Republican candidate Abigail Wolters for Minnesota House District 60B has emerged as the conservative challenger for incumbent House Rep. Mohamud Noor.
The heavily Democratic-leaning House seat in the heart of the University of Minnesota will be up for grabs in the Nov. 5 election. District 60B covers the University campus as well as the surrounding neighborhoods of Cedar-Riverside, Como and parts of Prospect Park and Marcy-Holmes.
Minnesota House Rep. Mohamud Noor’s (D-Minneapolis) media team did not respond to the Minnesota Daily’s request for an interview in time for publication.
Noor said in an MPR article that he is running again because he knows and understands the uniqueness of the district. Noor has been the district incumbent since 2018.
Noor chairs the Human Services Finance Committee which impacts many healthcare and social services decisions and funding in Minnesota. According to MPR, Noor is focused on creating more opportunities for affordable housing, better healthcare access and a stronger economy for voters.
Wolters said she wants to represent the area because she feels the DFL trifecta passed too many laws without Republican considerations.
“It’s important to have opposition,” Wolters said. “And I didn’t want to see this seat, the 60B seat, go unopposed again.”
Even as a young woman, Wolters said she is unphased running for office as a Republican candidate. Though historically the GOP has been dominated by men, Wolters said she believes it is no longer unique to see more women and younger people running for state offices.
“I think I have a lot of support from other legislators who are currently in the House, as well as just people active in the Minneapolis GOP,” Wolters said.
University Political Science Professor C. Daniel Meyers said the Democratic trifecta in the Minnesota Senate, House and Governor could change this November. The switch to a Republican House is more likely than the Senate because of the narrow four-seat majority Democrats have, Meyes added.
“The closeness of the Senate and really the state House races in 2022, I think, points to just how evenly split Minnesota is at the state legislative level,” Meyers said. “I would not be at all surprised if Republicans seek out a small majority in the state House. I think it probably leans Democratic but not by a huge majority.”
Meyers said those flipped seats for the Republicans are unlikely to be found in the Left-leaning metro.
Wolters, a 2021 University of Minnesota graduate, said she contacted the Minneapolis GOP around a year ago in anticipation of running locally. Wolters said she was motivated by U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) campaign.
“That campaign really motivated me a lot to see what the opposition’s like and see how I can fit into that,” Wolters said.
Wolters said one of her main priorities is improving public safety, especially in the areas around the University.
Wolters added that addressing the lack of job opportunities in Minnesota is a priority for her after she struggled to find work with her computer science degree in Minnesota compared to other states.
“I think Minnesota has so much talent if we could also have some kind of free movement or reduce some of the regulations for businesses to be able to use this talent and create really great jobs in Minnesota, especially Minneapolis, which has a huge student population,” Wolters said.
Wolters said she is also running on reducing spending in the legislature, especially when there is a budget surplus. The state government putting money into Feeding Our Future, which defrauded the state, shows the need for more responsible state spending, Wolters added.
Wolters’ struggles to find a job and seeing how high her taxes were, motivated her to become more involved politically. She said seeing a paycheck and then watching how much of that is fueled into legislature projects pushed her to run for a seat in the state legislature.
“I saw this seat was open and like I said, it’s really important to have a choice,” Wolters said. “That kind of pushed me over the edge to put my hat in the ring.”