Duluth organizer Gary Anderson joins DFL 7A field

Duluth community organizer Gary Anderson is running for the House 7A seat vacated by retiring Rep. Tom Huntley (DFL-Duluth). PHOTO: Duluth News Tribune file

Gary Anderson, a Duluth community organizer well known in DFL circles, will today announce his plans to run for State Representative in District 7A, the eastern Duluth seat being vacated by the retiring Rep. Tom Huntley (DFL-Duluth).

The Duluth News Tribune reported on Gary Anderson’s candidacy a couple days ago, highlighting an event he planned today at 1 p.m. at Carmody Irish Pub and Brewery in Duluth.

Anderson most recently worked as an organizer for Minnesotans United, the group that advocated against a constitutional ban on gay marriage in 2012 and for the legalization of gay marriage during last year’s legislative session. Anderson married his partner Gary after marriage equality became law in August. In the DNT story, he seemed to focus on minimum wage as his major issue.

I don’t have a press release yet, but will share one when I do.

Analysis: We’re up to four DFLers — Anderson, Pete Johnson, Linda Krug and Jennifer Schultz, all of whom seem to overlap different key Duluth DFL constituencies. Anderson and Krug are both pioneering leaders in the gay rights community, Krug and Schultz are both involved in higher education at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Krug is a past union endorsee while Johnson is a union leader. Schultz, Anderson and Johnson are all new to elective politics.

This one will probably be decided at the convention, not in a primary, but then again we may not have seen all the candidates yet.

Meantime, I see the DNT is also reporting that former GOP candidate Becky Hall is also running for this seat, so she and Donna Bergstrom will have a Republican convention and/or primary competition ahead as well. Hall has run for a number of positions in the past, including State House and city council. Though she has yet to win anything, she is active in local politics.