Sen. Sandy Pappas faces challengers Sheigh Freeberg and Zuki Ellis in St. Paul

Bill Salisbury, Pioneer Press
·3 min read
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Sen. Sandy Pappas knows what it takes to unseat an incumbent legislator.

Pappas, a St. Paul Democrat, launched her 38-year legislative career in 1984 by defeating Rep. Frank Rodriguez and advanced it in 1990 by unseating Sen. Don Moe.

She has learned how to avoid the pitfalls that cost her predecessors their offices. How does she do it?

“I did the best I can at staying in touch with my constituents and pursuing the issues they think are important, and always staying cutting edge because my district is very progressive,” Pappas said in an interview.

But Sheigh Freeberg, a union organizer and Pappas’ challenger in Tuesday’s Senate District 65 DFL primary election, contends the senator has lost touch with working families in her district. “I’ve been in and around the district for a decade, and I didn’t see my senator show up for anything that I was fighting for for working people,” he said.

Freeberg, the secretary-treasurer of a hospitality industry local union, said he’s running to do “everything possible to help working people get a leg up. … I want to make Minnesota the most union-friendly state in the nation.”

A third candidate, St. Paul School Board member Zuki Ellis, is on the primary ballot. She did not respond to requests for an interview.

New Senate District 65 represents the heart of St. Paul, stretching south from downtown through the West Side and part of West St. Paul and west through Frogtown, Summit-University and parts of the West Seventh Street, Midway and North End neighborhoods.

Pappas asserted she has compiled a long list of accomplishments that benefit her constituents and the rest of the city, ranging from sponsoring legislation to create St. Paul’s Sales Tax Revitalization program that provides grants for neighborhood and arts projects funded by local sales taxes to helping to steer state money to Mississippi Riverfront developments and replacement of the crumbling Third Street/Kellogg Boulevard Bridge.

She is the lead DFLer on the Senate bonding committee and if re-elected would be in a strong position to become chair of that panel and guide more state funding to St. Paul’s aging bridges, streets and other public facilities.

On a broader level, Pappas said she is proud to have led the fight to pass the 2014 Women’s Economic Security Act that aims to protect and promote opportunities for women in the workplace.

She said she’s eager to continue her efforts to pass paid sick and family leave legislation and an Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution and protect abortion rights.

Freeberg, 34, said his top priority would be to provide more affordable housing. “Every door that I’ve knocked, people have talked to me about that issue. It has to be one of our top priorities.”

Pappas, 73, agreed and said that as a leader on the bonding committee, she could lead efforts to provide more affordable housing. As one of the most senior senators, she said, she also could help increase local government aid to help the city hire more police officers and mental health teams to combat crime, as well as to fund street repairs.

Freeberg said he is part of a national movement to deliver a “new vision of politics. … The old way was to go to the Capitol, take your votes and go home. But now people are looking for someone who shows up for them, who’s part of their community and fighting for them.

“People are telling me we can’t keep having the same people in office for 40 years and expect a different outcome for working families,” he said.

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