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Republicans maintain control of House district after special election
Steve Drazkowski, who won with 53 percent of the vote, will fill the seat left vacant by Steve Sviggum.
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In a race that went down to the wire, Republicans maintained control of the Minnesota House district vacated by departing former Speaker Steve Sviggum on Tuesday, with Steve Drazkowski narrowly defeating DFLer Linda Pfeilsticker in a closely watched special election.
The district in southeastern Minnesota had been held by Sviggum since 1978. Drazkowski won with 53 percent of the vote, with more than 7,100 voters showing up at the polls.
Pfeilsticker (pronounced "file-sticker"), 35, is a schoolteacher who had never run for elected office. Drazkowski, 42, a cable communications contractor, most recently was the Republican opponent of Sen. Steve Murphy in 2006.
Sviggum's departure to become commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry left just eight weeks for campaigning and fundraising. It was a race expected to generate six-figure contributions from House caucuses and other groups that considered the seat pivotal to the dynamic in the House after DFL upsets in some key districts in 2006.
"I think the anomaly is over," Drazkowski said last night. "The voters were interested in rural values -- honesty and hard work."
Questions about support of a gas-tax increase to fund transportation needs became a major issue in the final days of the race after the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge.
After initially opposing any gas-tax increase, Drazkowski said he would consider supporting it if Gov. Tim Pawlenty took the lead in pushing for it as part of a transportation package. Pfeilsticker said the tax increase should be considered.
Pfeilsticker had focused her campaign on education, particularly concerns about declining school enrollment in rural areas; on giving universal access to affordable health care and on rural economic development, with an emphasis on transportation.
Drazkowski wanted to reduce mandates for health care providers to encourage competition and favored a $2 billion transportation bonding initiative initially supported by Pawlenty.
Drazkowski emphasized what he called his "rural values," which included tax cuts, fiscal responsibility and gun rights. He also was opposed to legislation that would allow the children of illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition at Minnesota public colleges and universities. He accepted no PAC or special interest money in his campaign.
On Tuesday night, House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, celebrated the victory, calling it evidence "of a return to normalcy," particularly, he said, since significant attention from transportation advocates, unions and progressive groups had devoted so much attention to Pfeilsticker's campaign.
"To win by several hundred votes in a special election when the national feeling about Republicans is the way it is -- this has to be seen as a resounding victory," he said.
Mark Brunswick • 651-222-1636 • mbrunswick@startribune.com
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