Hastings native Jen Fox is running once again as the DFL candidate for Minnesota House district 41B. A small business owner with a master’s degree in public policy and former Hastings city councilor with a history in state government, Fox believes she has the qualifications and vision for the role that her opponent, Republican William Beck, doesn’t.
Fox says that while being a state representative may not specifically be her lifelong dream, the work she sees as the mission of the role—connecting people to resources and each other—is. She says she can achieve this by representing all walks of life in our state government.
“I really love my district. I really love every single corner of who we are and what we do. I want to go to the Capitol, have thoughtful conversations, actually take votes, and make sure that I’m representing the people in our district, not necessarily special interests or a party.”
-Jen Fox, DFL candidate for Minnesota House 41B
A lifelong history in public policy
Fox says she has been involved in public policy since she can remember. “My grandma brought me along to meetings and to organizations,” Fox said. “It wasn’t an option.” Fox says her grandma, Elaine, was “community minded,” which inspired her to be too. Whether it was a community funeral, helping someone move into their first house, or an opening on a committee board, Fox says she helped her neighbors where she could.
As for her credentials, Fox went to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter to study topics from political theory and gender and sexuality to Scandinavian studies. She got her master’s in public policy at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. “That really helped me understand that I didn’t want to argue the law, I wanted to help create it.”
Fox’s state government experience includes working for the Minnesota Office of Higher Education as a communications manager, and then as the director of outreach and consumer protection at the Minnesota Department of Commerce.
She’s also a former member of the Hastings City Council and the former commissioner and treasurer for the Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority (HERDA). Fox says her time on city council helped her realize one of her talents is connecting people to government programs, like social services, grants, or even helping someone understand an ordinance.
Now, she is working at a small business, as the owner of Spiral Brewery in Hastings. While Fox describes it as “one of her top five jobs,” she realized how much she missed working in local government. That’s when the late former House speaker, Melissa Hortman, stepped in. She says Hortman saw her talents and passion, and gave her the push to run in the 2024 election.
“Melissa and I talked a lot about how we can treat the House as local government,” Fox said. “We do have a smaller district than Senators, and there’s a lot more accountability to your constituents.”
Number one priority: Tax reform
Fox is chiefly concerned about the high water and property taxes residents are paying. She says there’s been an “over 15% increase of our property taxes,” on top of federal taxes, and taxes to pay for unfunded state mandates.
Fox says she would love to be on the state tax committee to “rightsize taxes and make sure we have fair taxes in Minnesota, so that working Minnesotans are not paying the same as our wealthy Minnesotans.”
To make change for her district and the state, Fox wants to tweak Minnesota’s corporate tax structure. Minnesota is home to multiple large corporations, like UnitedHealth Group, Target, 3M, Best Buy, Cargill, and Mayo Clinic.
Fox’s idea includes creating different tiers for corporations of different sizes to pay different amounts in taxes. “My business is considered a small business. I have one full-time employee. I think it’s kind of ridiculous that a company, for instance, which has 550 employees, is at the same level,” Fox explained. She says she’s passionate about creating strong tax policies instead of “one size fits all” policies.
Running for 41B again
The southeastern Minnesota district covers parts of Dakota and Washington Counties, including Hastings and multiple precincts in Cottage Grove.
This is Fox’s second run for the House seat in her district. She went up against Republican Rep. Tom Dippel, who is running for the district’s Senate seat this election. Fox lost to Dippel by only 510 votes. Dippel secured 50.9% of the vote total while Fox got 48.9%.
Now, Fox faces Beck, who is Dippel’s protege and former staffer. He is running as a “moderate Republican,” despite a history of more extremist views and a past of working for Action 4 Liberty, a far-right activist group in Minnesota. The group is endorsing him in the election. You can read more about his past here.
Fox says the biggest difference between herself and Beck, is that she isn’t running with a corporate or lobby background. “I’m just a gal who really believes in her community and has done a lot, and knows what we could do better.”
