Minnesota Rep. Ron Erhardt has had nearly a decade of interesting election fights.
A longtime Republican, the Edina lawmaker lost his party's endorsement after he backed a gas tax increase against then Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto. He then ran as an independent and lost a 2008 three way race to Republican Keith Downey (now the GOP chair.) In 2012, he found success when he ran as a DFLer and returned to the Minnesota House.
Now, two Republicans have geared up to run against him in 2014.
On Thursday, Dario Anselmo, longtime owner of the Fine Line Music Café, announced he planned to run for the Republican endorsement in the district. According to a Star Tribune article, he sold the Fine Line last year.
Also in the running for the GOP: Polly Peterson Bowles. Bowles is a former Miss Minnesota who ran for the seat in 2012 but did not get the GOP nod. She told MinnPost last month that she was looking at the possibility of running in a primary.
Erhardt, meanwhile, said he is absolutely running for re-election.
"I don't see any reason why not," he said.
On Thursday, he stopped by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board to pick up some information. He also noted to Hot Dish that he had introduced several bills in preparation for February's session that would cut taxes.
