Dean Simpson was stunned with the election results early Wednesday morning. Not with how his race to keep hold of his State House District 10B seat turned out, but with the upsets statewide which saw, among others, Cal Larson's defeat in the State Senate.
Simpson, the Republican incumbent for District 10B, defeated challenger Tim Nieminen 9,471-6,067 to retain his spot in the State Legislature. Some of his Republican colleagues weren't so fortunate. Democrats ousted nine Republicans and picked up five more open seats to take over the House.
Simpson thinks a big reason for the shake-up on the state level has national ties."I really think the whole war thing has people upset. People said they wanted change and wanted to carry that change over here," Simpson said. The irony, Simpson added, is state representatives and state senators have nothing to do with national policy. The good thing for Republicans is Gov. Pawlenty was elected for another term, narrowly defeating challenger Mike Hatch.
Simpson has represented District 10B in the house for four years and even though he expects change in the Legislature he's confident he'll be able to do what's right for this area, no matter what party is in the majority.
"I work with anybody and everybody. I can work both sides of the aisle," he said. "I want to thank the people for supporting me and I'll continue to do the right things for the people in my district."
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Simpson carried the vote over Nieminen in the NY Mills and Perham precincts.
