Paul Gazelka

Gazelka served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2005 to 2007, where he represented portions of Crow Wing County, including the city of Brainerd. During his term, he served as vice chair of the Commerce and Financial Institutions Committee, in addition to serving on the Jobs and Economic Opportunity Policy Finance Committee, the Transportation Committee, and the Commerce and Financial Institutions Subcommittee for the Tourism Division.[3] Gazelka was defeated for re-election in 2006.[2]

Gazelka was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 2010, defeating incumbent Republican Senator Paul Koering in an August primary election, and his Democratic challenger in the November general election.[4][5] Following redistricting, Gazelka was placed in Senate District 9. He was re-elected to the Senate in 2012, 2016 and 2020.[6] Following the 2016 election, which saw Republicans re-gain a majority in the Senate, Gazelka was elected by his caucus to be majority leader.[7]

Ideologically, Gazelka is member of the Christian right,[8] and the Star Tribune described Gazelka as "the most socially conservative person in modern times to serve as Minnesota Senate majority leader."[2] He opposes same-sex marriage and championed a failed 2012 effort to amend the state constitution to ban the recognition of same-sex marriage in the state.[8] Gazelka has blocked proposals to ban "conversion therapy" for minors in Minnesota, though he has said that he did not support "coercive or aversive counseling."[8][9] Gazelka and his wife once sent their child to a conversion therapist.[8]

In 2020, following the death in police custody of Georgia Floyd and subsequent protests, Gazelka and Minnesota Senate Republicans blocked police reform proposals;[10] a compromise reform package was agreed upon in a subsequent special session.[11][12]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gazelka was one of the most outspoken opponents of public health mandates (such as business closures and requirements to wear face coverings in indoor public places) imposed by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to prevent the spread of the virus.[13] Gazelka led Republicans in blocking a Democratic proposal to require face coverings to be worn in public areas of the State Capitol.[13] Many Republican senators refused to wear face coverings in the Senate chamber, straining relations with the Democrats.[13] In December 2020, after Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sought civil penalties against bars and restaurants that openly flouted the state's COVID-19 rules, Gazelka threatened to reduce the budget for the attorney general's office.[14]

On November 5, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gazelka attended a Republican Party event at a catering hall to celebrate the party's victories in the 2020 elections. At the superspreader event, which included more than 100 people, attendees did not wear protective face masks, contrary to public health recommendations, and at least four Republican state senators (including Gazelka) tested positive for COVID-19 in the subsequent days.[13] Gazelka experienced symptoms.[15]

Senate Republicans notified their own caucus members of the outbreak but did not inform Democrats, who had been in session with Republicans earlier that week; Democrats learn about the COVID-19 outbreak only from later news reports.[13] That lapse angered Democrats,[13] including Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent and Governor Tim Walz. On November 15, Kent called for Gazelka's resignation as majority leader.[15] It was believed that an election night dinner on November 3, 2020 was the original source of the post-election outbreak.[16] Republican State Senator Jerry Relph, one of the attendees of the post-election event died from complications due to COVID-19 on December 18.[13] Asked if he regretted participating in the superspreader event that led to the death of a colleague, Gazelka said, "I don't regret that we had the celebration. The Republican majority was the No. 1 target to switch from Republican to Democrat."[13]

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Gazelka strongly opposed an expansion of voting by mail.[17] After President Donald Trump lost the presidential election, Gazelka (as well as the Republican leader in the State House, Minority Leader Kurt Daudt) refused to denounce Trump's attempts to overturn the election result or to contradict Trump's false claims of election fraud.[18] Gazelka's and Daudt's refusal to acknowledge that Trump lost the election fairly was criticized by Democratic Governor Tim Walz as "some pretty epic gaslighting."[18]