The year in review.

Sitting in a Saint Paul high school classroom, after a discussion with students about our climate future.

As we wrap another year of our lives, another year in this pandemic, I am reflecting on the work in my first term serving in the Minnesota Senate. Here are highlights, my 2021 year in review.

Leadership during COVID

It’s incredible to think how quickly our battle with the coronavirus evolved this year. Not long after I was sworn in did we find the promise of effective vaccines, first for our frontline workers and most vulnerable. In those early days, I joined my colleagues at St. Kates to administer vaccine clinics on campus. We are ending the year with vaccine prevalence shadowed by the resistance of many, and our youngest children remain vulnerable without the option to get their shots.

As much as we all would like it to be, the pandemic is not yet over. I worked this year to remind my colleagues in the Senate of that fact. Joined by my public health professionals at the legislature, we called on Republicans to stop the spread of dangerous COVID misinformation. I still remember the astonishment I felt on the Senate floor as Republican leadership minimized the loss of life we continue to experience by letting the virus run rampant in our communities. The science is clear that the best tools at our disposal for the health and safety of Minnesotans rests in vaccines, masks, and testing. By making these issues divisive and politicized we risk prolonged labor shortages that hurt local businesses, abrupt closures of schools disrupting in-person learning that robs students of precious time, and dangerous burnout of our essential workers that tend to our sick and elderly, and keep us fed and more.  

Championing Minnesota’s frontline workers

They went to work when most of us stayed home. They kept us healthy and alive, and kept our economy functioning. For workers on the frontline, this pandemic is a relentless and crushing continuation of work. We call them heroes. Because of this, I worked with my friend Rep. Cedrick Frazier throughout the regular session to pass legislation offering emergency leave for the unpaid time off thousands of workers were forced to take when they got sick or had to quarantine. We worked closely with workers across industries, unions, and advocates to make the case that their time should be repaid. And yet, Senate Republicans wouldn’t give it a hearing.

Thanks to federal funding and a directive from President Biden, we passed a budget that made a commitment to Frontline Worker Pay. We’ve set the money aside. And still, they are waiting. It is unforgivable and a failure - the result of politics that is about power over the people. The Senate Republicans chose to erect hurdles at the feet of frontline workers; threatening to fire the Commissioner of Health while the virus rages, demanding changes in emergency powers, grandstanding over vaccine mandates, and dividing workers into those who are worthy and those who are not.

To me, everyone who was deemed essential who went to work and put their lives at risk to help those who needed it the most, who made sure our communities were fed, who offered care for the young or the old, is deserving. We cannot afford to accept failure. We need our workers, and they need us to do what’s necessary to keep our communities healthy: vaccinate and mask.

Leadership on the Agriculture Committee

This year I served as the Ranking Minority member of the Agriculture Committee. It may have been unexpected to some, as I represent an urban community (one full of community gardens, producing fresh fruits and veggies). It is important for me to champion the needs of Minnesotans, and I have built many meaningful relationships with people across the state during my tenure in the House and my gubernatorial run. In this role, I hosted a rural town hall to hear directly from Minnesotans living in rural communities about their experiences and needs. We heard a call for affordable childcare, healthcare, and opportunities for emerging farmers. We also heard the need for broadband, something legislators promised progress on for years only to punt when it came time to fund it. In committee, I successfully offered an amendment to increase broadband funding from $40M to $120M, drawing on federal funds. I maintained that fight as we debated the budget and over the objections of the GOP majority. In this final budget, border-to-border broadband was funded at $70M using federal funds. This is a real commitment to critical infrastructure.

To the surprise of many, the successful Market Bucks program was excluded coming out of closed doors negotiations. It is a program that provides coupons for Minnesota SNAP recipients to purchase fresh produce – carrots, corn, potatoes, and more – from local farmers. Securing the funding for Market Bucks in the special session was a scrappy and satisfying fight. Market Bucks feeds hungry people, pays farmers, and pumps dollars into local economies. It’s a win-win-win for our state. The preservation of this important program was only made possible thanks to the statewide network of advocates fighting hunger, supporting farmers, and farmers markets.

Creation of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus

We end the year with a looming SCOTUS decision on the future of Roe V. Wade hanging in the balance. The protection of bodily autonomy is no longer safe, as state level threats mount across the country, including right here in Minnesota. With the health and safety of so many lives at stake, this is a fight we must approach on the offensive. Recognizing this, I joined my DFL colleagues in both chambers to form the first Reproductive Freedom Caucus, together in the fight for bodily autonomy in reproductive decision-making and access to abortion care. When asked, Minnesotans make clear they are with us on this issue. Rolling back abortion care and reproductive freedom is an issue of equity, an issue that leaves LGBTQ+ communities vulnerable, and an issue that requires our committed fight.

Deep Canvassing Across Minnesota

In a time of disconnect and divide, I joined an effort to connect more effectively with Minnesotans through deep canvassing across the state. Working with my friends Representative Todd Lippert of Northfield, Lindy Sowmick, and a number of volunteers and elected officials in the House and Senate, we knocked on doors in St. Cloud, Burnsville, Rochester, Mankato, St. Paul, Northfield, Montgomery and Maple Grove to listen to the diverse perspectives of Minnesotans. The result was nearly 600 rich conversations that ranged from voting rights, climate change, public safety and raising revenue. By and large, we found agreement in our positions and desires for our shared future. What was clear from this important exercise is that we have work to do to restore faith in how government can work for the people to meet their needs, now more than ever as individuals and families are still reeling from the pandemic.

Working with a new generation of elected leaders

In my first year in the Senate, I joined with my newly elected colleagues in the fight to build Minnesota’s future. We didn’t let our status as members of the Minority dull our efforts. We took action, used our voices, and brought our fight to the Senate floor. I am especially proud of my first term colleagues who are shaping the institution with their skills, perspectives, and determination.

2021 also brought in new leaders at the local level, and I am proud to see my friends elected by their communities to lead with their values. Dear friends like Minneapolis City Councilmember Aisha Chugtai and St. Paul School Board Member Halla Henderson. My faith in politics and democracy is renewed by hopeful leaders like these two, whose commitment to community and our future is unwavering. We must continue to elect more great candidates to build our future together.

The fight for our democracy

We are a week away from the anniversary of the January 6th insurrection. It was a coordinated effort, funded by extremists to undermine election results and intimidate legislators that resulted in death and fomented anti-democracy sentiments across the country. In its wake is a grim outlook for our future elections, a fight that requires us all. Within our own state this year, we saw members of the Senate raise funds for insurrectionists, gubernatorial candidates refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Biden presidency, and Republicans in the Senate pass restrictions to the right to vote. These are no accidents, but designed strategically to unravel our precious democracy in the pursuit of power.  

This year, I was elected by my colleagues to serve as the Senate DFL Campaign Chair. I shared my campaign plan with a vision to not only elect a DFL Majority, but to build an inclusive campaign that supports a diversity of new leaders in races across the state. We are well on our way, and heading into 2022 with a strong and committed team in place. There is much we won’t know until new lines are drawn for districts, but we are ready to fight for Minnesotans and win for our bright future. I believe in the power of organizing, in the critical role it plays in our elections and in building our future.

Two weeks ago, I was invited to the White House and a tour of the East Wing. It was lovely. There were musicians playing throughout and I stopped to listen to O Come All Ye Faithful and take in the rare moment. I said hello to one of the butlers working that day and we talked for a bit, about his work and mine. He reminded me that we were in “the people’s house,” catching me in the moment.

We are a government, by and for the people. It’s our democracy. It’s our responsibility, it’s our opportunity. His words, in the White House, brought that home, powerfully. I’m so grateful for that moment.

2022 will challenge us again, and if we let it, it could crush us. But I believe we will meet the moment. I feel compelled to lead and fight for a future that includes all of us, no exceptions. One in which we all thrive. No easy feat and not the job of one. It is the job for many. I believe in you. I believe in us.

Let's build our bright future, together.

With joy in the fight,

Erin