In key districts, state House candidates make final pitch to voters

"What is your top priority in the 2015-16 Legislature?"

Heidi Gunderson, the Republican challenger in House District 42B, had first crack at the question. She told a recent League of Women Voters forum in Shoreview that she'd focus on trimming a state budget she believes is too big.

"I think that our current level of spending is unsustainable," she said. "We've had budget shortfalls six of the last seven months, and tax increases, and that's got to stop. I think we need to prioritize needs versus wants, and that's why I'm running."

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First-term DFL Rep. Jason Isaacson, the person Gunderson wants to beat, focused his answer on education, telling the group he wanted to make sure students are better prepared for available high-skill jobs.

"Some folks don't want to go to college. They want to get a trade degree, and they want to go out and start making some money," he said. "The reality is our high schools are no longer preparing people for that avenue as a viable way in a career. We need to fix that."

The back-and-forth at the Shoreview forum has played out in debates across key Minnesota House districts in these last weeks before Election Day. The battle for majority control is being waged in fewer than two dozen of the state's 134 House districts, including 42B in the north metro suburbs. The DFL currently holds a 12 seat advantage in the House. Republicans need to pick up seven seats to win majority control.

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Candidates are making final arguments to voters about why their side should hold power at the Legislature over the next two years. In most cases, DFLers are stressing an agenda that they contend will build on their accomplishments of the past two years. Republican candidates are pushing the need for change without offering too many specifics

DFL House Speaker Paul Thissen has been campaigning in many of those swing districts, making the case for DFL incumbents.

"We've made a lot of progress in the state. The economy is doing well, and people just want to, I hope, continue that progress," Thissen said during a stop last week in St. Cloud.

Transportation funding, child care tax credits and tuition freezes for public colleges and universities would be among the priorities if the House remained in DFL hands, he added. Democrats are also talking about stronger parental leave laws and further efforts to hold down property taxes.

Republicans have been trying to convince voters that one-party rule the past two years has been bad for the state.

House GOP Minority Leader Kurt Daudt points to increased taxes, increased spending, a $90 million Senate office building and problems associated with the state's new health insurance exchange, MNsure.

Should Republicans win the House, Daudt said they would prioritize transportation spending on roads and bridges, stabilize funding for nursing homes and close the racial achievement gap in public schools, he said, adding they would also help businesses grow jobs with lower taxes and fewer regulations.

"We're going to make the priority Minnesotans, Minnesota families and we're going to identify the problems that we think Minnesotans care about," he said. "We're going to work together with whoever will work with us to find solutions to those problems."