Paul Utke
2023 - Present
2027
1
Paul Utke (Republican Party) is a member of the Minnesota State Senate, representing District 5. He assumed office on January 3, 2023. His current term ends on January 5, 2027.
Utke (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Minnesota State Senate to represent District 5. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Biography
Paul Utke was born in Enderlin, North Dakota, and lives in Park Rapids, Minnesota. Utke graduated from Enderlin High School in 1975. Utke also studied at the North Dakota State College of Science. Utke's career experience includes working for Mack Truck dealers, owning a small business, as a licensed insurance agent, and as a certified legal videographer. Utke served on the Park Rapids City Council for seven years.[1][2]
Committee assignments
2023-2024
Utke was assigned to the following committees:
- Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee
- Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee
2021-2022
Utke was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Finance and Policy Committee, Vice Chair
- Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy Committee
- Human Services Licensing Policy Committee, Chair
- Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee
2019-2020
Utke was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Finance and Policy Committee
- Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee, Vice Chair
- Jobs and Economic Growth Finance and Policy Committee
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Minnesota committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Commerce and Consumer Protection |
| • E-12 Education Policy |
| • Human Services Reform, Vice chair |
| • Jobs and Economic Growth |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2022
See also: Minnesota State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Minnesota State Senate District 5
Incumbent Paul Utke defeated A. John Peters in the general election for Minnesota State Senate District 5 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Paul Utke (R) | 72.8 | 28,731 |
 | A. John Peters (D)  | 27.1 | 10,687 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 32 | ||
| Total votes: 39,450 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Minnesota State Senate District 5
A. John Peters advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota State Senate District 5 on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | A. John Peters | 100.0 | 2,462 |
| Total votes: 2,462 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Minnesota State Senate District 5
Incumbent Paul Utke defeated Bret Bussman and Dale A.P. Anderson in the Republican primary for Minnesota State Senate District 5 on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Utke | 57.3 | 5,027 |
 | Bret Bussman | 32.3 | 2,832 | |
 | Dale A.P. Anderson | 10.3 | 907 | |
| Total votes: 8,766 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
2020
See also: Minnesota State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Minnesota State Senate District 2
Incumbent Paul Utke defeated Alan Roy in the general election for Minnesota State Senate District 2 on November 3, 2020.
| Total votes: 44,467 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Alan Roy advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota State Senate District 2.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Paul Utke advanced from the Republican primary for Minnesota State Senate District 2.
Campaign finance
2016
- See also: Minnesota State Senate elections, 2016
Elections for the Minnesota State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on August 9, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was May 31, 2016.
Paul Utke defeated incumbent Rod Skoe in the Minnesota State Senate District 2 general election.[3][4]
| Minnesota State Senate, District 2 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Paul Utke |
56.67% | 22,232 | |
| Democratic | Rod Skoe Incumbent | 43.33% | 17,002 | |
| Total Votes | 39,234 | |||
| Source: Minnesota Secretary of State | ||||
Incumbent Rod Skoe ran unopposed in the Minnesota State Senate District 2 Democratic primary.[5][6]
| Minnesota State Senate, District 2 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | Rod Skoe Incumbent (unopposed) | |
Paul Utke ran unopposed in the Minnesota State Senate District 2 Republican primary.[5][6]
| Minnesota State Senate, District 2 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | Paul Utke (unopposed) | |
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Paul Utke did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Paul Utke did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2016
Utke's campaign website highlighted the following issues:
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Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Minnesota scorecards, email suggestions to [email protected].
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Minnesota State Legislature was in session from January 3 to May 22.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Minnesota State Legislature was in session from January 31 to May 23.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Minnesota State Legislature was in session from January 5 to May 17.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Minnesota State Legislature was in session from February 11 to May 17. Special sessions were convened: June 12 to June 19; July 13 to July 21; August 12; September 11; October 12 to October 15; and November 12.
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2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Minnesota State Legislature was in session from January 8 through May 20.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Minnesota State Legislature was in session from February 20 through May 21.
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2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the Minnesota State Legislature was in session from January 3 through May 22. The legislature held a special session from May 23 to May 26.
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See also
2022 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Minnesota State Senate District 5 |
Officeholder Minnesota State Senate District 5 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Paul Utke 2022 campaign website, "Meet Paul Utke," accessed March 30, 2023
- ↑ Facebook, "Paul Utke," accessed March 30, 2023
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "Candidate Filing Search," accessed August 25, 2016
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "General election results, 2016," accessed December 19, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Minnesota Secretary of State, "Candidate Filings," accessed June 3, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Minnesota Secretary of State, "Minnesota State Primary: Tuesday, August 9, 2016," accessed August 9, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Paul Utke, "Issues," accessed September 21, 2016
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Justin Eichorn (R) |
Minnesota State Senate District 5 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Minnesota State Senate District 2 2017-2023 |
Succeeded by Steve Green (R) |
