FDR Dinner Rallies Volunteers, Raises $27,000

From its humble reboot eleven years ago with a taco bar at the Eagles Club, the annual FDR Dinner on October 5th, 2025, in Rochester, has grown into a signature annual DFL event.  This year, SD 25 DFL and Olmsted 20/24 DFL, the DFLs in Olmsted County, hosted 240 guests at the Empire Event Center and raised $27,000.00.  Net proceeds will be divided between the party units for operations and campaign support now and in the 2026 caucus-convention-election cycle.

The gathering began with a newly added VIP reception with local and state legislators and special guests.  The signature FDR-themed event craft cocktail, 'The Blue Deal,' was a fun and smoking (literally!) addition to the evening.  There was also a special table and memory book in the main ballroom recognizing Melissa and Mark Hortman, and their dog, Gilbert, for their public service which was cut so tragically short with their assassination this past summer.  The book will be sent to the Hortman family as part of the event wrap-up.

The silent auction featured unique local items, often humorous, sometimes political.  The much-beloved live auction, run by Representative Andy Smith and SD 25 Supervolunteer Steve Monk, included legislative visits and experiences with Reps. Smith, Kim Hicks, and Tina Leibling, as well as Senator Liz Boldon.  Second to last were original matching campaign posters for FDR and Wallace, collected by Joe Shepard, DFL Rural Campaigns Director.  The piece de resistance, won by Stewartville's own Kindra Ramaker, was an Equality Quilt with a sensory velvet back courtesy of the DFL Quilters.

We had a robust speaker lineup that clipped along well, thanks to expert Emcee and MN DFL VP Marge Hoffa.  Immigration policy volunteer and former Olmsted County planner Phil Wheeler recognized 90 years of Social Security and 60 years of Voting Rights and Medicare, key Democratic and progressive legislation.  We then heard from Minnesota DFL Chair Richard Carlbom, Rochester City Council President Randy Schubring (who restarted FDR 11 years ago!), Reps. Andy Smith, Kim Hicks, and Tina Liebling, and Senator Liz Boldon.  

Federal Rep. Angie Craig reintroduced herself to the crowd as a Federal Senate candidate, and shared her life story leading to her successful national bill to cap insulin prices for all Americans, as well as her tireless work in DC for CD-2 and all of Minnesota.  

All four State Auditor candidates spoke:  Tonka Bay Mayor Adam Jennings, Rep. Dan Wolgamott, former Fergus Falls Mayor Ben Schierer, and longtime Duluth DFL volunteer and labor organizer Zach Filipovich.  Current State Auditor Julie Blaha is an impossible act to follow, but we voters will have to try our best to select her successor.

Local candidates Heather Holmes (24A), Michael 'Hutch' Hutchinson (20B), Simon Glaser (SD 24), and Jake Johnson (Federal Representative, MN CD-1) rounded out the speakers before Keynote Speaker Secretary of State Steve Simon.

Secretary Simon managed to touch on and summarize many of the themes all had shared that night:  the need to organize and to stand firm for democracy and DFL values, the importance of humor and pacing yourself in political (or any) work, and the necessity of events like FDR for group solidarity as DFLers work toward a better Minnesota and country.  

“Minnesotans are famously long-range thinkers,” Simon said.  “Minnesotans play the long game, whether that's the Minnesota Miracle of the 1970's or the second 'Minnesota Miracle/Trifecta' in 2023, thanks to the legislators in this room.  We in Minnesota, whether it's investments in roads, or schools, or health care, we know how to plant trees whose shade we will never enjoy.  We do that.  We think long term.”

“All of our people deserve a fair shot at a great quality of life,” stated Simon as he highlighted priority issues for our communities, “[we] at least [need] the basics:  strong schools, safe streets, affordable housing, stable finances, reliable health care, a solid and growing economy that lifts up everyone, dignity, respect, and, of course, a healthy democracy.”

Secretary Simon rallied the gathering by saying, “To be a Democrat, you need to believe in hope.  And I am an optimist, and I believe you need to turn hope into action.  To paraphrase a speech that FDR was to have given at the time of his death in 1945, what we most need now is hope, but also confidence, and strong and active faith in a better Minnesota and a better America.'

There are 373 days until the 2026 elections, and 9 days until the various special, state, and municipal elections on November 4th, 2025.  The work of democracy is never done.  As Secretary Simon said, 'Let's get going, let's recommit ourselves, let's do this...we are Minnesotans.'

So you know what to do!  And you are probably already doing it, like the No Kings Rally on October 18th, the week after FDR.  Keep the faith...and make sure you laugh along the way.   Do what you can do, because it is more than you know.  See you out there.

Special thanks goes to Barb Foss and Ana Foss, Event Chairs, and all of the FDR 2025 volunteers, including Valery and Lacey Fernandez, Jake Foxen, Mark Frederickson and Kathy Sullivan, Gary Hansen, LaMar Hicks, Judy Jensen, Steve Monk, Lap Nguyen, Joe Nix, Stewart Rassier, Donna Saied, Penny Skauge, Eric Starnes, Phil and Sue Wheeler, Nancy Zaworski, and of course our unit Chairs, Will Harvey, Mark Liebow, and John Swanson.