Going back to the Senate… there was only one incumbent fired from their job.

Pat Powers

A friend pointed out to me this AM that out of 6 incumbent senators up for election last night, there was only one incumbent Senator – Bruce Rampelberg – who was fired from being a State Senator last night.

And as I’ve noted before, he was a supporter of a corporate income tax, & legalizing pot to a degree. Otherwise, that was it.  In D7, Tidemann returns, D9 Deb Peters returns, D32 Alan Solano returns, D33 Phil Jensen returns, and D35 Terri Haverly returns.

That doesn’t translate to a lot of people looking for drastic change in the status quo.

6 thoughts on “Going back to the Senate… there was only one incumbent fired from their job.”

  1. While that’s true you also have to consider some of the other races that didn’t include incumbents. Next year you might see State Senators Neal Tapio, Stace Nelson, Lance Russell, Jim Stalzer, John Wiik. Not a huge change in the status quo since some them are replacing similar legislators (I.e Stalzer for Omdahl) but it could shake things up a little. Especially with a new Majority Leader coming in.

    1. I agree. It’s going to be a different Senate next year.

      The next question to be answered is “what is the landscape going to look like for Dems” in this fall’s elections.

      1. If they win…

        Stace Nelson replaces Van Gerpen – Neutral effect
        Lance Russell replaces Rampelberg – conservative gain though Rampelberg wasn’t liberal
        Jim Stalzer replaces Omdahl – Neutral effect
        John Wiik Replaces Jim Peterson – Conservative gain
        Neal Tapio replaces Ried Holien – Neutral to more moderate gain

        Basically we will see a louder faction but I don’t think they will be great in numbers. Obviously some conservatives don’t like each other. It’s hard for me to see a guy like Brock Greenfield, Stalzer or Wiik supporting a Stace Nelson for leadership and it’s hard for me to see a guy like Stace Nelson taking a back seat and letting them lead. This is going to be a delicate balancing act.

  2. “what is the landscape going to look like for Dems”

    There is still enough liberal Republicans left to carry water for them.

  3. The dynamics for the Senate will change considerably. There will be more Scarecrow legislators (those lacking a brain) than anytime in recent history.

  4. Looks like it was bad for Solum to support the tax increase in Watertown. At least in the primary. He would have been a strong candidate in the general. Whoever told him to vote for the tax increase signed his obituary as a Republican in a primary. He would have had the upper hand in a general election.

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