It was one of those votes no one wanted to take. The state’s new maps dropped DFL senators and allies John Marty and Mary Jo McGuire into Senate District 66, forcing activists in the area to pick between them at a recent endorsing convention.

Connie Bernardy, who retired from the House in 2006 after five years in the chamber, bested Tom Tillberry after only one ballot at a gathering of delegates at Columbia Heights High School. Tillberry replaced Bernardy in the House after she retired.

DFL Sen. Ken Kelash lost his endorsement bid in the newly drawn Senate District 50. He said he will abide by the endorsement of Melissa Halvorson Wiklund.

Minneapolis DFLers lost another legislator last weekend. Freshman Rep. Marion Greene, who replaced former DFL House Speaker and gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher in the chamber, fell in an endorsement contest against DFL House colleague Frank Hornstein.

State Rep. Kate Knuth has decided to retire from the Legislature after her current term expires. The three-term DFLer from New Brighton was paired with fellow DFL Rep. Tom Tillberry of Fridley in the new redistricting maps that were unveiled last week.

Brad Rixmann likes to say he was dragged into politics “kicking and screaming.” Just five years ago, Rixmann, the founder and CEO of Pawn America had been at the Capitol only a few times as a child.

DFL Rep. Carly Melin is settling into her new place in St. Paul, after winning the special election in House District 5B to replace IRRB Commissioner Tony Sertich. She will serve on the Capital Investment, Jobs and Economic Development and Judiciary Policy and Finance committees.

In many cases, DFLers simply got caught in an undertow in districts that are fundamentally split in their political allegiances; in some, like rural Senate District 16, they handed back control of districts no one had expected them to win in the first place; in others, it appears, they failed to take steps to protect incumbents who faced discernible pockets of Republican opposition.

With little time to spare, DFLers in north suburban District 51B endorsed Tom Tillberry as their choice for state representative in this fall’s election. Tillberry, ...