Ann Johnson Stewart runs for Minnesota Senate in hotly-contested special election
The outcome of the Senate District 45 race will determine the majority in the Minnesota Senate
By Steve Share, Minneapolis Labor Review editor
MINNETONKA — For voters in Minnesota Senate District 45 in the west Minneapolis suburbs, the November 5 ballot will include a special election to fill a vacancy in the Senate District 45 seat.
Former State Senator Ann Johnson Stewart is running for the Senate District 45 seat with the endorsement of the Minnesota AFL-CIO and the DFL Party.
It’s the only State Senate seat on the ballot this year. The outcome of the November 5 election will determine whether the DFL Party or the Republican Party has a majority in the Minnesota Senate, so the race is drawing lots of attention — and spending.
Johnson Stewart reports a flood of volunteers assisting her campaign, including a lot of union members. “People have finally figured out — if I don’t win, we’re going backwards,” she says.
Senate District 45 is the only State Senate seat on the ballot this year. The outcome of the November 5 election will determine whether the DFL Party or the Republican Party has a majority in the Minnesota Senate.
Johnson Stewart’s other labor endorsements include: AFSCME Council 5, Carpenters Local 322, Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, and SEIU Minnesota State Council.
Senate District 45 consists of communities surrounding Lake Minnetonka, including Deephaven, Excelsior, Greenwood, Long Lake, the north part of Minnetonka, Minnetonka Beach, Minnetrista, Mound, Orono, St Bonifacius, Shorewood, Spring Park, Tonka Bay, Wayzata, and Woodland.
The seat became vacant when the incumbent, Dr. Kelly Morrison, resigned to run for Congress.
Johnson Stewart represented part of this area before, when she won election as the DFL candidate in 2020 to represent the old Senate District 44. Redistricting led Johnson Stewart to leave the Senate after just two years.
During those two years in the Minnesota Senate, Johnson Stewart won a 95 percent voting score from the Minnesota AFL-CIO on working families issues.
“That’s who I am and what I stand for,” Johnson Stewart recently told the Minneapolis Labor Review. “I was raised in a union family. My mom and dad were teachers… That’s a family value I grew up with.”
A civil engineer by profession, “I see the value that unions bring to the construction industry,” Johnson Stewart says. For individual workers, she added, she sees the difference between union and non-union workers and how they experience their careers.
I was raised in a union family… That’s a family value I grew up with.
More than 20 years ago, Johnson Stewart started her own engineering firm, which grew to 26 employees. Her firm helped local and state government to build infrastructure across the state. Two years ago, she sold the company but continues to work there part-time. “I did that to focus on being in the Senate,” she says.
“I was the first civil engineer to serve in the Minnesota Senate,” Johnson Stewart says. “We need somebody who really understands infrastructure and the value of state spending on local projects.”
The bonding bill which the legislature is supposed to take up every two years is all about jobs, Johnson Stewart notes. “The bonus is you get a bridge.”
If she returns to the Senate, “it is my top priority to de-politicize bonding, to get a bonding bill every year until we catch up,” she says.
When Morrison resigned the Senate District 45 seat in June 2024, jumping in the race “was a very easy decision,” Johnson Stewart says. “I really had a lot left I wasn’t able to accomplish. I was excited for the opportunity to go back.”
When she served previously in the Senate, Johnson Stewart says, “it was really demonstrating the importance of having an infrastructure expert on the bonding and transportation committees.” She knew how to ask the right questions, she says. “Having somebody with that construction background was one of my biggest accomplishments.”
Johnson Stewart grew up in Wausau, Wisconsin. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin Platteville and a masters degree in civil engineering at the University of Minnesota. She has lived in Minnetonka for 27 years.
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