Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Visits St. Cloud

(KNSI) – The top Republican in the Minnesota Legislature isn’t calling for the chairwoman of the state’s Republican party to step down when he visited St. Cloud on Wednesday.

Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka was asked by KNSI’s Dan “The Ox” Ochsner why he hasn’t called for embattled GOP chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan to resign?

“Because I trust the process. And I think we will find our way through the process, and I think it’ll work.”

Carnahan has been under fire over the indictment of a major donor and a college GOP chapter leader on sex-trafficking charges, which reopened old disputes and spawned new ones over Carnahan’s leadership. Some officials have called for Carnahan to be removed from her position when the state party’s Executive Committee meets Thursday night.

Gazelka commented when he stopped into the KNSI Studio during a trip to St. Cloud. He was asked why he was in the Granite City?

“The stop here was really to talk to a number of business folks to see how are things going, what has happened in Minnesota, are we heading the right direction? And I think the fact is across the whole state; I hear a whole bunch of people say under Governor Walz, Minnesota is not heading in the right direction. And let’s do something about that.”

He says enhanced unemployment benefits are keeping businesses from being able to hire workers and hurting the economy.

Gazelka was critical of the governor’s handling of civil unrest in the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police and criticized the governor’s support to defund the police. He says a recent spike in crime is concerning.

“I think the number one issue that frustrates people across the state is the lawlessness that is everywhere, and people are very frustrated. They don’t feel safe. They’re scared. And that’ll be, I think, the number one issue why people are concerned.”

The GOP leader has been mentioned as a possible candidate for governor and says he’s seriously thinking about running but hasn’t made up his mind yet. He hasn’t said when he would make his decision on running for governor.

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