SD63 Update for August 29
In this Update:
- Meet our Sister Senate District candidate
- Support our endorsed candidates!
- Get involved
- Volunteer with SD63
- Mission statement and editorial policies
Meet our Sister Senate District candidate
Last month Emma introduced us to Jason Heaser, the DFL candidate in our Sister House District. This month, Zaynab is introducing us to Chris Ford, our Sister Senate District candidate. Chris is running for State Senate to represent Blaine, Ham Lake, and Lexington.
Chris has dedicated his life to serving Minnesotans. For 21 years Chris was a firefighter, of which 13 years he spent as a captain down in Rochester. He now helps to educate his community’s young as a paraprofessional at Blaine High School, and is also a Blaine City Council Member. Chris has spent years on the front lines of the efforts to make our communities safer, healthier, and more affordable for all.
This year he has continued his history of public service by running for State Senate in Senate District 32. Chris has a formidable opponent, the current Republican Senator Michael Kreun. Let’s help push Chris first over the finish line!
How you can help
Doorknock with Chris and his team. Chris and his campaign team already have a solid schedule of doorknocks, and they are ready for our help right away:
- Today, Saturday the 29th, at 10am (with our State Auditor Julie Blaha!), 1pm, and 5pm.
- Tomorrow, Sunday the 30th, at 10am, 1pm (with Senator Nick Frentz), and 5pm.
- Thursday, September 3, at 5pm.
Donate to Chris’s campaign. Chris has an ActBlue site set up, so donations are easy and immediate online.
Support our endorsed candidates!
State Senate and House
- For State Senator – Zaynab Mohamed (website and sign-up, campaign events, donate)
- For State Representative (63A) – Samantha Sencer-Mura (website, campaign events, sign up, donate)
- For State Representative (63B) – Emma Greenman (website, sign up, donate)
U.S. Senate and House
- For U.S. Senator – Peggy Flanagan (website, campaign events, sign up, donate)
- For U.S. Representative – Ilhan Omar (website and sign-up, campaign events, donate)
Statewide offices
- For Governor and Lieutenant Governor – Amy Klobuchar and Ben Scheirer (website, campaign events, lawn signs, sign up, donate)
- For Attorney General – Keith Ellison (website and sign-up, campaign events, donate)
- For Secretary of State – Steve Simon (website, sign up, donate)
- For State Auditor – Zack Filipovich (website, sign up, donate)
Hennepin County offices
- For Hennepin County Attorney – Cedrick Frazier (website, campaign events, sign up, donate)
- For District 3 Commissioner, Marion Greene (website, donate)
- For District 4 Commissioner, Angela Conley (website, sign up, donate)
Minneapolis School Board
- At Large (two seats to be elected): Collin Beachy (website, campaign event list/sign up, yard sign request, donate) and Christin Crabtree (website and sign-up, donate)
- District 1 – Abdul Abdi (website, events, sign up, donate)
- District 3 – Shannon Gibney (website, campaign events and sign up, donate)
- District 5 – Becca Dryden (website, campaign events and sign up, donate)
Get involved
Ongoing
Table at the State Fair with Team Peggy Various shifts daily but space limited. From 9am (more info and signup form)- Minneapolis board and commission openings The boards and commissions of the City of Minneapolis advise the city on a wide variety of topics: civil rights, social services, local neighborhoods, housing, budgeting, land use, and more. These all-volunteer committees advise the mayor and city council on needs from diverse points of view from across the city. Applications for upcoming vacancies are now listed on the city’s website. We have ample talent in SD63 to lend a hand — and to put our DFL values into effect!
Saturday, August 29
- Doorknock with our neighbors in SD62 10am, Powderhorn Park (3400 15th Avenue South, more info and sign up)
Doorknock in our Sister Senate District with Chris Ford and State Auditor Julie Blaha 10am, 2491 125th Avenue NE (Blaine, more info and signup form)- Doorknock in our Sister Senate District with Chris Ford 1pm, 2491 125th Avenue NE (Blaine, more info and signup sheet)
- Doorknock in our Sister Senate District with Chris Ford and Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy 5pm, 2491 125th Avenue NE (Blaine, more info and signup form)
Sunday, August 30
Doorknock in Saint Paul with Team Keith 11am (more info and signup form)- Doorknock in our Sister Senate District with Chris Ford 10am, 2491 125th Avenue NE (Blaine, more info and signup form)
- Doorknock in our Sister Senate District with Chris Ford and Senator Nick Frentz 1pm, 2491 125th Avenue Northeast (Blaine, more info and signup form)
- Doorknock in our Sister House District with Jason Heaser and Jess Lewis 1pm, Andrews Park (7200 117th Avenue North, Champlin, more info and signup form)
- Doorknock in our Sister Senate District with Chris Ford 5pm, 2491 125th Avenue NE (Blaine, more info and signup form)
- Volunteer training session with Team Keith Hybrid event. 6:30pm (more info and signup)
Monday, August 31
- Windom Neighborhood Safety Walking Group 6pm, Windom South Recreation Center (5843 Wentworth Avenue, more info)
Tuesday, September 1
- Nokomis East Housing & Development Committee Meeting Virtual event. 6:30pm (more info)
Wednesday, September 2
- Seward Neighborhood Group History Committee meeting 2pm, Matthews Recreation Center (2318 29th Avenue South, more info)
- Longfellow Community Council Equitable Development Committee Online meeting. 6pm (more info)
- Longfellow Community Council Environment and River Gorge Committee Online meeting. 7pm (more info)
Thursday, September 3
- Doorknock in our Sister Senate District with Chris Ford 5pm (more info and signup form)
- Armatage Community Engagement Committee 6pm (More info or email)
- Field-Regina-Northrup Neighborhood Group greening committee meeting 6:30pm, McRae Recreation Center (906 East 47th Street, more info)
Saturday, September 5
- Doorknock in our Sister Senate District with Chris Ford 10am (more info and signup form)
- Doorknock with our neighbors in SD62 10am, Powderhorn Park (3400 15th Avenue South, more info and sign up)
Sunday, September 6
Keith Ellison’s Annual BBQ Honoring Labor Noon, Wabun Picnic Area (4655 46th Avenue South, more info and sign up)- Doorknock in our Sister Senate District with Chris Ford 1pm (more info and signup form)
- DFL Environmental Caucus meeting 6:30pm (more information on their website)
Monday, September 7
- Windom Neighborhood Safety Walking Group 6pm, Windom South Recreation Center (5843 Wentworth Avenue, more info)
Tuesday, September 8
- Seward Neighborhood Group Community Development Committee 7pm, Redesign Inc (2619 East Franklin Avenue, more info)
Wednesday, September 16
- Corcoran Soup Supper 6pm, Corcoran Park (3334 20th Avenue South, more info is available on their web page)
Thursday, September 17
- Fall Fest Join Emma Greenman for a backyard fundraiser and celebration! Over the last six years, Fall Fest has become a favorite tradition, bringing together the friends, neighbors, and supporters who make Emma’s work possible. Let’s celebrate the community we’re building together! There will be live music, good food, warm (and cold!) drinks, and plenty of s’mores. The whole evening supports the people-powered politics we need to defend our democracy and win a DFL House majority in 2026.
You can make a contribution to this year’s Fall Fest now, or get in touch to serve as an event Co-Host, or to RSVP. 6pm
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Volunteer with SD63
Want to be more involved with the SD63 DFL? Sign up for one of our volunteer teams, and we’ll let you know when there’s an opportunity.
- The Campaigning and Outreach team — where we bring work that involves talking to others about our DFL values and candidates. The needs we bring to this group will include both face-to-face contact and phone contact, but will always be aimed at direct interaction with other individuals. For example: doorknocking, phonebanking, contacting neighbors (often with precinct teams), staffing tables at events, and walking with clipboards at events.
- The Planners team — working in the background to take care of the logistics and preparations for things we do. For example: organizing issue forums and discussion groups, coordinating town halls, staffing sign-in tables, posting flyers for events, and brainstorming and planning fundraisers.
- The Writers and Data Wranglers team — working individually (or sometimes in small groups) to produce material both for immediate distribution and for later use. For example: writing letter-to-the-editor, or templates for others to build their own letters; designing flyers; researching, creating, and entering new data sets; and checking and updating existing data sets.
There’s never any obligation in signing up for a team — you would be signing up to be asked for help when something comes along, not signing up to actually do any particular thing. You can leave the lists at any time. So sign up today, or reply to this email with any questions.
Our meetings
The next SD63 Central Committee meeting will be on August 31, 2026, at 6:30pm
Our meetings are hybrid: the upcoming in-person session will be at Hosmer Library, 347 East 36th Street, and the online session will be via Zoom. All SD63 Central Committee meetings are open to the public.
Support SD63
Donations to SD63 are used to run caucuses and conventions, maintain web and email servers, support campaigns, and hold issue forums and other community events. We have no paid employees.
- Support us online at secure.actblue.com/donate/sd63dfl
-
Support us by check to MN DFL Senate District 63, and posted to
MN DFL Senate District 63 Attn: Treasurer 3616 41st Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55406
Mission statement and editorial policies
The mission of the SD63 Update is
- To promote the DFL and the DFL’s values, activities, endorsed candidates, and platform,
- To develop community support, volunteers and material support for the above, and
- To raise public awareness and involvement in civic and other community processes as a means to implement DFL values and platform items,
especially as originating from and applying to Minnesota Senate District 63, and especially with the target audience of SD63 DFL participants and supporters. The editors and contributors of the Update shall execute this mission in a manner consistent with DFL policies and codes of conduct.
Inclusion of official public material
The Update may include content from or references to newsletters and announcements from community groups and elected officials when, at the sole good-faith discretion of the Update editor, these materials support the mission of the Update. Such official, non-campaign materials may be excerpted or referenced even when originating from an elected official who was not endorsed as a candidate by the DFL. Excerpts of and references to such material shall not be understood to be an endorsement, material support or other support of any kind of any candidacy by DFL SD63.
Contested endorsements
Between Election Day of one year and the convention of the relevant DFL Endorsing Unit of the following year, the Update editor may choose either:
- To provide coverage of campaign events, volunteer opportunities, and material support opportunities of all candidates who have informed the Update editor of their intention to seek DFL endorsement for a particular endorsement contest, or
- To cover no candidates for that endorsement contest.
If a DFL Endorsing Unit (and the SD63 DFL, if different than the Endorsing Unit) declines to endorse any candidate in some endorsement contest, then this policy shall also apply to that contest between the Endorsing Unit’s convention and the subsequent primary election or ranked-choice general election.
Some notes on the Contested Endorsement policy:
- Excerpts from and references to the announcements of public officials as described in the Policy on Inclusion of Official Public Material shall be seen as separate from campaign activity for the purposes of this policy.
- Note that the editor may opt to cover some endorsement contests but not others, as deemed feasible and appropriate by the editor. The editor’s two options in this Contested Endorsement policy are intended to provide fairness to the candidates for endorsement in any given endorsement contest. The statement of two options for each contest shall not be interpreted to compel or forbid coverage of candidates in any particular contest.
- The description of informing the Update editor of candidacy for endorsement described in Option 1 of this Contested Endorsement policy shall be satisfied by a direct communication to the Update editor, or by inclusion in an announcement recorded in the minutes of a meeting of the SD63 Central Committee. The Update editor may also take note of announcements in public forums, or of campaign activity oriented to potential caucus-goers or convention delegates, to serve as such a declaration. However this policy shall not be interpreted to expect the Update editor to discover endorsement candidate intentions outside of the two forms of declaration specified in this note.
No part of the Contested Endorsement policy is intended to contradict the prohibition of supporting candidates opposing a DFL-endorsed candidate, nor shall it compel any SD63 editor or contributor to do so.
Promulgation of this statement and policies
From their approval, the full text of this statement and these policies shall be included below the web publication of all Update issues. Moreover, a reference and link to that web publication shall be included in all email or physical transmissions of the Update. These publications of this statement and policies shall be taken as sufficient disclaimer that the contents of the Update represent a good-faith effort to adhere to all DFL policies and codes of conduct, including but not limited to the avoidance of endorsement of non-DFL-endorsed candidates in the context of an election including one or more DFL-endorsed candidates.
Questions and comments
Questions, comments and concerns regarding this policy or any content in the SD63 Update should be directed initially to its editor via email to newsletter AT sd63dfl DOT org. Further inquiries may be directed to the SD63 DFL Chair, or to DFL Party Affairs.