WCCO Radio’s Behind the Ballot is taking a look at a pair of long-time Minnesota lawmakers who announced they were not seeking re-election this November and their outlook on what’s to come in St. Paul.
DFL Rep. Frank Hornstein, first elected in 2002, announced in February that he would not run for re-election to the Minnesota House.
“I have made a very difficult decision to no longer seek re-election in 2024 to the Minnesota House of Representatives in District 61,” Horstein wrote. “With this week's start of the legislative session, I have come to the realization that it is time to reorder my life's priorities and to pass the torch to new leadership after 22 years of legislative service.”
That announcement came after decades of public service which started even before his time in the Minnesota House.
“There was a campaign in graduate school, but the first campaign I worked on came when I was 9-years-old, dropping off literature for Hubert Humphrey in my home state of Ohio,” Hornstein said. “I would say the first campaign I worked on was the 1968 campaign for Minnesotan Hubert Humphrey even though I was living in Cincinnati.”
In July, Minnesota Republican Rep. Patrick Garofalo announced he was resigning from his District 58B seat. A letter from Garofalo to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz read, “It has been an honor to serve the constituents of House District 58B and the state of Minnesota.”
Garofalo was first elected to the Minnesota House in 2004.
“I was raised in a family that taught me that being an elected office was a noble profession and short of being a billionaire was the best way to be active an involved in your community,” Garofalo said. “That is just something I was raised with growing up in my family and continued into college until 2004 when a legislative seat opened up. I expressed an interest and ran for it.”
More than a dozen House incumbents chose not to seek re-election in 2024. Paving the way for new leaders and ideas.
“I do get approached and I tell people that being a state legislator is one of the best experiences you could have in your life,” added Garofalo. “If you do the job right, you meet a bunch of people you wouldn’t normally meet. You have a bunch of experiences you normally wouldn’t have.”
Both Hornstein and Garofalo credit a number of people for helping them along the way. For Hornstein, it was the late Senator Paul Wellstone.
“He had a similar background to me as a community organizer. He showed that someone with an organizing and activist background could not only get elected, but make a difference as an elected official in improving peoples’ lives.”
Wellstone was killed in a plane crash near Eveleth on October 25th, 2002. Before Hornstein was elected.
“He was a mentor and I followed his career very closely,” added Hornstein. “Even since the 1980s I worked on his state auditor campaign in 1982, he didn’t get elected to the U.S. Senate until 1992. I observed him in many different situations, particularly as a United States Senator and how was able to open doors for people who didn’t normally have access to government.”
For Garofalo, it was a duo that helped him along the way.
“I had the privilege of serving with Dennis Ozment and former Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum,” he said. “They were both very helpful in helping learn what is this crazy legislative process of how a bill becomes a law. Both of them had a lot of experience and were great about sharing that knowledge with me.”
As new faces make their way to the State Capitol in St. Paul, there is some advice for new lawmakers that may stand the test of time.
“Door knocking is absolutely critical,” Hornstein said. “Sitting down with business owners and others that have a stake in the community. Developing that one-to-one relationship, that’s really critical. It’s something I learned in community organizing.”
And, there’s always something to learn.
“You get this opportunity to meet so many people with so many backgrounds and a lot of times all they want to do is educate you,” added Garofalo. “A deep dark secret about being a legislator is you get paid to learn. That’s a pretty cool job.”