Seventy-five years ago this month, the Minnesota Democratic Party joined forces with the Farmer-Labor Party in our state to create the Minnesota DFL. That merger symbolizes the highest ideals and aspirations of our party: Minnesotans from all walks of life coming together to advocate for the common good.
The DFL has always worked to build change from the ground up, with the grassroots activists leading the way. Paul Wellstone perfectly embodies this spirit. In his first race for U.S. Senate, Paul was outspent seven to one, but he didn’t let that stop him. Wellstone campaigned relentlessly across Minnesota, slowly but steadily earning the votes he needed to get elected and fight for change in the Senate. Folks like Gov. Tim Walz, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and Sen. Tina Smith have recently proven that this spirit of grassroots progressivism is alive and well in our party.
Coya Knutson: dedication to supporting farmers
For the last 75 years, our party has stayed true to our Farmer-Labor roots. Take Coya Knutson for example. Coya was a DFLer who would help farmers milk their cows while she talked about her campaign for Congress. In 1954, Coya won her congressional campaign, making her the first woman elected to the House of Representatives from Minnesota and eventually the first woman in the country to sit on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. That dedication to supporting farmers continues on to this very day, as evidenced by the fact that the current chair of the Agriculture Committee is DFLer Collin Peterson. Continue reading “DFL at 75: still building change from the ground up”