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Minnesota Bucks GOP Trend
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| Contributor | Eric |
| Last Edited | Eric Dec 04, 2004 04:55pm |
| Category | News |
| News Date | Nov 10, 2004 12:00am |
| Description | Two years ago Patti Fritz, a Faribault nurse, took on a long-entrenched Republican, Lynda Boudreau, in a race for the Minnesota House of Representatives. An eight-year incumbent, Boudreau had become a hero in conservative circles for taking the role of lead advocate for legislation that would allow people to carry concealed handguns.
Fritz recalls that during that 2002 race, she was pressured to support the concealed weapons bill. "I had working people tell me, 'Can the crap, put your gun on the table and tell 'em you'll vote for it,'" she says. Despite opposing the popular handgun measure, Fritz surprised political observers by running a dogged campaign, losing by just 600-some votes in the largely conservative district.
This year, with conceal-and-carry now state law, Fritz and Boudreau faced off again, but the outcome was reversed. The Democrat defeated the incumbent by 347 votes.
Fritz believes that the outcome was different this year in part because voters were focused less on narrow issues like conceal-and-carry and more generally on bread-and-butter concerns: jobs, roads, education. Most notably, she argues that the state legislature's inability to pass a bonding bill this year was a crucial factor. "They didn't deliver the goods," Fritz says. "They did not finish the job. That's very important to workers. What would happen if I didn't finish my job? I'd be fired." |
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