In the new Senate District 41, which includes most of eastern Washington County, three-term state Rep. Tony Jurgens is challenging Republican-endorsed political newcomer Tom Dippel in Tuesday’s GOP primary election.
The race between two Cottage Grove residents pits a relatively moderate Republican lawmaker against a staunchly conservative businessman. Both candidates call for tax cuts, support anti-abortion legislation and advocate cracking down harder on crime.
But Dippel tends to take uncompromising stands. For example, while Jurgens advocates “permanent, across-the-board (income) tax cuts,” Dippel goes a step further, pledging to “fight to cut and eliminate taxes on Minnesota families.”
The owner of a small dental manufacturing business and father of six children under 12, the 40-year-old Dippel described his views to Ballotpedia as “conservative Republican for small government, freedom and liberty.” Besides winning the GOP endorsement, he is backed by leaders of the state House New Republican Caucus, who broke away from their party’s leadership and advocate giving all the state’s $9.3 billion budget surplus back to Minnesota taxpayers.
“I stepped up to run for the Minnesota Senate because I was tired of sitting on the sidelines while career politicians negotiate away our rights and our tax dollars,” he wrote in an email. “In 2020 and 2021, I saw too many businesses close, too many children fall behind in school and too many carjackings and murders to stay quiet.”
Dippel said he would make tough decisions that “rock the boat.” He pledged to introduce and fight hard to advance legislation that he’s campaigning on. “While Rep. Jurgens sometimes voted for the right things, he never really fought for the issues he campaigned on,” he charged.
Jurgens accused Dippel of running a negative campaign. “None of the Democrats that I have run against have stooped as low as this opponent has,” he said. He declined to characterize Dippel’s ideology, but he said his opponent is backed by the far-right Action 4 Liberty organization, which is waging a negative campaign against Jurgens.
Jurgens, 57, is an insurance agent and longtime community activist. He and his wife have two adult daughters and twin grandchildren.
He’s not a hard-line ideologue. He works with Democrats as well as Republicans in the House.
“People appreciate that I listen to them, even when we disagree,” he said. “My job is to represent everybody, not just those who agree with me.”
His top legislative priority is to pass the bill he carried this year to eliminate state taxes on Social Security benefits. But his proudest accomplishments, he said, have been helping his constituents navigate state government red tape.
“That’s what makes the job enjoyable,” he said.
Newly drawn following the 2020 census, their district is a long, narrow, north-south constituency extending along the St. Croix River from west of Stillwater to Hastings.