Housley had a relatively nondescript year as a freshman in the Senate last year, but is still well-known among Republicans.

On Tuesday afternoon, officials from the United Food and Commercial Workers union met at the DFL headquarters in St. Paul with Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk and House Minority Leader Paul Thissen.

When so-called right-to-work legislation came up for a floor vote in March, Sen. Jeremy Miller was the only Republican to vote against the proposal. Although it was merely a procedural vote to send the proposed constitutional amendment to a different committee, organized labor was grateful for the freshman legislator’s public opposition.