By Cam Gordon
In February, Minnesota State Representative Frank Hornstein announced that it was time for him to “reorder” his “life’s priorities and to pass the torch to new leadership after 22 years of legislative service.”
This November, voters in southwest’s District 61A, will elect a new representative and Jan. 6, 2025 will be his last day as a state legislator.
He is still working, even though the legislature is not in session. “I’m still weighing in with state agencies on the issues of the day,” he said, noting that he was currently working on his formal comments to the Public Utilities Commission about the 100% clean electricity bill that commits all utilities to provide their Minnesota customers with 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040.
He is spending some time door-knocking and advising candidates he supports. When asked about the candidates running to replace him in 61A, he said, “I’m staying out of it. They are all working very hard from what I see and that’s good for the community.”
Inspired by wellstone, he sought to be a progressive, too
Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Hornstein moved to the Twin Cities when he attended Macalester College in St. Paul, and later the University of Minnesota – Humphrey Institute. He is married to Marcia Zimmerman (senior rabbi at Temple Israel in Minneapolis), is a father of three and, since April, the grandfather of one. He turns 65 this September.
Prior to his election in 2003, he worked in the area as a community organizer and, in 2000, was appointed by Governor Jesse Ventura to the Metropolitan Council.
He met Paul Wellstone in the summer of 1982 in southwest Minneapolis at a meeting at the Rainbow Café when Wellstone was running for state auditor. “I got to know him then and was inspired by him,” said Hornstein.
Hornstein supported him and his “vision of governing as a progressive,” when was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1990.
“I was working at Clean Water Action at the time and you know all of a sudden we had a guy that was our friend who was an organizer in the United States Senate who would show up at our press conferences who would not worry about being part of a 97 to 3 vote and would do courageous things over and over again,” Hornstein said. “It was a model for me.”
“The year I ran, that’s when the plane crashed [that resulted in Wellstone’s death], so we never served in elected office together, but I tried to model what he modeled which was how you could be a progressive but still build relationships with the other side,” said Hornstein. “His impact on Minnesota politics is profound.”
URBAN-SUBURBAN COALITIONS
From the start of that first term Hornstein worked to have positive working relationships, even, and perhaps especially with people who didn’t necessarily share his political views.
“The first bill I did was to do a study of bus rapid transit on I35W and the Republicans south of the river were interested in that. And that’s when I realized that relationships matter at the legislature and that’s what I learned from organizing. If you don’t agree with someone, build a relationship, and so I did,” he recalled. “So we had a nice urban-suburban coalition to develop 35W transit which eventually became the orange line.”
His interest in transportation policy and funding remained a priority throughout his time in office, including in 2024.
“I don’t think we’re going to have a session like the one last year for a long time,” he said. “Passing the transportation bill was really the key and that was 20 years in the making. I am very proud of it but it wasn’t just me. Senator Dibble and I worked on that and, of course, we had many, many community partners and even public sector unions stepped up in a big way to pass this bill. It was really monumental. Every single thing we could have dreamed of we packed into that bill and some of it was too successful like the e-bike vouchers.”
Among his accomplishments, he includes progress on waste management. “We were able to increase the recycling and composting goals for the region,” he said, “but right now the region is way behind our goal of having 75% recycling and composting by 2030 and we passed that 2014. It’s one of the things that just continues to frustrate me.”
Hornstein admits there is more work to be done.
“We passed the landmark 100% carbon-free bill and how that gets implemented is really important because we can’t have carve outs and loop holes and exceptions,” he said. “If we keep exempting certain things, like incinerators, then we’re not going to meet our goal. Those are fossil fuel plants and they emit on a per kilowatt basis as much as coal.”
Concern about hate crimes increasing
Hornstein is also concerned about hate crimes. “We had triple-digit percentage increases in Islamophobia and antisemitism and the anti-immigration hate that’s going on right now,” he said, also noting serious concerns with transphobia. “We can do some degree of legislating around that but the legislature and every public body has to set an example,” he said.
He views this kind of “othering” of people as a sign of authoritarianism and of democratic institutions being in crisis.
“The four things that I’ve always run on are in jeopardy,” he said, listing economic justice and the growing disparity between rich and poor, climate change, human rights and protecting democracy itself.
Tell personal stories to your legislators
Hornstein said that it was “the honor of his life to serve” such a “uniquely wonderful community,” of south central and southwest Minneapolis. “It’s just a fantastic place, not without problems to solve or things that need to be fixed, but people have been generous and wonderful and helpful for the entire time.”
As advice to constituents working with whoever his replacement turns out to be, he said, “It’s better to write a personal letter or call or have a meeting then to just do a form letter.” If someone can tell a personal story about how a policy decision impacts their lives “that makes a big difference. It’s very rare that we get handwritten letters that someone puts a stamp on and sends to our office and if they do it really stands out… Be as personal as possible.”
There is little doubt that Hornstein was well supported by voters in the area. Not only did several people stop by to say hello to him during an interview at what he calls his “district office” at the Rustica Café on West Lake street, but in his last election, in 2022, he received 98% of the vote.
Get in there. get people behind you.
For the incoming representative, he wants them to understand the importance of building relationships “both within the caucus and on the other side of the aisle and be intentional about it.” He said that everyone has their own areas of interest and expertise and that finding a cohort of people that shares yours is crucial to being successful.
He also wants them to be activists. “There used to be advice that freshmen just need to observe,” he said. “I totally reject that. Get in there. Make speeches. Chief author legislation. Try to get people behind you.”
He advised his successor: “Work with organizations, work with neighborhood groups, work with community groups. Just because something is a great idea it’s not going to see the light of day in the legislature. You gotta have a movement behind it. The most significant things we passed had groups who had been working on them for many years. You can’t go with it alone.”
Hornstein added, “It was a great ride and I’m proud of the work that we’ve done collectively. I feel like the progressive movement is in a good spot to continue to have a lot of influence.”
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