MAZEPPA, Minn. – Winona shoe shop owner Steve Drazkowski, who actually lives 60 miles away in Mazeppa, announced he is seeking the Republican nomination for the State Senate District 21. Draz, as he’s known, has held the 21B House seat since 2007 – eight terms in all. His announcement for the Sensate was pre-arranged clockwork. It was made within hours of the announcement by Senator Jim Goggin of Red Wing, a fellow Republican, that he was retiring after the current legislative session. The Senate position pays $48,250. The GOP primary is August 9. So far no one else has declared candidacy.Senate District 21 includes Altura in Winona Count but mostly comprises Wabasha and Goodhue counties. and tiny parts of Olmsted and Dodge counties.
Draz. Eight-term legislator.
Drazkowski profile
Draz, age 57, was born in Winona but grew up across the river in Wisconsin and attended Cochrane-Fountain City schools. He earned a degree in agriculture in 1989 from UW-River Falls. In 1994 he earned master’s from the University of Minnesota. He was a university agricultural adviser in Wabasha from 1997 until 2004. He then moved to Mazeppa where he operates an online retail business and makes occasional swings over to Winona to check on his Baker shoe shop downtown, a family business for four generations.
Electoral history
2006 Senate District 28: Draz lost to incumbent Steve Morse 54% to 45%
2007 House District 28B (special election): Draz defeated Linda Pfeilsticker 53% to 46%.
2008 District 28B: Draz defeated Linda Pfeilsticker 54% to to 45%.
2010 District 28B: Draz defeated Mark Schneider 65% to 35%.
2012 District 28B: Draz defeated Bruce Motntplasir 58% to 42%.
2014 House District 21B (redrawn and renumbered): Draz defeated Mark Schneider 63% to 36%.
2016: District 21B: Draz defeated Elise Diesslin 65% to 35%.
2018: District 21B: Draz defeated Jonathan Isenor 63% to 35%.
2020: District 21B: Draz defeated Elise Diesslin 66% to 33%.
Draz’s House record
A Draz pattern has been a widely held Republican preference for limited government,. Often he has been at a paranoid fringe that government is the people’s enemy. He embraced the Tea Party movement within the GOP. He endorsed Trumpism. Although dapper and sometimes smooth, he is regarded as dismissive to citizens who ll on him for causes with which the disagrees. This includes state employee union lobbyists. He’s regarded as quirky, unpredictable and trigger-prone. Among his initiatives have been proposals:
> To sell state forestlands to solve a temporary budget shortfall. This would have included the Richard J. Dorer Memorial State Forest in Draz’s own southeast Minnesota. The forests still stand.
> To model a state immigration statute after a new Arizona law that had the strictest anti-immigration restrictions in the nation. His proposal failed.
> To amend the Minnesota Constitution to include a right-to-work clause to weaken unions. The proposal failed.
> To pursue Ilhan Omar, a Minneapolis Democrat and the only member of Congress of Somali lineage, as a violator of campaign finance and public disclosure requirements. Nothing came of the complaint.
In 2018, Drazkowski and three fellow Republicans left the GOP House Caucus to form what they called a New Republican caucus. Most Republicans, they contended, had forsaken GOP ideals and values. They were given a small staff and proposed a budget of their own. But they had misjudged the potential of their purist beliefs to be influential in the legislative process. They were outliers. The party majority merely tolerated them.
Legal scrapes
Domestic issue: A jury exonerated Drazkowski in 2006 of assault that had been alleged by his 14-year-old daughter. At the time he was in hit first run for the state Legislature. The daughter, Laura, accused him of pulling her hair and threatening her during an argument at their home. Marks were left on upper chest. Police arrested Drazkowski. A judge told him to avoid his daughter under a temporary restraining order filed by his ex-wife. After the jury verdict, Drazkowski said that Minnesota child protection laws go “too far” and are “very oppressive.” He vowed, if elected, to reform the law to encourage common-sense parenting in which children are held accountable for their actions. “The current system is failing our families, tying up our courts and leaving the taxpayers to hold the bag,” he said. He lost the election however. But the next year he was successful for House Seat 21B.
Drazes in happier moment. Wife Laura and daughter Kinsey. The parents have since divorced.
Campaign issue: The Wabasha county attorney filed a complaint that Drazkowski violated election law by campaigning at a polling place. Draz responded that the county attorney lacked jurisdiction and, further, that the attire was engaging in unethical politically motivated conduct. The election law charge was withdrawn. Even so, Draz pursued the county attorney with a complaint with the state Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility that could have disbarred the attorney. An investigation concluded that the county attorney was unaware of jurisdictional problems and, more to the point, that Draz failed to provide “clear and convincing evidence” of political motivation or wrong-doing.