Day was no different, but candidates in Greater Minnesota described seeing much overlap between local issues and national politics this year.
Shanon Nowell noticed this in her successful mayoral campaign in St. Peter, one of the few other cities in Greater Minnesota to have municipal elections this year. Locals in this college town, home to Gustavus Adolphus College, regularly demonstrate against President Donald Trump’s policies along the busiest road through the city.
Off-year elections help keep the focus on city issues, but this year felt slightly different, said Nowell, who won a third term as mayor Tuesday.
“It was hard to avoid that,” she said of national issues. “With SNAP benefits [ending] and the timing of elections, people are concerned about their neighbors, and I felt that in the campaign.”
Related: Rural Greater Minnesota grocers sound the alarm over SNAP uncertainty
Concerns about this translate into questions about what cities will do about housing and general affordability. Nowell focused on these issues in her campaign. “We did a housing study and it really showed us that despite all the work we’ve done, it’s really not the time to take our foot off the gas,” she said.
Housing was also a major theme in Duluth, where many residents are renters. The issue was on the ballot in a way, with voters approving a “right to repair” measure that expanded rights to improve rental units.
Desotelle brought up housing first when asked about what concerns voters had this year. The two other newcomers elected to the Duluth City Council, Jordon Johnson and David Clanaugh, emphasized housing in their campaigns.
Housing fits into what Steven Schier, a political science professor emeritus at Carleton College, saw as a common thread that engaged voters across the country Tuesday. The story of the day, from New York City to rural school referendums in Minnesota, was economic stress, he said.
“Nationally the big issue Democrats used to their advantage – and this relates to Greater Minnesota – is affordability,” he said.
Clanaugh, who defeated an incumbent in Duluth’s fourth district by an 8% margin, said it did feel like affordability, and reactions to the federal government’s policies, were through lines in races around the country.
“That affordability issue is a common theme, and people are starting to recognize how they were manipulated by the current federal administration,” he said.
Unemployment is up this year in Duluth compared to last year, he noted. Economically, people are feeling the effects of national policies, leading them to want to reengage with local leaders who can work on solutions, he said.
Duluth could be a barometer for how motivated progressive voters are on these economic issues, Schier said. The city’s at-large council candidates garnered 30,625 votes Tuesday, according to data from the Minnesota Secretary of State. This was a 37% increase from 2021, the last off-year election without a mayoral race on the ballot.
Voting was also up in Duluth’s second- and fourth-district races. Right to repair, door knocking and having candidates who engaged well with voters contributed to strong turnout, Clanaugh said.
The city, he said, should be ecstatic, and take notice, of the results.
“I hope that the current elected officials frame this in a way that recognizes people’s higher degrees of engagement,” he said.
Related: Rural Minnesotans join nationwide ‘No Kings’ protests
Duluth’s election is typical in Greater Minnesota in that candidates run as nonpartisans. Candidates can and do receive party endorsements, but voters don’t see party affiliations on ballots like they do in Minneapolis city races or during state and national legislative elections.
Still, all four Duluth City Council victors this year received DFL Party endorsements. Desotelle debated whether to seek the endorsement, ultimately deciding it was reflective of her values. While Clanaugh describes himself as a progressive, he said local issues like housing bring people of varying political opinions together to find solutions.
Over four-year terms, Desotelle and Clanaugh expect the effects of national and state decisions to continue trickling down to local government. Their understanding is the City Council has been split on whether it should speak on national and international issues.
A balance needs to be struck, to be sure, Desotelle said, but “there are times when you need to speak up about national issues, because it affects us all.”
The post Local issues carried the day in Greater Minnesota elections, but national politics loom appeared first on MinnPost.
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