Rob Kupec
Rob Kupec (Democratic Party) is a member of the Minnesota State Senate, representing District 4. He assumed office on January 3, 2023. His current term ends on January 5, 2027.
Kupec (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Minnesota State Senate to represent District 4. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Kupec completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Rob Kupec was born in Connecticut and lives in Moorhead, Minnesota. Kupec earned a bachelor's degree in atmospheric science from the State University of New York at Albany in 1992. His career experience includes working at a coffee company and as a meteorologist.[1]
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.
Committee assignments
2023-2024
Kupec was assigned to the following committees:
- Agriculture and Rural Development Finance and Policy Committee, Vice Chair
- Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee
- Senate Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee
- Labor and Industry Policy Committee
Elections
2022
See also: Minnesota State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Minnesota State Senate District 4
Rob Kupec defeated Dan Bohmer and Edwin Dale Hahn in the general election for Minnesota State Senate District 4 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Rob Kupec (D)  | 52.5 | 15,929 |
 | Dan Bohmer (R) | 46.8 | 14,202 | |
 | Edwin Dale Hahn (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.5 | 155 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 59 | ||
| Total votes: 30,345 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Minnesota State Senate District 4
Rob Kupec advanced from the Democratic primary for Minnesota State Senate District 4 on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rob Kupec | 100.0 | 3,041 |
| Total votes: 3,041 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Minnesota State Senate District 4
Dan Bohmer defeated Edwin Dale Hahn in the Republican primary for Minnesota State Senate District 4 on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dan Bohmer | 72.5 | 2,421 |
| Edwin Dale Hahn | 27.5 | 917 | |
| Total votes: 3,338 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Campaign themes
2022
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released May 23, 2022 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Rob Kupec completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kupec's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am originally from a small mill town in eastern Connecticut. Both of my parents began their careers as teachers. I decided in second grade that I wanted to be a meteorologist. After high school I went to the State University of New York at Albany and received my BS in Atmospheric Science. I also met my wife to be at Albany, we have been married for 29 years and have one son, Quinn. After college, I actually worked as a route salesman for a coffee company while my wife was working on her Phd. Eventually, I ran my own office coffee company. We sold the business in 2000 when we moved to Moorhead for my wife's job, she is on the faculty at Minnesota State University Moorhead. After we moved to Minnesota, I began to pursue my career as a meteorologist, first as fill-in and weekends at WDAY-TV in Fargo then as Chief Meteorologist at KVRR. Now I would like to give back to the area that has given so much to our family, by running for the Minnesota State Senate.
- Ensure that all children have access to quality education from pre-K to college. Reduce reliance on property taxes and end systemic inequities in K-12 funding. Make sure that all children have access to healthy meals at school so that they can learn and thrive. Pay teachers, including those in early childhood education, wages that reflect the importance of their work. Invest in colleges and universities so that these are affordable and meet the demands of our future workforce.
- Increase access to quality health care in rural communities to help seniors stay in their homes and ensure our small towns thrive. Our nursing homes and healthcare providers face staff shortages, and our aging population will lead to more strain. Support frontline healthcare workers and means for people to work in these fields in our small towns.
- Protect family farms, which are vital to our economy and food systems. Help specialty crop farmers bring more locally grown food to our communities. Reduce barriers to their access to crop insurance. Support right to repair legislation to keep maintenance costs on equipment down.
As a meteorologist, climate change is an issue I have worked on and studied for a long time. Prolonged droughts followed by brief heavy rains that climate model predict, could spell disaster for farmers. Algae and invasive species from a warming climate threaten our water quality and native fish species. I would promote wind and solar energy and reduced reliance on fossil fuels. I would provide incentives to homeowners to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy. We need to encourage investment in infrastructure to meet demands of more electric vehicles.
I worked at Wendy's in high school and into my freshmen year of college, so for nearly 3 years. I started at $3.32/hr. It was hard work but we had a lot of fun too. The managers of the restaurant were outstanding, some of the best people I have ever worked for. I am still friends with some of them today.
I would like to be part of the higher education committee, with 3 colleges in my district. I would also like to be on the agriculture committee.
The current state senator for our is district is Kent Eken. He is retiring after 20 years of service in the house and senate. I think he has been an excellent senator, willing to work with both sides and really be a good representative for the our district.
Yes, one of the things being a meteorologist has taught me is about consensus. When you take a group of forecasts from different meteorologists and average them out, it is often time the best forecast. I think public policy works the same way.
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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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See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate Minnesota State Senate District 4 |
Officeholder Minnesota State Senate District 4 |
Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Kent Eken (D) |
Minnesota State Senate District 4 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
