District 61B Candidate Profile: Josh Bassais

For longtime labor organizer Josh Bassais, running for state representative was a natural direction to take his longtime involvement in local DFL and neighborhood politics.

"My belief is that good policy and what benefits the community the most is what's generated in the community," he said.

Bassais said his long career in the organized labor movement gives him unique skills in his bid for now-Sen. Jeff Hayden's old seat in Minnesota House District 61B. He added that he wants to put those skills to use stumping for other candidates to win over suburban swing districts for the DFL.

"I'd want to start internally within the DFL caucus," he said. "I want to speak to folks from outstate and formulate a powerful message that we all can stick to. Just look at the Republicans—these folks will fall on their sword for the message they convey, but the values we stand for are things 99 percent of the public believe."

Skills learned from negotiating union contracts, Bassais said, would also help win over Republican colleagues.

"I'll be speaking to contractors, business owners: The majority of my contact with folks throughout the day is as an automatic adversary," he said. "The objective is to get beyond those barriers and start talking about our commonaliteis and goals."

If elected, Bassais said, he would focus on education funding, ensuring affordable housing and opposing controversial voter ID laws.