(BLAINE – September 2, 2021) – DFL State Senator Jerry Newton says he won’t file for re-election in 2022. Newton represents Blaine and Coon Rapids in St. Paul.
“The big thing is I will be 85 next year, and already I am the oldest person that has ever served in the Senate,” said Newton. “I still feel capable, I still feel good about what I’m doing, I enjoy what I’m doing. But there comes a time.”
“The big thing is I will be 85 next year, and already I am the oldest person that has ever served in the Senate,” said Newton. “I still feel capable, I still feel good about what I’m doing, I enjoy what I’m doing. But there comes a time.”
“I’ve been around for so long people know my name, you know that name recognition is terribly important,” Newton said. “In Blaine, I owned a grocery store there for twenty years and I was there seven days a week, every day of the year for twenty years. I really got to know the families and grew up with their kids and things like that.”
In the legislature, Newton is most proud of building a new 100 bed facility for veterans at the Minneapolis Veterans Home, and setting up a veterans’ court to help with issues related to PTSD and substance abuse.
“Veterans are given a mentor to help them get through issues, and they end up without having a big court record that’s going to preclude them from getting jobs, finding housing things like that, and it’s been extremely successful.”
He hopes to get funding to help restore parts of the National Sports Center in the next legislative session. He serves on the Amateur Sports Commission.
But after a political career spanning 27 years, he says it’s time to move on.
“There comes a time when you pass the baton onto younger people and help guide them in the first year or so that they’re in there and just keep on keeping on.”
Newton says a current Coon Rapids Council Member has announced she will run for the office.
