With Coleman absent, Kessler presses affordability and health card at Minnesota forum
Minnesota Senate District 48 DFL candidate Dan Kessler says health care is the one cost Minnesota can actually bring down. He made his case at a forum his opponent, Sen. Julia Coleman, didn’t attend.
It was Dan Kessler’s time to shine at a candidates forum last month in the race for Minnesota Senate’s 48th District. The absence of his opponent, incumbent Sen. Julia Coleman (R-Waconia), gave Kessler ample opportunity to speak on a variety of issues, including health care, affordability, gun violence and data centers.
Coleman said in a statement she couldn’t attend Carver County League of Women Voters’ Sept. 17 candidate forum because of conflict with what she called an important family celebration. She’s part of a growing trend in the state where Republicans skip League sponsored forums and debates.
Time and again, Kessler returned to the issue of affordability.
“I decided to run for Minnesota Senate because my children’s generation is the first in American history to have it tougher than their parents,” Kessler said. “Housing costs more. Health care costs more. Child care costs more.”
Kessler on affordability issues
Kessler said he’s learned about the high price of child care from personal experience. He said it was more expensive for his family to get daycare for one of their children than it was to pay for tuition, room and board for another child attending the University of Minnesota.
“We need to find ways of reducing those expenses to people and invest more in child care,” said Kessler. “People who want to be able to work should be able to work. And if not, having child care is keeping you from working, that’s harming our economy.”
As a practicing psychologist for 30 years, Kessler knows people who have jobs and medical insurance, but still can’t afford to pay for all their prescriptions. He said making health care more affordable is something the state can do.
“We can’t do anything about gas prices or grocery prices. That’s national or international. We can do something about the cost of health care. And that is what I want to do when I get to the Minnesota Senate,” he said.
‘Pump the brakes’ on data centers
“We have to solve the problem of water usage. We have to solve the problem of power usage that often causes massive increases in electricity bills. And we have to solve the problem of noise. Until we solve these problems, we may need to pump the brakes a bit.”
This is the second match-up between Kessler and Coleman. She won the 2022 race for the 48th District, with 54% of the vote to his 46%.
Coleman was the youngest woman ever elected to the Minnesota Senate when she won her first race in 2020, rising to the role of Assistant Minority Leader. One point of pride, according to her website, is funding more than $13 million for highway and water infrastructure in her district. The bill also included a $250 million cut in car tab fees. She also sponsored bills to fund public safety programs in schools and child saving accounts for higher education.
Earlier this year, she made headlines when she called on ICE to pause operations in Minnesota for 30 to 60 days and allow tensions to de-escalate. But she’s also sponsored a bill allowing local law enforcement to hold people wanted by ICE for up to 48 hours.
The forum was hosted by the League of Women Voters of Eastern Carver County. It can be viewed at the link below.
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