In Rochester, national talking points are edging into local elections

ROCHESTER - A military Humvee displaying mayoral candidate signs. Fears of globalism. Accusations that Rochester Library somehow promotes pedophilia.

National political talking points and rancor have made their way to Minnesota's third-largest city as residents prepare to vote in the coming election. Some of the city's local races are steeped in the kind of polarization typically seen in federal campaigns.

"I've been in public service long enough to know that there are people who take advantage of a political climate," Rochester Mayor Kim Norton said. "That goes with the territory. I will also say that I've served eight years on the school board, 10 years in the Legislature and I have never in my life seen anything as awful as the treatment of the last few years."

In the past, Rochester largely mirrored southern Minnesota — a politically purple burg in the southeast part of the state that blended rural and urban perspectives.

But the area has rapidly grown in the past decade and voted more progressive with each passing election cycle. Rochester makes up three-fourths of the population of Olmsted County, which President Joe Biden won in 2020 by 11 points. Former President Barack Obama won the county by 3 percentage points in 2012.

Rochester has sent Democrats and Republicans to the Minnesota House and Senate in the past few years, but this year's redistricting maps largely favor DFL candidates, meaning there's a good chance a conservative won't represent Rochester at the Legislature next year.

"Rochester is more blue than what it was, plus the new lines probably are going to be advantages because they shrank the districts," said Jim Hepworth, former chair of the DFL's 1st Congressional District caucus.

Change in values

For some candidates, the changes to Rochester in recent years — from the infusion of money from Destination Medical Center to an influx of new apartment buildings to large-scale strategic changes at Rochester Public Schools — have yielded more negative results than community benefits.

"We believe in free expression, but we don't believe in indoctrination," John Whelan, who is running for one of four open Rochester Public Schools Board seats, said at a Sept. 29 candidate forum during a question about a recent push to ban LGBTQ books in schools.

Whelan, Rae Parker, Elena Niehoff and Kimberly Rishav are running as a conservative slate that would form a majority on the board if elected. They face three incumbents — Julie Workman, Cathy Nathan and Jean Marvin — as well as newcomer Justin Cook, who has been endorsed by outgoing board member Melissa Amundsen.

The four candidates who call themselves 4 Your Children have been endorsed by the conservative Minnesota Parent Alliance. They hope to tackle school issues through introducing tougher consequences and discipline for students and moving away from diversity efforts.

They repeatedly have publicly opposed diversity and equity efforts in the district. Whelan said in the same forum the board's statement on diversity in 2021 was a "horrific statement" that forced students "to think a certain way and believe a certain way."

All four candidates declined interview requests.

Cook, who is running against Parker, said the district's efforts to welcome students of all backgrounds is a necessary part of improving classroom learning.

"They've got to be validated for who they authentically are," he said. "And that's true of all students. Messages that run counter to that idea are wholly unproductive and are often coming from some sort of a national campaign. They just don't belong in Rochester."

Cook, who ran for school board in 2018, said he wants to concentrate on raising reading proficiency in the district and hopes to inform residents about a potential levy referendum the district plans to pursue in 2023. He's seen as a progressive candidate in the race, though he said he doesn't identify with a political party.

"To the extent that there's a political slant that people are attaching to me, that says a lot more about my opposition than me," he said.

What's in store

In the nonpartisan mayoral race, Norton is seeking a second term against first-time conservative challenger Britt Noser, a landlord in town. Rochester has a weak mayor-strong council system, meaning its mayor can advocate for policies but ultimately doesn't vote on them.

Still, her critics — often conservatives — take issue with Norton on everything from city spending and her push for renewable energy to the city's involvement with Bloomberg Philanthropies, which awarded $1 million to Rochester earlier this year to spur efforts to attract more women of color to construction jobs.

They also question a lack of transparency on trips she's taken in her official capacity as mayor to other cities to meet with civic and political figures such as billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

City Attorney Michael Spindler-Krage recently reminded people speaking at a Rochester City Council meeting to follow guidelines during public comment periods after repeated meetings where people criticized the mayor's policy views — and one meeting after commenters claimed signage at the Rochester Public Library contained symbols used to encourage pedophiles to groom children.

Noser said he hears from residents who fear Norton is infusing Rochester with very progressive policies to turn the community into just another large-scale metro area.

"I think that inflection point is losing our sovereignty, losing our identity," Noser said. "Do we want to become just another cookie-cutter city?"

If elected, Noser said he would push for more public safety resources and ramp up police actions and investigations. He also plans to eliminate what he calls partisan agendas, including equity measures that use race as a metric.

Norton said she plans to focus on sustainability and housing if re-elected, as well as improving economic development moving forward.

While the two agree on basic issues — the city should spend taxpayer dollars carefully and housing issues should be prioritized over the next few years — Noser hopes voters will see the election as a chance to stop Rochester from drastically changing and losing its sense of community.

"People are facing a real choice here," he said.

While Norton acknowledges how politicized the mayoral race has become, she dismissed the notion that Rochester faces any sort of turning point. She pointed out she and other incumbents won their primary elections by wide margins, which could happen again on Nov. 8.

"I just disagree that there is a headwind," she said. "I think the primary showed us that that is not the case, that this community wants to stay on the common sense, pragmatic, do-what's-best-for-the-people path that they've been on."