Gary Hansen doesn’t currently live in Eagan’s House District 38A, where he recently registered to run for the Legislature in 2012. He’s banking on the district coming to him.

Gary Hansen, an attorney and two-term Eagan City Council member, has filed to run for the Minnesota House 38A seat. He will be challenging former Rep. Sandra Masin for the DFL endorsement.

For former DFL Sen. Jim Carlson, it was a matter of a little reflection and time to “lick my wounds” before he knew he was ready to run again for the state Senate. Carlson, who served one term in the chamber, was ousted last fall by Republican newcomer Ted Daley as part of a massive GOP wave that saw the party take control of both the House and Senate for the first time in nearly four decades.

Ranging in age from 24 to 65, new class presents a varied face

In 2004, Jim Carlson took on first-term Republican Rep. Lynn Wardlow in House District 38B. The race was a decidedly uphill battle.

DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton met with about 20 DFL House caucus members at the Minneapolis Club just before Labor Day weekend. Many in the group, which included a number of House DFL rank-and-file supporters of vanquished DFL endorsee Margaret Anderson Kelliher, had yet to sit down with their party's standard-bearer, and treated the event like a meet-and-greet.

Political candidates were out in force this morning at Eagan's annual Fourth of July parade; check out our gallery of images.

The Voices of Conservative Women political action committee (VOICESPAC), based in Maple Grove, has endorsed eight candidates for the Minnesota state Legislature, three in the Senate and five in the House.

Republicans are sensing blood in the water of more than a dozen state House and Senate districts, and they’re circling.

Five more challengers have filed papers to take on incumbent state legislators. There are now 40 House challengers in 35 districts, with 31 Republicans and nine Democrats. On the senate side, 32 challengers have formed campaign committees, roughly two thirds of them Republicans.