Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is an American academic. He sought the endorsement of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party as a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2008, but was defeated by Al Franken. [1]
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is an American academic. He sought the endorsement of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party as a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2008, but was defeated by Al Franken. [1]
Nelson-Pallmeyer was born as the youngest of four brothers to parents Wayne and Audrey Nelson in 1951. He was born and raised in Minnesota. He went to high school in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, and then attended St. Olaf College in Northfield. After graduating with a B.A. in political science, he earned a Master's of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He has written several books on war, hunger issues, theology, and foreign policy. For the past 15 years, he has been a professor at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, Minnesota. [2] He is married to his wife of 34 years, Sara, with whom he has three daughters, Hannah, Audrey and Naomi.
He is a pacifist and a Lutheran. [3]
In his book Brave New World Order (first published 1992, reissued 2017), Nelson-Pallmeyer provides a definition of "national security state". [lower-alpha 1] He describes seven defining characteristics, starting with the military exerting influence over economic and political affairs and progressing through maintaining an appearance of democracy while ultimate power rests with the national security establishment; concentration of capital by elites; obsession with enemies; and restricting and distorting information, among others. He summarizes how this found expression in El Salvador and discusses "similar dynamics" within the United States. [5]
Nelson-Pallmeyer announced his intention to challenge incumbent Democrat Martin Sabo for Minnesota's 5th congressional district U.S. House of Representatives seat in early 2006. After Sabo announced he was retiring, [6] several other Democrats announced their intentions to run for the House seat. At the district convention in May, Keith Ellison won the endorsement after Nelson-Pallmeyer withdrew from the endorsement process and threw his support to Ellison, who went on to win the general election.
On October 10, 2007, Nelson-Pallmeyer announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Norm Coleman. [7] He ran against Al Franken for the DFL Party nomination. After a long fight for the party's nomination, culminating at the 2008 State DFL convention in Rochester, Nelson-Pallmeyer lost the nomination to Franken.
Alan Stuart Franken is an American politician, comedian, writer, actor, and media personality who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. Franken first gained fame as a writer and performer on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he worked for three stints. He first served as a writer for the show from 1975 to 1980, and returned from 1985 to 1995 as a writer and, briefly, a cast member. After decades as an entertainer, he became a prominent liberal political activist, hosting The Al Franken Show on Air America Radio.
Martin Olav Sabo was an American politician who served as United States Representative for Minnesota's fifth district, which includes Minneapolis; the district is one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota.
Michael "Mike" V. Ciresi is a prominent trial attorney and was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate for the United States Senate from Minnesota. He dropped out on March 10, 2008. Ciresi gained his public reputation by litigating several high-profile mass tort cases. Ciresi is the former Chairman of the Executive Board of the Minneapolis firm Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP, a 250-lawyer firm he joined in 1971. He left in 2015 to form his own firm.
The 2006 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Tim Pawlenty was endorsed by the state Republican convention on June 2, 2006, while the state Democratic–Farmer–Labor convention endorsed Mike Hatch on June 10, 2006. The party primaries took place on September 12, 2006, with Hatch defeating DFL challengers Becky Lourey and Ole Savior and incumbent Pawlenty defeating Sue Jeffers. In the November 7 general election, Pawlenty received a plurality of the votes, defeating Hatch by a margin of 1%. As a result, this election was the closest race of the 2006 gubernatorial election cycle.
Minnesota's 5th congressional district is a geographically small urban and suburban congressional district in Minnesota. It covers eastern Hennepin County, including the entire city of Minneapolis, along with parts of Anoka and Ramsey counties. Besides Minneapolis, major cities in the district include Brooklyn Center, St. Louis Park, Richfield, Crystal, Robbinsdale, Golden Valley, New Hope, Fridley, and a small portion of Edina.
Ember Reichgott Junge is an attorney, radio personality, and former state senator from Minnesota, representing New Hope and surrounding communities. A Democrat, she was elected to the Senate at age 29 and served for 18 years. Junge served as majority whip from 1991 to 1994, and as assistant majority leader from 1995 to 2000. She authored the first charter school law in the United States.
The 2006 Minnesota's 5th congressional district election was an election for the United States House of Representatives for the open seat of incumbent Martin Olav Sabo (DFL), who retired after serving the Minneapolis-based district for 28 years.
Margaret Anderson Kelliher is an American politician, Director of the Minneapolis Department of Public Works, former Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, she represented District 60A, which includes portions of the city of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, located in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. First elected in 1999, she served until 2011, also serving as the Speaker from 2007 to 2011. She is the second woman to hold the position of House speaker. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the DFL nomination for Governor of Minnesota in the 2010 gubernatorial election, losing to former Senator Mark Dayton. Anderson left the Minnesota House of Representatives at the conclusion of her term in 2011 and re-entered politics when she ran for the DFL nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives in Minnesota's 5th congressional district in 2018, losing to Ilhan Omar. Since 2019 Kelliher, has worked in transportation management roles for the government, first as Commissioner of MnDOT, and later as Director of Public Works for the city of Minneapolis.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 4, 2008. After a legal battle lasting over eight months, the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) candidate, Al Franken, defeated Republican incumbent Norm Coleman in one of the closest elections in the history of the Senate, with Coleman's Senate predecessor Dean Barkley taking third place. Franken took his oath of office on July 7, 2009, more than half a year after the end of Coleman's term on January 3, 2009.
The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Minnesota were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 to elect the eight U.S. representatives from the state of Minnesota. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election and an election to the U.S. Senate. Primary elections were held on August 14, 2012.
The 2006 congressional elections in Minnesota were held on November 7, 2006 to determine who would represent the state of Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives.
The 2014 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Minnesota, concurrently with the election of the Governor of Minnesota, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Minnesota on November 4, 2014. All of Minnesota's executive officers were up for election as well as all the seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives, several state judicial seats, a United States Senate seat, all of Minnesota's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives, and several seats for local offices. A primary election was held on August 12, 2014, to nominate major political party candidates for partisan offices and candidates for nonpartisan offices.
The 2014 Minnesota House of Representatives election was held in the U.S. state of Minnesota on November 4, 2014, to elect members to the House of Representatives of the 89th Minnesota Legislature. A primary election was held in several districts on August 12, 2014.
Christine Elizabeth Smith is an American politician, retired Democratic political consultant, and former businesswoman serving as the junior United States senator from Minnesota since 2018. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), an affiliate of the Democratic Party.
The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Minnesota were held on November 6, 2018, to elect the eight U.S. representatives from the state of Minnesota, one from each of the state's eight congressional districts. The elections coincided with an open gubernatorial election, a U.S. Senate election, a special U.S. Senate election, State House elections, and other elections.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Minnesota on November 6, 2018. All of Minnesota's executive officers were up for election as well as all the seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives, several judicial seats, two United States Senate seats, Minnesota's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives, and several seats for local offices. Special elections were also held for a Minnesota Senate seat and Minnesota's Class 2 U.S. Senate seat. A primary election to nominate Republican and Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) candidates and several judicial and local primary elections were held on August 14, 2018.
Erin Maye Quade is an American politician from the state of Minnesota. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) Party, she served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2017 to 2019. She was the DFL-endorsed candidate for lieutenant governor as Erin Murphy's running mate in 2018, and the first LGBTQ person to be endorsed on the ticket of a major Minnesota political party.
The 2018 United States Senate special election in Minnesota took place on November 6, 2018, to elect a United States senator from Minnesota to replace incumbent Democratic senator Al Franken until the regular expiration of the term on January 3, 2021. Facing multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, Franken announced on December 7, 2017, that he would resign effective January 2, 2018. Governor Mark Dayton appointed Franken's successor, Tina Smith, on December 13, 2017, and she ran in the special election. This election coincided with a regularly scheduled U.S. Senate election for the Class 1 Senate seat, U.S. House elections, a gubernatorial election, State House elections, and other elections.
The 2022 Minnesota Attorney General election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the attorney general of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Incumbent DFLer Keith Ellison narrowly won reelection to a second term against Republican challenger Jim Schultz.