Republican Secretary of State candidate hurt in parade-float crash

Republican Secretary of State candidate John Howe was injured Sunday afternoon in Carver when his float crashed just after the city's Steamboat Days parade had ended. His campaign manager, Tim Droogsma, was also hurt.

Officers were dispatched to the corner of Hickory and Main Streets in Carver at 2:42 p.m. to assist two individuals who fell off a parade float, according to the Carver County sheriff's office. They did not identify the people.

Both were transported to the hospital, said Sgt. Peter Anderley of the Carver County Sheriff's Office.

Howe was tweeting about the incident soon after it happened. At 4:13 p.m., he tweeted, "Campaigning can be difficult some days. Keep the Faith!" He included a picture of him in a hospital bed, with a bloodied hand held above his head. Later, Howe added that he had sustained road rash and required 14 staples in the back of the head.

About 7:30 p.m., Droogsma also posted a picture of himself in a hospital bed, tweeting, "That feeling when a 2,800-pound trailer runs over you. Grateful to God for being spared, thankful for great EMTs and ER staff."

Several Republican officials, including some who were also on the GOP float, expressed concern for the pair.

Rep. Jim Nash, a Republican from Waconia, tweeted, "Please be in prayer for John Howe and his campaign manager. … They were in the GOP float and were thrown from the float and there are some serious injuries that have been sustained."

Howe, the former mayor of Red Wing, represented southeastern Minnesota in the state Senate from 2011 to 2013. Droogsma served as a press secretary to former U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz and to Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson.

Erin Adler • 612-673-1781