Meet Your Speakers: DFL's 250th Celebration / Working Families Picnic
- DFL - Senate District 25
- Jul 7
- 3 min read
Mark your calendars — Saturday, July 11, 2026, 3–7 PM at the History Center of Olmsted — because this year's picnic isn't just food, fun, and music. We've lined up a great group of local voices to help us reflect on 250 years of progress and talk about what we can build together. Here's who you'll hear from:
Matt Kreft & Jeff Clark — Move to Amend: “A Constitution!”
Move to Amend Minnesota is a state affiliate of the national organization working toward a healthy, diverse democracy that represents “we the people,” and Jeff Clark co-chairs the Minnesota chapter. Matt and Jeff will walk us through the group's push for a constitutional amendment to establish that corporations aren't people and money isn't speech — a response to the Citizens United ruling that's been shaping Minnesota's own election-law debates ever since.
Peter Limbert — History Center of Olmsted County: “MN Statehood: Free State or Slave State?”
As the History Center's collections manager, Peter knows Olmsted County history inside and out. He'll dig into one of the messier chapters of Minnesota's founding: our 1858 admission to the Union came right as the national slavery debate was boiling over, with Minnesota and Kansas originally bundled together in Congress as a “free state, slave state” pair. It's a sharp reminder that Minnesota's progressive identity wasn't inevitable — people had to fight for it.
Virginia Wright-Peterson — Women's Suffrage: Amelia Witherstine
Virginia is a local author and historian with a Ph.D. in English who serves on the writing faculty at the University of Minnesota Rochester, and she's spent years surfacing the stories of Minnesota women left out of the history books. She'll introduce us to Amelia Witherstine, who made history in 1911 as the first woman elected to Rochester's school board and later became its president — all while women were still fighting for the right to vote themselves. Rochester honored her with a bronze statue in Central Park, unveiled in December 2025.
Mark Liebow — Social Security and Medicare
Dr. Mark Liebow is a semi-retired Rochester internist who has studied and taught health policy for decades. He'll cover how Medicare and Social Security came to be, why they still matter for Rochester families today, and what's at stake as these programs face new pressure in Washington.
Jason Lohmann — Farmer Issues
Jason is a third-generation family farmer from Zumbrota and a strong voice for rural Minnesota. He’ll be pointing out the disconnect between government support for crop insurance and the total lack of similar support for farm families' health insurance. If you want to understand what's really driving the farm economy right now, don't miss this one.
Brian Swancutt — Stonewall DFL: Marriage Equality
Brian chairs Stonewall DFL, the DFL's oldest and most active community caucus, working to elect 2SLGBTQIA+ leaders and advance equality across Minnesota — and he grew up right here in Rochester. He'll talk about the fight for marriage equality and what's still ahead in the work for full equality under the law.
Come for the conversation, stay for the potluck. Featured program starts at 5 PM — see you there!
📍 History Center of Olmsted, 1195 W Circle Drive
🗓️ Saturday, July 11, 2026 | 3–7 PM
Prepared and paid for as a joint project of SD 25 DFL and Olmsted 20/24 DFL. Not in conjunction with any candidate or campaign committee.
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