Experience

As Minority Leader of the Minnesota Senate, Dick Day learned what it takes to deliver change.

For ten years, Day worked every day to build a consensus among the fiercest opponents, to find compromise without compromising his values and to stand up for voters in the face of special interest group forces.

Day has proven his leadership stripes over the years, knowing when to round up allies to help governors pass responsible budgets and when to challenge governors and the ruling party in order to protect taxpayers.

In addition to earning the respect of his peers for his plain spoken honesty, Day has been named “Leader of the Year” by both state and national organizations.

As an individual legislator, Day became a leading voice for transportation funding, working to reprioritize wasteful metro spending in order to deliver tens of millions of dollars to expand the local stretch of Highway 14. Thanks to his bipartisan and persistent efforts, a decrepit length of road that once killed dozens of Minnesotans a year is today a safe and efficient corridor for families, farmers and commercial vehicles. In his tenure as a state senator, Day also worked to expand the Faribault Prison, to invest in our agriculture industry and renewable energy by supporting ethanol and biodiesel, and to help bring a full-fledged, four year U of M campus to Rochester.

Always willing to embrace unconventional solutions, Day has supported proposals to allow safe and structured prescription drug importation, new funding streams for game and fish habitat and the JOBZ zones program that has jumpstarted new businesses and job creation from Owatonna to Mankato. A proponent of good investments and sound returns, Day has pushed additional funding for Minnesota’s classrooms, greater equity between Outstate schools and metro funding levels and higher standards for students and teachers alike. And, in one of the toughest endeavors of his legislative career, Dick Day gathered the votes needed to solve a $3 billion budget deficit without raising taxes or endangering government’s core services.

Today, Day is schooled on the issues that matter most to Southern Minnesota and has the experience and clout we need to raise our voice in Washington.