Sixteen of 24 Minnesota House committee chairs raised less money than the average member this cycle

By

Kalyn Stralow

Elections for all 134 seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives took place on Nov. 8, 2022. Democrats held a 69-63-1 majority heading into the election.

Committee chair fundraising

State legislative committee chairs set a committee’s legislative agenda. Some committee chairs raise significantly more money than their non-chair counterparts in the state legislature. The average amount raised by delegates who did not serve as a committee chair was $47,485. The funds raised by each of the House’s 24 committee chairs are shown below.

  • Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee – Mike Sundin – $4,600
  • Climate and Energy Finance and Policy Committee – Jamie Long – $87,776
  • Commerce Finance and Policy Committee – Zack Stephenson – $116,239
  • Driver and Vehicle Systems Oversight Committee – Frank Hornstein – $7,856
  • Early Childhood Finance and Policy Committee – Dave Pinto – $94,964
  • Education Finance Committee – Jim Davnie – $4,675
  • Education Policy Committee – Ruth Richardson – $38,520
  • Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee – Rick Hansen – $73,522
  • Ethics Committee – Jim Davnie – $4,675
  • Health Finance and Policy Committee – Tina Liebling – $52,516
  • House Capital Investment Committee – Fue Lee – $19,447
  • House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee – Connie Bernardy – $27,070
  • House Housing Finance and Policy Committee – Alice Hausman – $1,528
  • House Redistricting Committee – Mary Murphy – $51,180
  • House Taxes Committee – Paul Marquart – $6,875
  • House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee – Frank Hornstein – $7,856
  • Human Services Finance and Policy Committee – Jennifer Schultz – $9,470
  • Industrial Education and Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee – Gene Pelowski Jr. – $29,782
  • Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee – Jamie Becker-Finn – $51,599
  • Labor, Industry, Veterans and Military Affairs Finance and Policy Committee – Rob Ecklund – $97,733
  • Legacy Finance Committee – Leon Lillie – $30,602
  • Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Finance and Policy Committee – Carlos Mariani – $2,100
  • Rules and Legislative Administration Committee – Ryan Winkler – $25,754
  • State Government Finance and Elections Committee – Michael Nelson – $23,266
  • Ways and Means Committee – Rena Moran – $13,297
  • Workforce and Business Development Finance and Policy Committee – Mohamud Noor – $35,520

The data above are based on campaign finance reports that active Minnesota PACs submitted to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. Political expenditures that are not controlled by candidates or their campaigns, known as satellite spending, are not included in candidate totals. Federal PACs are not required to report to state agencies. Transparency USA publishes campaign finance data following major reporting deadlines.

This article is a joint publication from Ballotpedia and Transparency USA, who are working together to provide campaign finance information for state-level elections. Learn more about our work here.