Key Edina House race embraces the political center

The candidates in state House District 49A both hug the political center so firmly that voters might be hard-pressed to tell them apart, except for the "DFL" and "R" next to their names.

The DFLer in the race, Rep. Ron Erhardt, first represented the district for nearly two decades as a Republican. Dario Anselmo, his GOP rival, is the son of a judge first appointed by Democrat Orville Freeman and said he knows more Edina DFLers than Republicans.

Both candidates preach prudent investment in such areas as education and transportation.

Although the candidates' views might be similar and life in the district prosperous — the median family income here is nearly $130,000 — the election between Erhardt and Anselmo is hotly contested, and could help decide which party controls the Minnesota House.

If Anselmo and at least six other Republican challengers can flip Democratic seats, Republicans will win control and gain leverage in negotiations with the DFL Senate, which is not up for election this year.

A Republican House would press for lower taxes and spending, a more business-friendly regulatory environment and a transportation plan tilted toward suburban and rural priorities.

Politically, the 49A district swings like a saloon door, supporting President Obama twice but also 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. Erhardt and Anselmo both argue that they bring needed experience and that the election is about more than which party controls the speaker's gavel.

Anselmo says his business career gives him much needed perspective on a wide range of issues, from taxes and regulation to public safety. Like other Republicans, he uses the phrase "tipping point" to denote that Minnesota is reaching a point where taxes and regulation will chase away business and turn prosperous Minnesota into struggling Michigan. But Anselmo strikes a conciliatory tone: "We want everyone to do well, to make money so we can pay taxes for the services we want. We're a high-tax, high-service state. The question is, how high? Not sure we want to have Mississippi's taxes and outcomes, but we don't want to have New York City's, either."

Anselmo, whose father is bipolar, said he would bring an intimate perspective and expertise to the subject of mental health, a policy area with which Minnesota, like most states, continues to wrestle.

Erhardt is a Korean War veteran who served in the Legislature while caring for his late wife, who battled cancer the last 10 years of her life. He said his legislative experience will be crucial as lawmakers take up his specialty, transportation funding. He proudly displays in his office an Old West-style "Wanted" poster that shows Erhardt and other Republicans who voted to raise gas taxes. When Republican leadership threatened to take away some of his House privileges, he told them to get out of his office, using a phrase not suitable for a family newspaper. It cost him his House seat until he returned in 2013 as a DFLer.

Erhardt said he'd like to do something about college tuition if he's returned to office. He recalled that when he attended the University of Minnesota, his tuition, room and board were covered by his $90 per month GI Bill benefits and a $1-per-hour warehouse job.

Still, Erhardt knows transportation will be his legacy. Upon his return to the Legislature last year, he wanted a third lane for Interstate 494 in the western suburbs and successfully implored MnDOT officials to find the money to do it after they originally resisted.

Patrick Coolican • 651-925-5042