Minnesota House Majority Leader Matt Dean will face-off against a fellow Republican lawmaker to retain his seat.
Since new political maps were released, Dean had assiduously avoided disclosing his plans. GOP Rep. Carol McFarlane announced last month that she planned to run, even though she now shares a district with Dean. Meanwhile, he dithered over whether he would run again.
But on Facebook Monday, Dean said he planned to mount an endorsement challenge to McFarlane.
"I'm running for re-election because the state needs to continue on this fiscally conservative path. We also have lots of work left on our Reform 2.0 agenda, dramatically changing the way we deliver state government on behalf of the taxpayers," Dean said on Facebook Monday.
He said he planned to abide by delegates decision whether to endorse him or McFarlane.
McFarlane has said the new district includes 80 percent of the area that she has represented in the Legislature since 2006. That could give her an edge in wooing delegates this month.
But Dean, who lives in Dellwood, may be seen as more fiscally conservative than McFarlane, of White Bear Lake. On the anti-tax Taxpayers League's scorecard of votes, Dean has a lifetime rating of 84 percent to McFarlane's 63 percent. That could be an advantage for him.
