Hill Earns DFL Endorsement Over Widmer For Stillwater-Area House Seat

STILLWATER, MN — Stillwater teacher Josiah Hill won a key endorsement earlier this month in his race to win the DFL Party’s nomination for Minnesota’s House District 33B.

Delegates at a local DFL convention endorsed Hill, an English teacher at Stillwater Area High School, over Joe Widmer, a small business owner from May Township.

Widmer told Patch he received 28 percent of the vote on the first ballot at the convention and 25 percent on the second ballot, with 78 delegates voting.

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Hill received more than 60 percent of the vote during the second round to earn the nomination, Widmer said.

Hill posted April 3 on Facebook that he was “so proud, humbled and excited” to announce he earned the DFL's nomination for the Stillwater-area House seat, while thanking delegates for participating in the convention and “their dedication to progressive policies.”

“And a shoutout to our incredible team of campaign volunteers for showing up and showing their support today,” Hill wrote on Facebook. “It was great to be with you all!”

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Key planks of Hill’s campaign platform include protecting the environment; providing equitable and high-quality public education for children; ensuring equal opportunities and adding an Equal Rights Amendment to Minnesota’s Constitution; and building a thriving economy for families, according to his campaign website.

Widmer congratulated Hill on April 4 through a Facebook post in which he said “the state of progressivism in the Valley is strong.”

“The two of us are really getting to know each other, and he’s great,” Widmer wrote of Hill. “His supporters are like him: gracious with their words and time.”

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Widmer said he will continue his campaign until the Aug. 9 primary despite missing out on the DFL’s endorsement to Hill.

He told Patch the convention was “an excellent opportunity to introduce myself to the activists in my party.”

“I share their commitment to a sustainable future, great schools and increasing labor’s power.”

Widmer said his vote totals at the convention “far surpassed” his expectations for his first campaign, which he said he’s running with “zero” name recognition and “essentially no budget.”

Widmer launched his campaign for the Stillwater-area House seat in February, promising to run a “positive campaign” focused on the economy, the environment and education.

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He is advocating for lower taxes for most Minnesotans and higher wages as a way to combat inflation and help "the working poor and our seniors on fixed incomes."

Widmer said he believes COVID-19 vaccination mandates should be lifted for most workers as “we have reached an endemic stage of the pandemic.”

Widmer called himself a “rare progressive that wants to invest in our police, not defund them,” and said the “far right does not want to see me in this race.”

“My campaign is centered on my appeal to the general electorate,” Widmer wrote on Facebook, adding “that is going to drive the Far Right nuts when they try to attack me.”

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“If the Far Right doesn't want to see me in this race ... well then I have to stay in this race, because we can't let their retrograde ideas anywhere near the State Capitol,” he wrote.

Widmer owns Merganser Customs, a business in Somerset, Wisconsin, that repairs pontoons and converts vans into campers.

“I'm a small business owner that built a business that weathered a pandemic and has the splinters in his hands and the sore back to prove it,” he wrote.

State Rep. Shelly Christensen (DFL-Stillwater) announced in January that she will not seek re-election to the Minnesota House.

Hill and Widmer are vying for the DFL Party's nomination for the Nov. 8 general election, where they could face Mark Bishofsky, a former respiratory therapist who earned the GOP's endorsement in March, the Stillwater Gazette reported.

Bishofsky founded "Stop the Mandate," an organization that supports small businesses that were shut down by government mitigation efforts, the report states.

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Other Republican candidates include Stillwater Area Public Schools board member Tina Riehle and Charlie Anderson, a St. Paul police commander who serves on the Marine on St. Croix City Council, the Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported.

Stillwater will move from House District 39B to District 33B as a result of redistricting after the 2020 Census.

Stillwater will also move from Senate District 39 to District 33, with incumbent Sen. Karin Housley (R-Stillwater) seeking re-election.

DFL delegates unanimously endorsed Nancy McLean, of Stillwater, for Minnesota's Senate District 33.

Stillwater will be split between the Fourth and Eighth Congressional Districts under the new maps.