Minnesota State Senate District 23 candidate surveys, 2022

Elections in Minnesota, 2022

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This article shows responses from candidates in the 2022 election for Minnesota State Senate District 23 who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

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• Click here to see Candidate Connection survey responses.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Minnesota State Senate District 23

Incumbent Gene Dornink defeated Brandon Lawhead in the general election for Minnesota State Senate District 23 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gene Dornink (R)	60.7	20,273
		Brandon Lawhead (D)	39.1	13,051
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	67

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 33,391
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

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Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Brandon Lawhead (D)

Let’s Meet In The Middle: compromise, mutual respect and listening are the bedrock on which democracy exists. I’m a Democrat, but I love the Republican Party. The two parties create a symbiotic relationship that exist and provide balance. We need to respect each other and recognize that no person or party has a monopoly on virtue.

I am best described as being fiscally conservative and socially liberal. In truth, this is the best manner in which to create a robust economic environment.

Nobody wants to live in an unsafe community that doesn’t offer educational opportunities. The role of government is to provide community safety by supporting an effective police department and a fair and impartial judiciary. Similarly,an educational system must offer opportunities to all persons, regardless of financial circumstances. By so doing, we create opportunity for future generations to chase the American Dream. Educational opportunities should not be limited to the 3 R’s. I strongly support educational opportunities in the trades, and arts.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Brandon Lawhead (D)

I am passionate about preserving a Capitalistic System, where small business has a fair opportunity to compete. Small business is the engine on which America has led the World. Remember the “too big to fail” Wall Street Bailout of banks, who then used taxpayers’ money to give themselves bonuses? That is the epitome of perverse government interference. That’s not Capitalism.

It’s a reality that we are in an era of globalism. What separates the State of Minnesota and the United States of America from the rest of the World are (1) political stability and (2) a fair and impartial judiciary. What has transpired? Political instability and a direct attack on the Judiciary.

I am running for office to bring America together for my friends and our children.

Democratic government can work!

Let’s Meet In The Middle

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Brandon Lawhead (D)

My grandfather, Leon Lawhead.

He volunteered to serve in the United States Navy after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. While serving in the Navy, his bunkmate was Byron “Whizzer” White, President John F. Kennedy’s subsequent nominee to the United States Supreme Court.

My grandfather was a Republican, but changed party affiliation to the Democrats at Justice White’s urging during the election of 1960. At the time Senator Kennedy was a Catholic, which was considered to be controversial. My grandfather, a devout Protestant, saw that in America religious affiliations are irrelevant to life in a Capitalistic and free society.

My grandfather was the chairman on the hiring committee for 2nd Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, when William Hudnut was hired as minister.

Hudnut eventually was elected mayor of Indianapolis and presided over the Indianapolis Miracle economic boom by espousing our core political values: fiscal conservatism, and social liberalism.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Brandon Lawhead (D)

The Untied States’ Bi-Centennial

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Brandon Lawhead (D)

I was a box crusher for Sterling Drug, a locally owned small business in Austin, Minnesota

See also

More about these elections:

• Minnesota State Senate elections, 2022

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