After the previous biennium, over 35 percent of the entire legislature was replaced due to many retiring and incumbents losing reelection bids. After recent announcements of a number of House and Senate member retirements planned for after the 2026 legislative session – including long time Senate DFL Tax Chair and legislative institution Ann Rest – it feels as though the end of the current biennium will also see an unusually high number of lawmaker retirements. The influx of new legislators will provide an opportunity for organizations like AASPMN to develop relationships with the new crop  of lawmakers who will become committee chairs, caucus leaders and possibly even an eventual Governor.

With this in mind, I think it’s an important time to highlight a couple of AASPMN member success stories 

in developing and cultivating these relationships. Jesse Jacobson (Heppner’s Auto Body & Glass) attended AASPMN’s Day at the Capitol event during the 2025 legislative session and met with his state senator and House members. Jesse was in an unusual position because his state senator was on the outs with her own caucus as she awaited a trial for a felony burglary charge, but Jesse did the work anyway and met with all his elected officials. One of his House members was particularly interested in what Jesse had to say and followed up with him to organize a time to come and tour his shop, which she did a few weeks later. 

Flash forward a couple of months and Senator Mitchell had formally resigned her Senate seat after being found guilty of felony burglary. There was a special election primary between the two House members in the Senate district. Low and behold, Representative Hemmingsen-Jaeger, the member who Jesse met and formed an actual relationship with, handily won the special election and is very likely to be successful in the upcoming general election to fill the Senate seat. Jesse already has an established relationship with an incoming State senator, and one that was established without having anything he specifically needed to ask her help on. 

Another shop doing great work at forging relationships with state lawmakers is Shannon’s Auto Body. Shannon Christian and Josh Shaw also attended the AASPMN Day at the Capitol events this year. They have long-standing relationships with some of the elected officials in northern Minnesota, but were able to solidify those in St. Paul and establish a few new ones. Shannon’s Auto Body recently had state representative Josh Heintzeman and his wife, newly elected state senator Keri Heintzeman, to their shop to see the operation. When he got back to his car after this shop visit, Representative Heintzeman called me to talk about AASPMN’s legislative priorities and asked how he can be helpful moving forward – a step he only took because of how impressed he was by Shannon’s Auto Body. 

These lawmaker interactions do not need to be an over-the-top production or something you need to be deeply prepared for. Your legislators want to be helpful to you, they want to know more about what you do in the community, they want to be a champion for you in St. Paul; but that only really works when they know who you are and what you do. Given the opportunity with new folks coming into decision making roles in Minnesota, we would love to get more AASPMN members to invite elected officials to your shops to develop these relationships.

Please reach out to Linden Wicklund (612-623-1110 or linden@aaspmn.org) if you’re interested in hosting an elected official at your shop and we can help make it happen.