Amid anger at Trump, a moderate Republican in the suburbs tries to hold on

Longtime state Sen. Jim Abeler won his last election by just 186 votes.

Angie Nelson took notice.

“He has been in office since I was in high school over 25 years ago,” said Nelson, his DFL challenger in this fall’s election. “He does not reflect who our community is now.”

Nelson said this to me on the capacious deck of Mike Gamache’s Andover home. Gamache is an Anoka County commissioner who hosted a volunteer night Monday for Nelson.

Indeed, Abeler has been in the Minnesota Legislature since 1998, when Randy Moss was starring as a Vikings rookie. He went from the House to the Senate in 2017. 

Related: Red state? Blue state? Here are the races that will likely determine party control at the Minnesota Legislature

And he did win reelection by just a hair in 2022, after (he is quick to tell you) a DFL-controlled Legislature redrew the District 35 to make it bluer.

At the state Capitol, Abeler looms large. He cuts deals with Sen. John Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, on financing the state’s sprawling Medicaid program. He occasionally is the lone Republican to break from his party’s caucus.

But in his district, which comprises Anoka, Coon Rapids and a slice of Andover, Abeler is vulnerable. 

Voters here went for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 presidential election. The two state House representatives are DFLers Kari Rehrauer and Zack Stephenson. Plus, Hoffman is door-knocking for Nelson. 

Abeler is doing what he can to hang on. 

MinnPost has identified seven state Senate races that are basically toss-ups and critical to which party will control a chamber that now has 34 DFLers and 33 Republicans. In those nail-biters, Abeler is the only Republican to have more cash on hand than his opponent, as of last month. 

Plus, Abeler is door knocking “40 hours a week” during an uncomfortably hot summer. 

“The first Monday that was like a month-and-a-half ago, that was like, ‘Don’t go outside.’ I did 310 doors that day,” he told me as I followed him door-knocking one scalding August afternoon.

But Nelson, who is an elementary school principal, is also at doorsteps, and can paint a bleak picture about what she hears.

“Our community is in an urgent crisis,” she said.

A different kind of Republican

“We really are lacking collaborative leadership,” Abeler tells me, pushing his bike alongside an intricate loop of homeowner association condos with beige vinyl siding in Coon Rapids. “If I have a strength, that’s it.”

I followed Abeler door-to-door the afternoon after Republican primary voters selected Lisa Demuth as their pick for governor. Abeler preferred Demuth to the Donald Trump-endorsed Mike Lindell, but said that he could also work well with Amy Klobuchar. 

“We’re going to have a real election now,” he said of Demuth defeating Lindell. “She’s credible. Klobuchar’s credible.”

Abeler added that he can work productively with both the House speaker and the U.S. senator.

From 2022: Abeler-Rehrauer contest northwest of Twin Cities among 10 legislative races to watch in suburbs

But he is a Republican, as one person who answered the door pointed out. 

“Actually, I’m the kind of Republican that a lot of Democrats like. Green, labor-friendly, collaborates with everybody,” Abeler replied, citing endorsements from the SEIU, Minnesota Nurses Association and Conservation Minnesota Voter Center among other groups. 

“Trump’s kind of ruined it for some of us,” the woman at the door with a butterfly tattoo on her ankle said in response. “When I see a Republican, I see Trump. I mean, he’s ruined it. I don’t even like the American flag anymore.”

She then asked Abeler why he didn’t speak out about Operation Metro Surge.

Abeler responded that he wrote President Trump a letter in December criticizing his denigration of Somali immigrants, and that he tried to visit the Whipple Federal Building, where some people that federal immigration agents detained are held, but was turned away. 

Like the person at the door, Nelson has pushed Abeler to articulate his stance on a federal immigration enforcement strategy that left two Minneapolis demonstrators dead and over 3,500 Minnesotans detained. 

Nelson criticized Abeler for voting against a bill to rein in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through actions like a ban on agents wearing masks and letting people sue agents. 

Abeler said he voted against the bill because it became a sprawling catchall. He was the lone Senate Republican to support a measure providing economic assistance to businesses affected by Operation Metro Surge, legislation that the House torpedoed.

Nelson characterized Abeler as a skillful chameleon who still votes much more with Republicans than not, all while retaining his folksy, riffing demeanor. 

“I really think he’s a nice person,” Nelson said. “Super nice person. But nice isn’t getting the work done.”

What Nelson cares about

Nelson led with housing and infrastructure in our interview. 

“I’ve seen my community that I live in deteriorate over time,” she said. “At least for Coon Rapids, it’s kind of turned into a place that people drive through instead of go to.”

Nelson wants more lanes in the stretch of U.S. Highway 10 that cuts across the district, complaining of constant bottlenecks. She also wants the state to pitch in with more funding for state Highways 65 and 252. 

As for housing, Nelson believes it would be appropriate for the state government to step in with zoning parameters. “We have a lot of empty buildings and empty lots that could potentially be rezoned for housing where we could bring in new families,” she said. 

Abeler believes zoning is an inherently local government function and does not want the state involved. I asked Nelson how her idea could overcome potential NIMBYism. 

“I think it depends on how you are approaching it,” she responded. “Nobody likes to see the abandoned buildings. They’re eyesores. They need to be managed sooner than later.”

While Abeler has a part-time chiropractic practice, Nelson is a full-time elementary school principal and former high school principal, on top of being a single mother of two teenagers. She said she is not taking a leave of absence for the campaign, but, if elected, would take leave during the legislative session. 

Being a principal is a lot like being a state senator, Nelson said, in that she must listen to a variety of different concerns. “It doesn’t mean that every person who comes to me, I’m going to agree, or just give them what they want,” she said. “But I will hear you.”

Abeler has gained a reputation as a dealmaker on Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor, elderly and disabled that, including federal funding, makes up one-third of the state’s budget. 

Nelson said she would vie to join education committees, which also handle about one-third of state spending. 

A contrast in styles

Like Abeler, Nelson is an enthusiastic proponent of door knocking.

“We have 78 days until the election,” she said, addressing several volunteers seated around Gamache’s dining room table. “We have knocked over 17,000 doors. I have some of you to thank for that.”

“I got an electric scooter,” she added later, her counterpart to Abeler’s bike. “And it is life-changing. I am only five foot three and a half and I can only go so fast.”

But the candidates appear different in temperament. 

During a debate Wednesday night at Coon Rapids City Hall, Nelson was more formal and immediate.

“People are suffering and cannot afford their life right now,” she said, pinning part of the blame on Republican-initiated cuts of Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps, at the federal level.

Abeler was casual, full of asides like, “Well, it is more of a thought than a rebuttal,” and “Two minutes is not enough time to answer that question.”

He did not share Nelson’s vision that the district is in peril, stating, “Anoka, Coon Rapids and Andover are cities that actually work.”

At times, Abeler played up his experience. 

When Nelson mentioned, “We need more apprenticeships and fellowships” at Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Abeler said he was part of a group of legislators that helped keep the college running. 

Abeler also raised questions about the role of state senator itself and whether Nelson, or any rank-and-file legislator, had the power to act on their priorities. 

“Do you think it’s one person that gets to do something?” he rhetorically asked Nelson in a mostly empty Coon Rapids council chambers. “The major conference committees meet privately, and then they just announce it. It’s ugly.”

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