Olmsted County

It is a supply issue.

Um, and then we also pay the highest property taxes here in Olmsted County in the state.

Um, so w- renters and homeowners are all dissatisfied with their housing costs.

Uh, on top of that, you know, childcare has gone up about 40% since the pandemic.

The district I served in in the House was really similar, actually, to this Senate district.

When I was in the House, I represented 14 of the 18 townships in Olmstead County, so a lot of small towns and the rural area.

And then about just over half of my voters at that time lived in the city limits area.

of Rochester.

So there are definitely unique aspects to what people are focused on on issues.

I do find that people in the city limits of Rochester, though, care just as deeply about, you know, their friends and neighbors out in the rural areas and vice versa.

People around Rochester know that Rochester is important, not just to, you know, not just to Rochester, not just to Olmstead County, but frankly, with Mayo Clinic, it is the, you know, financial juggernaut of the state of Minnesota as the number one employer in the state.

When you think about that, obviously Rochester has also changed a lot and you talk about it in the Senate district where you have one house district that's fairly progressive, one house district that's fairly conservative.

There are those that are interested in population health and other things.

There's a lot of studies out of Olmsted County, and that's because of the Olmsted County Medical Registry, which we've had for literally decades and, and it's actually a partnership with the county.

So we've gone, been able to go back and look using just existing tools, right?

Mm-hmm.