Minnesota Report
There is great diversity in the state House and it is evident in the largest regional delegation of Suburbanites. Depending on how one counts a suburban district, the DFL House Majority of 75 is made up of a majority of seats in suburbia.
With both the Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman (DFL-36B, Brooklyn Park) and Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL-46A, St Louis Park) being suburbanites the suburban agenda should be well heard, but defining what that Is, is a challenge because there are great differences in the needs of Anoka County and Washington County.
But as a buffer zone between the rural and urban communities, the suburbs play an essential role. Many times, when someone moves into the Twin Cities area from Greater Minnesota they tend to reside in a suburb on the same side of the cities they came from. The main reason being they don’t want to have to drive through the cities to go home.
Now and these younger communities have matured they have taken on their own character and in spite of the plethora of big box stores and strip malls they have some regional elements to provide. Sure, Shakopee has Canterbury Downs, Mystic Lake, the Renaissance Festival and Valley Fair, while Stillwater has a winery a brewpub and a historic main street. There are many jewels to be found across the buffer zone.
What is clear though if they express a collective will they can have a significant influence on the direction of the DFL House Caucus, and we see their best alliance to be with the Representatives from the regional centers because those communities operate in a similar fashion.
Checks & Balances Publisher Shawn Towle once described Hermantown as a suburb of Duluth, his hometown in an Op/Ed in the Duluth News Tribune.