By AVA KIAN | akian@pioneerpress.com |PUBLISHED: February 20, 2022 at 7:23 p.m. | UPDATED: February 21, 2022 at 11:53 p.m.
State Sen. Karla Bigham announced Sunday that she will not seek re-election for the Minnesota Senate and instead will run for the Washington County Board of Commissioners.
For five years, she has represented Cottage Grove, Hastings, Afton, Newport, St. Paul Park and parts of South St. Paul in District 54.
Bigham, DFL-Cottage Grove, was elected to the state Senate in February 2018 and has served on the Environment Finance Committee, Human Service Policy and Finance Reform Committee and the Veterans Affairs Committee.
“I have enjoyed my service in the Minnesota State Senate. My heart and soul is in service to South Washington County. My passion for public service is motivated by working on issues that impact the communities I know best, including my hometown of Cottage Grove,” Bigham wrote in a tweet.
Bigham served on the Washington County Board of Commissioners prior to her time in the Senate. Before that, she served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011.
She was also previously a member of the Cottage Grove City Council and chair of the Cottage Grove Public Safety, Health, and Welfare Commission, chair of the Cottage Grove Charter Commission and a member of the Cottage Grove Environmental Commission.
Bigham, a resident of Washington County, has a master’s of public affairs degree from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree as a paralegal, with minors in sociology and political science from Winona State University.
In a tweet, Bigham wrote that if she’s elected a Washington County Commissioner, she plans to advocate for clean water, workforce development, mental health services, chemical health programs and infrastructure.
Source: Pioneer Press