Kurt Daudt

Kurt Louis Daudt (born September 26, 1973) is an American politician and the Minority Leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives. He is a former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, he represents District 31A, which includes portions of Anoka, Isanti, and Sherburne counties in east-central Minnesota, north of the Twin Cities metropolitan area.[1] He lives on his family farm in Crown, Minnesota[2], and owns a cabin beside Spectacle Lake in Isanti County.[3]

Kurt Daudt
Minority Leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives
Assumed office
January 8, 2019
Preceded byMelissa Hortman
In office
January 8, 2013 – January 6, 2015
Preceded byPaul Thissen
Succeeded byPaul Thissen
60th Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives
In office
January 6, 2015 – January 7, 2019
Preceded byPaul Thissen
Succeeded byMelissa Hortman
Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives
from the 31A district
17A (2011–2013)
Assumed office
January 4, 2011
Preceded byRob Eastlund
Personal details
Born (1973-09-26) September 26, 1973
Springfield, Minnesota, U.S.
Political partyRepublican

Early life, education, and career

Daudt attended Princeton High School, where he graduated in 1992. Rep. Sondra Erickson was his English teacher there. Daudt attended the University of North Dakota to study aviation management but did not graduate.[4][5] He is a licensed private pilot.

Daudt served as an Isanti County commissioner from 2005 to 2010. Before that, he was a township board supervisor for Stanford Township from 1995 to 2005, and a member of the East Central Regional Library Board. He was also a founding member of Project 24, a nonprofit organization that builds orphanages in Kenya. To date, the project has raised over $500,000 and built six orphanages.[1][6] Before his election to the legislature, he worked at auto dealerships as a salesman and business manager.[3]

Minnesota House of Representatives

Tenure

Daudt was first elected in 2010. After Republicans won a House majority in the 2014 mid-term elections, Daudt was selected by Republicans to become Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives for the session beginning in 2015. Daudt was elected as Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives by the full House on January 6, 2015. Daudt is the youngest person to serve as Speaker since the 1930s. [7]

Committee assignments
Daudt in 2013

Daudt served on the Elections Committee and the Rules and Legislative Administration Committee for the 2013-2015 Session. He previously served on the Commerce and Regulatory Reform, the Higher Education Policy and Finance, and the Redistricting committees, as well as on the Taxes Subcommittee for the Property and Local Tax Division.[1]

Accomplishments

In his first term, Daudt proposed major reforms to Minnesota's welfare system including crackdowns on out-of-state use of EBT cards, limits on monthly cash benefit withdrawals, and eligibility disqualifications for individuals who purchase alcohol or tobacco using an EBT card.[8][9] The tobacco and alcohol provisions were signed into law as part of the 2011 Special Session Health and Human Services bill,[10] and restrictions limiting EBT use to states surrounding Minnesota were passed and signed into law in 2012.[11]

In 2016 under Speaker Daudt, the legislature approved a bill that made Minnesota one of at least 12 other states to fully exempt military retirement benefits from state taxes.[12] In 2017, Daudt and the Republican-led Minnesota Senate successfully negotiated the largest tax cut in two decades[13], including a $750 million cut over ten years for social security recipients[14], a $500 tax credit for student loan payments[15], tax cuts for tobacco products[16], and property tax relief for agriculture land.[17] Former Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton took the unprecedented step of attempting to veto funding for the Minnesota legislature in an attempt to reverse tax cuts passed by the legislature[18], but none of the tax reductions were ultimately revisited.

Controversies

In 2013, Daudt, then the House minority leader, was involved in an incident in Montana when a friend Daniel Weinzetl, brandished a handgun during the sale of a vintage vehicle, pointing it at the seller's "entire family, including the children." The handgun belonged to Daudt.[19] The altercation arose after Daudt and the seller differed about the condition of the vehicle. Daudt was later released by Montana police without being charged with a crime. [20]

In 2015, U.S. Bank and Capital One won legal judgments against Daudt, stemming from his failure to pay approximately $13,000 in overdue charges and legal fees incurred pursuing the money. However, the companies declined to pursue the judgments after the debts were paid in full.[21]

Elections
2018 Minnesota State Representative- House 31A[22]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Kurt Daudt (Incumbent) 12326 69.08
Democratic (DFL) Brad Brown 5501 30.83
2016 Minnesota State Representative- House 31A[23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Kurt Daudt (Incumbent) 14815 70.33
Democratic (DFL) Sarah Udvig 6208 29.47
2014 Minnesota State Representative- House 31A[24]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Kurt Daudt (Incumbent) 10,363 96.67
2012 Minnesota State Representative- House 31A[25]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Kurt Daudt (Incumbent) 11,990 60.42
Democratic (DFL) Ryan Fiereck 7,823 39.42
2010 Minnesota State Representative- House 17A[26]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Kurt Daudt 9,840 56.04
Democratic (DFL) Jim Godfrey 7,044 40.11
Constitution Paul Bergley 657 3.74
gollark: My laptop has a dual-core mobile CPU, but it actually works okay with my hundreds of tabs.
gollark: Perhaps the real purpose of folding@home is just to allow one person somewhere to do 8K gaming without buying a good computer.
gollark: I would call the open source police, but they're only reachable on GNU Social or something.
gollark: Okay then!
gollark: Opera's based on Chromium's rendering stuff and is closed source.

References
  1. "Daudt, Kurt". Legislators Past & Present. Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  2. Dec 21st 2014 - 11pm, Briana Bierschbach / MinnPost com |. "Daudt moves quickly up political ladder". INFORUM. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  3. Kytonen, Rachel (November 10, 2010). "Kurt Daudt excited to begin next chapter in political career". ECM. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  4. Condon, Patrick (May 1, 2015). "Rookie House Speaker Daudt looks to defy odds at Capitol". Star Tribune. Star Tribune. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  5. Richert, Catharine. "Speaker to be: The education of Kurt Daudt". www.mprnews.org. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  6. "Kurt Daudt for State Representative". Daudt Volunteer Committee. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  7. "Democratic doubts remain as Kurt Daudt prepares to lead Minnesota House". Pioneer Press. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  8. "Bill Limits Cash Welfare Recipients Can Withdraw". 2011-03-23. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  9. Hunt, Greg. "Daudt and Magnus propose welfare reform". hometownsource.com. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  10. "Chapter 9 - MN Laws". www.revisor.mn.gov. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  11. "Chapter 247 - MN Laws". www.revisor.mn.gov. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  12. Press |, Kevin Burbach / Associated (2016-05-31). "Minnesota veterans won a major tax break in budget bill". Twin Cities. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  13. "In State Budget Talks, Governors Play Hardball". www.governing.com. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  14. Service, Don Davis | Forum News (2017-07-01). "Social Security benefit tax cut helps Minnesota retirees". Twin Cities. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  15. "The Minnesota Student Loan Tax Credit" (PDF). www.house.mn. September 2017.
  16. "Tobacco tax cuts burn Gov. Dayton". MPR News. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  17. Sep 26th 2017 - 9pm, Helmut Schmidt / Forum News Service |. "School districts benefit from new ag property tax credit for school bonds". Duluth News Tribune. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  18. "Dayton signs 10 budget bills and tax cuts, but defunds Legislature". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  19. "Cambridge man convicted in gun dispute involving Minnesota House speaker". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  20. Simons, Abby (January 13, 2014). "Minority Leader Daudt acknowledges being in gun-related dust-up". Star Tribune. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  21. "House speaker confirms financial woes". KARE. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  22. "Results for State Representative District 31A". Results for State Representative District 31A. Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
  23. "Results for State Representative District 31A". Results for State Representative District 31A. Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  24. "Results for State Representative District 31A". Results for State Representative District 31A. Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  25. "Results for State Representative District 31A". Results for State Representative District 31A. Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  26. "Results for State Representative District 17A". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
Minnesota House of Representatives
Preceded by
Rob Eastlund		 Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives
from District 31A
17A (2011–2013)
2011–present		 Incumbent
Preceded by
Paul Thissen		 Minority Leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives
2013–2015		 Succeeded by
Paul Thissen
Preceded by
Melissa Hortman		 Minority Leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives
2019–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Paul Thissen		 Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives
2015–2019		 Succeeded by
Melissa Hortman
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