I win elections.
Winning in November requires a battle-tested leader. Here is why I am the best-positioned candidate to win:
I am the only candidate in this Senate race who has led a winning campaign covering the majority of SD49.
I have a proven track record of helping win elections, even ones that seemed unwinnable.
I have been a leader in managing one of the most fiscally smart and sustainable public institutions in our area, and in the state broadly when it comes to education.
Because of my life experience, I have honed how to maximize the impact of the grit and determination that comes from being an underdog without institutional support backing me.
Let’s start at the top. When I started in Eden Prairie Schools in 2022, my first task was to manage the district’s referendum campaign. This was no easy feat because of several factors: It required a property tax increase, it legally required only offering factual information rather than outright advocacy, and the campaign had to compete with the noise of a contentious governor’s election during the midterms. In addition, polling midway through our campaign showed we were in trouble.
So, I listened to the community, analyzed the data, and figured out how to beat the odds and get approval on both referendum questions. It was a massive team effort, and I was incredibly proud to be the one leading that team. And we won. We won both questions, with 63% and 68% of the vote. We won with that margin even when four conservative school board members were elected, and Representative Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn won with only 58% of the vote. Our campaign was so good it won a national award for being research-based with a thorough plan, effective implementation, and clear outcomes.
In case you’re thinking, “Well sure Dirk, anyone can get lucky with creating an award-winning campaign once,” let me point you to a few others. I led a successful referendum campaign in Minneapolis. I was part of the team that helped Hillary win in South Dakota, even though it was the last primary and it was clear Obama had the nomination. I was a key member of the group that helped protect what limited abortion and LGBTQ+ rights we had in conservative South Dakota. (Fun asides: I wrote my very first letter to the editor about abortion in the Argus Leader in 2008. My second was on LGBTQ+ support in 2010. Check them out below!)
If you’re still with me, let’s keep going. Not only do I win elections, but I know this community because I’ve served it for years. Through listening and being in community with the diverse people we have across race, gender, sexuality, political and religious ideologies and more, I have led effective communication and engagement by one of our country’s most scrutinized institutions: a public school district. Since I started with Eden Prairie Schools, my team has been a key part of:
Reaching a 15-year enrollment high, with 462 students above enrollment projections
Reducing our net-loss (students leaving us versus students choosing us) from 843 students in FY20 to only 86 students in FY25
Increasing the excellence rating of the school district by 14% since 2022
Increasing the feeling of the community overall that we do a good job of communicating by 7% since 2021
Increasing the belief of the community overall that we do a good job of involving the community in decisions about the schools by 15% since 2021
Increasing those who say they are satisfied with our decision-making process by 8% since 2021
The numbers don’t lie. They are part of a statistically valid, third-party research survey conducted annually. Our great numbers in a lot of areas are the results of a lot of hard work by so many people, including our teachers, paraprofessionals, custodians, food service staff, bus drivers, school leaders, support staff and more. These numbers especially, though, are from the hard work of the teams I lead in Eden Prairie Schools. (If you want to learn more about how I work, I’ve created a folder that includes 360 reviews completed anonymously by colleagues and a personality assessment that, while not perfect, offers insights into my working styles...and shows that I’m 100% competitive.)
Because of this great work by so many people, Eden Prairie Schools is thriving and financially stable. Where other public institutions are on the verge of failure, we have successfully threaded the needle of maintaining public support and making smart financial decisions. I challenge you to find another school district in the area that has not recently been discussing major budget problems with staffing and program impacts.
All of this leads me to my final points. You all, I work in communications and marketing. I know how to do the short, punchy messages that make an impact. But, I believe the 500 people making the decision about who will represent them over the next four years need as much information as possible to make a decision. So, I write long emails. I post super in-depth policy positions on my website. And I share everything about myself so you know what you are getting into. Because you as delegates deserve to make this decision for yourselves.
Let’s move forward and win, together.
-Dirk
