Tiebreaker: Meet Doron Clark, your new state senator

Windom Park resident Doron Clark filed his bid for the late Sen. Kari Dziedzic’s seat in the Minnesota Senate on Dec. 30, one day before the filing deadline and his birthday.

On Tuesday, Jan. 28, he was elected to fill Dziedzic’s seat by a 7,783-746 win over Republican challenger Abigail Wolters. “Abigail and her team really worked hard,” Clark said. “It was surprising how many times she’d been someplace before me” during the short, four-week campaign.

Clark was raised on a sheep farm in southeastern Minnesota, near the town of Eyota. His father died when he was young and his family moved into town, where he and his siblings were able to receive free lunches at school. He moved to the Twin Cities to attend college at Hamline University; he’s lived in Northeast for more than 25 years. 

Clark has been an active participant in neighborhood affairs, chairing the planning committee for Northeast Park’s new recreation center and ball fields. More recently, he has helped Windom Park residents get loans and grants to make homes more energy efficient. 

He ran unsuccessfully for Minneapolis City Council in 2009, and served as chair of Senate District 60 DFL in 2022.

He said one of his neighbors said, “Oh, you’re doing politics.” But Clark doesn’t see it that way. “I just go to neighborhood meetings to find out what’s going on. When you do that, you find out how the system works, and you see things that the government needs to do better. It’s about being part of the community.”

One of the things he’d like to see done better is an unfunded mandate that he says hurts Minneapolis Public Schools. 

“It’s called cross funding,” he said. “The state funds 44% of the cost to educate a special education student, and Minneapolis picks up the rest. If that student leaves the district, the state continues to pay its 44%, and Minneapolis continues to pay 56%, even though the student is no longer in the school. The state has never fully funded this mandate. The same thing happens with English Learner programs. Minneapolis money goes outside the district when the student leaves.”

Clark’s election to the Minnesota Senate once again puts the DFL party in a one-seat majority. “We have to work together, and it may take time to get things done. I’m happy to share my perspective.”

Specifically for District 60, he wants to get the reconstruction of University and Central Avenues rolling. He’d also like to do something about senior housing. “There are people in their mid-70s in my neighborhood who are looking for a place where they can age in place.” 

Clark works at Medtronic, where he is a senior director of the company’s ethics program. Previously, he worked at Target, often traveling to Canada during that company’s ill-fated attempt to expand beyond the U.S. He said he’ll work “very part time” at Medtronic when the Legislature is in session.

A long-distance runner, he’s particpated in the Grandma’s, Twin Cities, Boston and Chicago Marathons as well as the Twin Cities 10K and Boom Island 5K races. He coaches cross country at Yinghua Academy. He’s also active on the Edison Activities Council, serves on the board at Hamline and is the finance manager for Northeast United Methodist Church. 

Clark and his wife Molly have two daughters; Sylvie attends Edison High School and Cora, Yinghua Academy.

Clark was sworn into office on Monday, Feb. 3. His swearing-in ceremony broke the tie between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, who have been working cooperatively since the beginning of the session.

Sen. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, told CBS News, “What we’ve experienced together in these last weeks — the ability to balance our interests, to work together in committees, to build relationships with one another and to show Minnesotans that the Senate is open, ready to do its work and to work across the aisle with one another, to do the best work for the people of Minnesota — must continue.” 

Said Clark, “I’m ready to go to work.”