Social studies teacher Kent Eken of Twin Valley is running for his second term representing District 4 in the Minnesota Legislature. He’s being challenged by James Leiman, the administrator of the city of Ada – a newcomer to politics and to Minnesota who says he brings new ideas and a different style of leadership to his first run for office.

District 4 encompasses Clay and Norman counties, as well as a section of Becker.

Kent Eken

Incumbent Sen. Kent Eken knows the Minnesota Legislature well. He completed five terms in the house before winning the District 4 senate seat in 2012.

Eken represents the fourth generation of his family to occupy the farm established by his great-grandparents near Twin Valley. The 52-year-old former teacher and his wife Lori have four children ranging in age from 23 to 12. They helped their father campaign, marching in 18 area parades this summer accompanied by his “running mate,” a miniature donkey named Floyd B. Olsen.

A 1982 graduate of Twin Valley High School and Concordia College, where he earned his degree in political science, history and education in 1988, Kent taught high school social studies in the St. Cloud area before moving back to the home farm in 2002.

Kent cites long-term care and services for people with disabilities as a central focus of his legislative service. A member of the Senate’s health and human services committee, he considers the 2015 measure that reformed state reimbursement for nursing homes as one of his most important contributions. He co-authored the measure, which significantly increased the reimbursement for Greater Minnesota’s nursing homes — with the proviso that 75 percent of the increased funds go to staff who provide direct care.

Kent is responsible for the only constitutional measure on the November ballot, an idea he spent years advocating in both House and Senate. Titled “Remove Lawmakers’ Power to Set Their Own Pay,” the measure – passed by the Legislature in 2013, but only now appearing on the ballot – would take the contentious issue of legislator pay increases entirely out of the hands of the senators and representatives themselves and designate a citizen committee free of personal conflicts of interest.

He is committed to other top priorities as well, including finally passing funding for Moorhead’s long-awaited underpass and completing flood mitigation for Clay and Norman counties. He also supports keeping property taxes down with strong state aid programs for city and county governments.

Kent points to his father, the late Willis Eken, as his role. The dairy farmer served in the House from 1970 to 1984. “Like Dad, I want to leave something good behind,” he says.

James Leiman

Challenger James Leiman says he brings something new to the Senate race – a fresh perspective, bipartisan ideas and insight into what District 4 cities need to compete with their neighbors across the Red River.

Leiman, 34, became Ada’s city administrator in 2015. He grew up in Florida and New Jersey, then spent seven years in the U.S. Army as an intelligence analyst. After his discharge, he was employed by the federal government in El Paso, Texas, before moving to Washington, D.C., as an identity intelligence program manager. He later was employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Two years ago, he says, he and his wife Alison were looking for a place where they could make a real home for their 1-year-old son. He listed his resume on a board for city executives almost on a whim. “Within a month, I had three offers,” he reports. Ada’s was the one he chose.

As the city’s administrator, he says, he immediately recognized that “we desperately need action on regulatory reform to grow jobs.” He cites his own city’s progress as an example of what he envisions. Since January 2015, its employment has grown by fully 10 percent, from 550 to 600 jobs. “The state hasn’t given us the tools we need to be successful. We’ve done this ourselves,” he says, pointing to collaboration between private industry and the city.

“This side of the Red River has major disadvantages in economic growth and development,” he points out. He notes that 60 percent of Moorhead residents’ paychecks originate in Fargo, and another 30 percent come from government, the colleges and the public school system. “Only one in 10 earned dollars coming into Moorhead is coming from private businesses in the city,” he observes. “That has to change.”

James suggests that he’s probably the most bipartisan Republican running this year in all of Minnesota. He supports health care as a right of every citizen – though “MNsure’s got to go. We need to open the state to the national exchange to get more options,” he adds. Other items on his agenda include income tax cuts for low- and middle-income people, less burdensome agricultural regulations and the call for a constitutional convention to deal with such measures as a balanced-budget amendment.