Assistant Isanti County Attorney Tim Nelson recently announced his candidacy for the Minnesota Senate, running for the seat currently held by Senator Sean Nienow in District 32.
Born in Cambridge and raised in Braham, Nelson has maintained strong roots in the area. Nelson and around 150 supporters officially launched his campaign in Braham, just yards from where his grandfather built a small business.
Nelson is a graduate of Braham Area High School and St. Olaf College, where he was captain of the basketball team and a finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship. After a summer tutoring struggling readers, he attended Yale Law School, where he volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Following law school, Tim returned to Minnesota, leading an effort to connect Braham’s students with its alumni community.
“I grew up around people who wanted to leave their community in better shape than they found it. I saw wonderful examples of people looking past their differences to focus on the things that we share, instead of the things that divide us,” Nelson said. “My wife and I moved back here because we want to raise our daughter in a community that lives those values, and I’m running because I want to make sure that spirit is alive and well in our voice in St. Paul.”
As an attorney, Nelson works alongside Isanti County Family Services to protect abused children, and is trained to help government efficiently spend our tax dollars. He serves on Isanti County’s Children’s Justice Initiative and on the Family Support Team. He also serves on the Church Council at the Braham Evangelical Lutheran Church, where he was baptized and confirmed.
Nelson will seek the DFL endorsement, but is clear that his aim is to represent East Central Minnesota and all of the people who live there. “So much of our political atmosphere right now seems focused on dividing people. I’m running to represent everyone in this district, and to make sure that St. Paul hears our voices loudly and clearly.”
Tim and his wife Kelly live in Cambridge with their daughter Nora.