Voters in and around Mankato will have to break a 10-election, 20-year habit on Nov. 7.

For two decades, they’ve been routinely electing now-retired Mankato East High School English teacher John Dorn to the state House of Representatives. The day after the election, the headline has always been some variation of “Dorn wins” ever since 1986 — way back when Ronald Reagan was president, the space shuttle Challenger exploded and Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone’s vault on national television.

Dorn decided this spring that 10 terms was enough, leaving first-time legislative candidates Kathy Brynaert and Luke Robinson to compete to be his successor. The contest for the open seat has been a very civil one with both Brynaert, the Democratic nominee, and Robinson, the Republican’s choice, avoiding criticism of the other while working to inform voters about their qualifications and philosophies.

“We’ve been getting along great,” said Robinson, a local attorney. “You maybe see that reflected a little bit in that we haven’t gotten a whole lot of coverage.”

Leadership skills

Robinson and Brynaert both believe they have skills that would make them strong representatives for District 23B, a district that’s dominated by Mankato but also includes Skyline, a bit of lower North Mankato, Mankato Township and Lime Township.

Brynaert, who grew up in Detroit, moved to Mankato with her husband, Tony Filipovitch, the chairman of the Urban and Regional Studies Institute at Minnesota State University. She quickly began to get involved in volunteer work and continued to work through a variety of organizations to promote healthy families and healthy youth.

“I have a solid education background,” said Brynaert, chairwoman of the Mankato Area Public School Board. “But what I think really recommends me most is I’ve been an active parent and an active citizen ever since I came here.”

That was 28 years ago, back when Robinson was a toddler in Mahtomedi. After graduating from Mahtomedi High School, the University of Minnesota-Morris and the William Mitchell College of law, Robinson and his wife, Shannon, moved here when he got a job with a local law firm.

As an attorney, Robinson said he’s trained to be an advocate and that’s what he would be for the Mankato area in the Legislature.

“Along with that, it’s really developing personal relationships with people and being able to reach a compromise that’s really in the best interest of citizens,” he said. “... Being able to find a win-win situation.”

Guiding principles

Neither candidate is offering a long platform aimed at solving each of the state’s problems. Both offer philosophies of the role of government and good governing.

“Really my theory on it is pretty simple,” Robinson said. “Basically just reduce the tax burden and get out of the way of business growth.”

He’s confident that lower taxes don’t, ultimately, leave state government with less revenue because economic growth produces tax-paying jobs.