Politics & Government
Gazelka Names Former Woodbury Mayor As Running Mate For MN Gov Race
Candidate Paul Gazelka said Mary Giuliani Stephens "got big things done while never compromising her values" as mayor of the "liberal city."
WOODBURY, MN — Former Woodbury Mayor Mary Giuliani Stephens is back on the campaign trail after she was named Friday as Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul Gazelka’s running mate.
Giuliani Stephens served one term on the Woodbury City Council before she was elected mayor in 2010. She was re-elected in 2014 but did not seek a third term in office in 2018, instead running for the Republican Party’s nomination for governor that year.
Giuliani Stephens ran an unsuccessful campaign for Minnesota’s state Senate in 2020, in which she lost to DFL Sen. Susan Kent.
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Giuliani Stephens “got big things done while never compromising her values” during her time leading “one of Minnesota’s fastest-growing cities,” state Sen. Gazelka said, calling Woodbury a “liberal city.”
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“Times like these call for tested leaders,” Gazelka said in a video announcing Giuliani Stephens as his running mate.
Giuliani Stephens said in the video that Gazelka “has been the single most-effective Republican” in the Capitol and listed some of the issues their new team will aim to tackle if elected.
“Crime, inflation, high taxes, a lack of respect for parents and business owners,” Giuliani Stephens said. “Minnesota can’t wait. We must fire Walz.”
She urged Republicans to back the Gazelka-Giuliani Stephens ticket, which promises to “implement a bold, conservative agenda that lifts up Minnesota families.”
“Now is our best chance to change course,” Giuliani Stephens said.
“Together, we’re going to take our state back,” Gazelka said.
More than 2,000 Republicans are set to convene next month in Rochester to endorse a candidate to challenge Walz’s re-election bid. Gazelka and Giuliani Stephens will face competition from at least eight other declared candidates, according to Ballotpedia.
Candidates seeking the Republican Party’s nomination to challenge Walz in the Nov. 8 general election also include former state Sen. Scott Jensen, state Sen. Michelle Benson, former Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, Lexington Mayor Mike Murphy, Kendall Qualls, Neil Shah and Scott Magie, according to Ballotpedia.
Jensen is the only other GOP gubernatorial candidate to have named a running mate at this point in the race. Jensen chose former Minnesota Vikings player Matt Birk to run as his pick for lieutenant governor.
The DFL Party has held the Minnesota governor’s office since January 2011, with Walz succeeding former two-term Gov. Mark Dayton in 2019.
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