Minnesota Lawyer
Starkey Hearing Technologies executive Brandon Sawalich will make a run for chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party. Sawalich, who made an unsuccessful bid for the position in 2009, announced the news on his Twitter feed this morning.
As a business executive with a background in the party’s politics, Sawalich would bring the mix of political chops and fundraising prowess that many Republican activists have said the next chair must possess given the dire state of the party’s finances.
As PIM reported in its Weekly Report Friday, there are a host of others rumored to be mulling a run for the chairman position left open by Tony Sutton’s resignation. Two of those names are sitting senators: David Hann and Dave Thompson. Others include former state Rep. Mike Osskopp, Second Congressional District Chair Terry McCall and talk radio host Sue Jeffers.
The party is set to meet New Year’s Eve in St. Cloud to select a new chair. In the meantime, newly elected deputy chair, Kelly Fenton, is serving as interim chair.
