Former Minnesota DFL Senate leader Kari Dziedzic passed away Friday at the age of 62 after a long battle with cancer.
Her family released a statement on Saturday:
"Kari will be remembered by her family and those she served for her enthusiastic and humble leadership, which inspired all who knew her. She had a heart of gold, willing to go to any measure to help those she loved."
Considered one of the architects of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party’s historic 2023 legislative session, she represented northeast Minneapolis for 12 years in the state senate.
Dziedzic died in a Minneapolis assisted-living facility where she had been staying since early summer, according to a family member.
She announced last March that she had cancer, three months after screenings showed no signs of the disease, and the treatments kept her from attending meetings at the state capitol in St. Paul.
Dziedzic became majority leader for the 2023 session after helping Democrats take control of the Senate, putting them in control of both houses of the Legislature and the governor’s office for the first time in eight years.
Democrats used their “trifecta” to swiftly pass a long list of pent-up priorities they couldn’t when Republicans controlled the Senate, including new protections for abortion rights.
Her death means the Senate is now evenly split at 33 members each for the DFL and the GOP when the 2025 session begins Jan. 14.
The seat likely won’t be filled until at least late January.
Services have not been scheduled.