Kathleen A. Osborne Vellenga (born August 5, 1938) is an American politician and novelist.
Vellenga was born in Nebraska. She went to South Dakota State University and received her bachelor's degree in education from Macalester College. Vellenga lived in Saint Paul, Minnesota with her husband and three children, and was an early childhood educator. She served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1981 to 1994 and was a Democrat. [1] After she stepped down from the legislature, she served as the executive director of the St. Paul Children's Initiative. [2]
In 2013, she published her first novel Strangers in Our Midst, a work of historical fiction about the friendship between an English passenger on the Mayflower and a Wampanoag woman living on the land that the English soon came to occupy. [3]
The sequel, In the Midst of Bounty, came out in 2016, and the third book in the series, Tides of the Kennebec, was published in 2021. [2]
Joanne E. Benson is an American politician and educator who served as the 44th lieutenant governor of Minnesota from January 3, 1995, to January 4, 1999. A Republican, she was elected as Arne Carlson's running mate. From 1991 to 1995, Benson served as a member of the Minnesota Senate.
Mee Moua, is an American politician, and is the former president and executive director of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice -AAJC She served as the vice president for strategic impact initiatives at the Asian & Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) from 2011–12, and as a member of the Minnesota state senate from 2002 to 2011. On February 3, 2017, Moua announced her departure from AAJC to "spend more time with her family, for her children and their future, and being the right kind of mom for them."
Kathleen Ann Blatz is a former Minnesota judge and legislator. She served as the interim chair of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, which governs the U.S. Bank Stadium.
Louise Welsh is an English-born author of short stories and psychological thrillers, resident in Glasgow, Scotland. She has also written three plays, an opera, edited volumes of prose and poetry, and contributed to journals and anthologies. In 2004, she received the Corine Literature Prize.
Melissa Hortman is an American politician and the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Hortman represents District 34B in the northern Twin Cities metropolitan area, which includes the cities of Brooklyn Park, Champlin and Coon Rapids and parts of Anoka and Hennepin Counties.
Sandra L. "Sandy" Pappas is a Minnesota politician and former President of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represents District 65, which includes parts of Saint Paul in Ramsey County in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
Tarryl Lynn Clark is an American activist, attorney, politician and a former member of the Minnesota Senate. A Democrat, she represented District 15, including portions of Benton, Sherburne, and Stearns counties, from 2006 to 2011. She was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nominee for United States Congress in 2010, unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Republican Michele Bachmann.
Michelle Louise Helene Fischbach is an American attorney and politician who is the U.S. representative from Minnesota's 7th congressional district. The district, which is very rural, is Minnesota's largest congressional district and includes most of the western area of the state. A Republican, Fischbach served as the 49th lieutenant governor of Minnesota under Governor Mark Dayton.
Ann Lynch is a Minnesota politician and a former member of the Minnesota Senate who represented District 30, which includes portions of Olmsted and Wabasha counties in the southeastern part of the state. As a Democrat, she was first elected to the Senate in 2006, but was unseated by Republican Carla Nelson in the 2010 general election.
Kathleen J. "Kathy" Sheran is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represented District 19, which included portions of Blue Earth, Le Sueur, and Nicollet counties in the south central part of the state.
Erin Murphy is a Minnesota politician and member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represents District 64, which includes the Highland Park, Macalester-Groveland, Merriam Park, Summit Hill, and St. Anthony Park, neighborhoods of the city of Saint Paul in Ramsey County in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. She is a former Majority Leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives, executive director of the Minnesota Nurses Association, and is also a registered nurse.
Debra L. Kiel is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2011. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, Kiel represents District 1B in northwest Minnesota, which includes the cities of Crookston and East Grand Forks and Norman, Polk, Clay and Red Lake Counties.
Sondra Erickson is a Minnesota politician and member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, she represents District 15A, which includes portions of Kanabec, Mille Lacs, and Sherburne counties in the west central part of the state. She is also a retired English teacher at Princeton High School in Princeton.
Michelle R. Benson is an American accountant, politician, and Republican member of the Minnesota Senate. She represents District 31, which includes portions of Anoka, Isanti and Sherburne counties in the northern Twin Cities metropolitan area. Benson is the Deputy Majority Leader of the Minnesota Senate.
Peggy Flanagan is an American politician, community organizer, and Native American activist serving as the 50th lieutenant governor of Minnesota since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Flanagan served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019.
Ilhan Abdullahi Omar is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before her election to Congress, Omar served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2017 to 2019, representing part of Minneapolis. Her congressional district includes all of Minneapolis and some of its first-ring suburbs.
Kelly Morrison is an American doctor and politician. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, Morrison has been a member of the Minnesota Senate since 2023. She previously served in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Kaohly Her is a Hmong-American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Her represents District 64A, which includes parts of Saint Paul in Ramsey County, Minnesota.
My-Linh T Thai is an American politician and pharmacist who serves in the Washington State House of Representatives representing the 41st district in King County. Thai, a Vietnamese immigrant who lives in Bellevue, served as a school board member prior to her election in 2018, replacing retiring legislator Judy Clibborn.
Heather Keeler is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2021. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), Keeler represents District 4A in northwest Minnesota, including the city of Moorhead and parts of Clay County. Keeler is an enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe.