Prior Lake resident Rick Olson announced he will will run as a DFL candidate in the race to fill the Senate District 54 seat in the November election.
The district lies entirely within Scott County, and includes the cities of Shakopee, Prior Lake and Jordan and surrounding townships. The seat will be open following current Senator Eric Pratt’s decision to seek the Republican nomination for Congressional District 2 after Angie Craig’s decision to run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Tina Smith.
Olson is originally from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, growing up in poverty after his father died when he was two months old, leaving his mother with six kids to raise on welfare. He followed his mother’s mantra to “work hard and get an education,” and ended up graduating from Stanford Law School and completing the coursework in two Ph.D. programs. Growing up in agriculture, his goal was to become an agricultural cooperative President, which he became in Renville in 1994. He has worked as a private attorney, attorney for the Republican Caucus in the House of Representatives in Washington State, a certified financial planner, agricultural lender, chief financial officer for a swine genetics company, and over 10 years as a K-12 school district business manager.
He applied this knowledge and experience as a Republican State Representative in Michigan in 2011-12. He returned to Minnesota in 2014 so his wife, Linda, could be a full-time daycare grandmother after retiring as a school district superintendent.
Olson says, “My wife and I have followed my mom’s mantra to “work hard and get an education” for 54 years, and frankly, we have been able to live the American Dream. But I don’t think our younger generations will have the same opportunities that we have had. That’s why I am running. I don’t like the world we are leaving for our kids and grandkids.”
Olson said he is running as a DFL candidate despite being a former Republican because, “we need to do what we can at the state level to protect our high standard of living here in Minnesota, to protect the middle income residents, and to protect our Constitutional rights.”
