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Boreal Community Media

Hakes exploring 8th District Seat

May 22, 2017 08:33AM ● By Editor
From the Duluth News Tribune. By Lisa Kaczke on May 20, 2017 at 1:26 p.m.

Sue Hakes, former Cook County commissioner and Grand Marais mayor, is eying the 8th Congressional District seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, DFL-Crosby.

Hakes, who has lived in Grand Marais since 1995, announced on Saturday that she has formed a Congressional Exploratory Committee to determine whether she'll run as a DFL candidate in the 8th Congressional District in the 2018 election. 

Nolan has said in the last few months that he's considering a run for Minnesota governor next year and will decide on his candidacy later this year. Ray "Skip" Sandman announced his candidacy to represent the 8th Congressional District earlier this month.

Hakes said in a statement that her priorities include "building a resilient economy, making education a priority, ensuring access to quality affordable health care and protecting the environment that is a big reason we all live here."

"When I think about Minnesota's 8th District, I think people first," Hakes said in a statement. "I want to fight the current administration's budgetary goals, which chip away at — or gut entirely — the very institutions that make rural life possible and the amenities that make rural America a desirable place to live."

Hakes, a lifelong Minnesotan, served as Grand Marais mayor from 2009 to 2010 and Cook County commissioner from 2011 until 2014. Hakes was awarded a Bush Foundation Fellowship in 2014 and studied at the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She and her husband, Eveleth native John Gorski, work in real estate. Prior to serving as an elected official, she owned Sue Hakes Realty in Grand Marais and worked in business development at Honeywell in Minneapolis.

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