WINONA, Minn. — Organic farmer Jack Hedin continued his politically baffling aspirations. This time he announced his candidacy to represent State Senate District 26, a seat being vacated by Republican Jeremy Miller after 16 years. Hedin’s announcement came too late to be on the August primary election ballot. Hedin, a Democrat, also missed the February precinct caucuses at which party members voiced their preferences. This all follows Hedin’s brief 2026 bid for Winona-centric House District 26-A, which he abandoned because he wasn’t able to devote himself 100% to campaigning. Hedin, age 59, had recently retired from Featherstone Farms, which he had founded and built into a leading regional purveyor of organic fruits and vegetables. He won a seat on the Winona School Board in 2025 as a write-in candidate for which there was no candidate on the ballot. About his current bid for the Minnesota Senate, Hedin said he’ll make his case directly the public and to delegates ahead of the Democratic Party convention. Already two other Democrats, substitute school teacher Lynn Carlson of Winona and marketing consultant Michael Todd of Goodview, have met filing deadlines and are proceeding through conventional campaign processes.
Candidate record, priorities
Hedlin his attributed his earlier bids for elected office as attempts to fnd meaning in his retirement. Now, he said, he “fully adjusted to retirement” and can concentrate on introducing himself around the largely rural Senate District 26. The district has 80,000 people in Fillmore, Houston, Mower and Winona counties. With Jeremy Mille’rs decision not to seek re-election, Hedin said he sees “a ran opportunity “for a new voice in the Legislature. He Noted his 30 years as a farmer and employer, which he said makes him well-tuned suited with rural interests. He expressed concern that the rural economy is being drained of local and independent ownership. He’s no friend of the Trump pogrom against immigrants, He said his Featherstone Farm, which has 50 employees, depends on immigrants, as do other faners. He pledged himself to prtect public schools from cuts “handed down from Washington.”
Hedin. His Featherstone Farms is north of Rushford but earlier in Winona County’s Wiscoy Valley. Home address in Winona.