next up is Senate District 11 which now includes all of Carlton and pine counties five townships in Far Southern St Louis County and slivers of cannabec county in the southeast of the district and two townships in Far Northern Chisago County the incumbent in Senate District 11 Republican Jason rarick did not respond to our invitation to this program The dfl Challenger in Senate District 11 is Michelle boyetzko of Tamarack hi my name is Michelle boyczko I am running for Minnesota Senate District 11.

I am a mother a wife and a small farmer that lives in Carlton County I group was born and raised in Duluth Minnesota and I moved to Carleton County about nine years ago where we started a small farm I decided to run for office after the Supreme Court draft was leaked and then there was the shooting racially motivated shooting in Buffalo New York shortly afterward followed by the Uvalde Texas shooting the following morning after that shooting I was sitting with my two teenagers I have a 15 year old daughter water in a 17 year old son who are getting ready for school the next morning and I was drinking my coffee and just trying to hold it together until they left for the morning thinking that as I give them hugs and kisses and say I love you and have a good day that a lot of other parents in the United States have done this and not seen their children after school so to me that was a really scary thing and so I decided that something had to be done and I decided to jump into the race for Minnesota Senate um but now that I'm here I want to say that I am unapologetically pro-choice I stand with women we need to have access to Safe legal and accessible abortion I Am pro Second Amendment with regulations however my family owns guns we use guns we hunt and target shoot I don't want your guns I don't want to take them I want to reduce gun violence I want to do things that involve more than just legislating gun ownership we need to deal with things that cause gun violence like poverty in a sense of no options um I am also a pro-small farm I want to help small farmers get back into the market all over the state small farms are being gobbled up by large Agriculture and developers looking to build subdivisions and as a result the small towns just kind of crumble and close up I want to help get them back into the market by encouraging them to use regenerative practices and building their land up making the Farms more resilient to the weather changes that we've been seeing the last several years and when small and medium farmers do better small towns do better when local local farmers are making money they're spending that money locally so as that the money stays local rather than buying back stock interests or giving CEOs another bonus I'm also pro-union unions and farmers are the backbone of the middle class Minnesota I will work to support employees right to collectively bargain and I will help them stand up for their rights lgbtq rights are human rights Love Is Love marriage equality must be codified the Supreme Court has said as much that they are coming next for the rights of the lb lgbtq community no one wants to make your child gay we just want the children who are gay to feel like they belong to be loved and to make it to adulthood um black and brown lives matter there's still a lot of inequalities faced by people of color in our state uh we have to admit there's a problem first before we can solve it but we need thoughtful and informed legislation to work toward more equality Minnesota's rich and national natural resources and poised to lead the nation in Mineral extraction for our transition away from petroleum we must ensure that this endeavor that we do not destroy our Irreplaceable resources and poison the water soil and air for the generations to follow I believe we need to partner with the indigenous tribes and listen to what we can do to help them maintain their tribal sovereignty and minutes a great education is a Minnesota way of life we need to fund education in a way that provides for an equitable learning experience