Minnesota Lawyer
Jeff Blodgett
After eight years at the helm, Wellstone Action founder Jeff Blodgett will step down from the role of executive director, saying now is “the right time for a new leader to carry the organization forward.”
Blodgett will be replaced by Ben Goldfarb, the group’s director of training programs. The organization provides leadership training camps for progressive candidates and others.
Goldfarb has an extensive political resume that includes time as the organizing director for Progressive Minnesota (now Take Action Minnesota), campaign manager for U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in 2006, and the get-out-the-vote director for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential run.
“Over the last three and a half years, Ben has designed, managed, and grown many of our programs,” Blodgett said in a statement. “Ben brings a deep commitment to creating social change and advancing a progressive agenda the ‘Wellstone Way.’”
Blodgett’s political resume dates back to DFLer Paul Wellstone’s successful 1990 U.S. Senate campaign. More recently he was the Minnesota state director for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. Blodgett recently took a leave of absence from his position as executive director of Wellstone Action to work with the transition team for Gov. Mark Dayton.
He will now serve as founding director of the organization, shifting his role to work on training and teaching.
