Equality and Social Justice
Justice matters. Equality and equity matter. My opponent has done nothing to address social inequality and injustice in our state, and the fact that a summer of riots started because of the killing of a Minnesota citizen shows that Minnesota is not as just or fair to citizens as many [...]
Supporting local business
As your state legislator, I will work with other legislators and elected officials of both parties to make sure we improve our local economy and that business owners want to invest in our community to create new jobs and maintain the ones we have. This will be especially important because of the [...]
Health care for seniors
If I am elected, my top priority will be to take on the high cost of health care. These days, health care expense are bankrupting more Minnesotans than ever, and putting needed treatments and medications out of reach. For seniors, the situation is especially bad. Older adults often need help [...]
Albright is NOT right for 55B!
Tony Albright has represented Prior Lake and Jordan in the Minnesota legislature since 2013. Since that time he has indeed performed some good work for individual constituents, but overall he has proven unable to do the right thing for most of us when it requires voting against the orders he [...]
Help the environment, help ourselves.
Nice weather we’re having! I remember when a snowy day in October was ammunition for those who didn’t believe in “global warming,” the phenomenon we now understand as climate CHANGE. I grew up in small town Minnesota, a place where we cherished our summers at the lake and our cross-country-skiing [...]
Taxes and Representation
One of the first things I will do after being elected is support legislation that will eliminate the developer fee loophole that is keeping our property taxes artificially high here in the Southwest Metro. Currently developers do not have to pay cities fees to cover anticipated street infrastructure upgrades that their new developments necessitate. [...]
Andrea Nelsen can do the work!
I really appreciate that this paper helps inform us about the candidates in our elections. I, like most people, want to be an informed voter. But there was one thing in particular that jumped out at me when reading the recent Q&A articles for Minnesota House District 55B. The question [...]
Where is Minnesota’s Medical Reserve Corps?
April 8, 2020 - Twin Cities Pioneer Press -- As Minnesota hospitals prepare for a surge in coronavirus patients, it is almost certain that they will need more doctors and nurses. In addition to seeing higher numbers of patients, many front-line health-care workers will likely become sick and require replacements. [...]
Prior Lake’s Nelsen announces run against Albright for House.
July 11, 2019, SW News Media -- The race to represent Prior Lake and southern Scott County in the Minnesota House has begun more than a year before the November 2020 election. Dr. Andrea Nelsen, a Prior Lake psychiatrist, Democrat and political newcomer, is running for District 55B with a [...]
District 55B candidate to host meet and greet Aug. 22 (2019) in Jordan.
August 12, 2019, SW News Media -- The Friends of Andrea Nelsen for Minnesota State Legislature will hold a meet and greet for candidate at Jordan’s Lagoon Park Gazebo this week. From 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, locals can discuss issues like affordable and accessible health care, education, the environment, [...]
Local legislators zero in on prescription drug costs, related issues.
December 19, 2019, SW News Media -- Lowering the cost of insulin and other prescription medications has become a shared goal for Democrat and Republican elected officials, whether they're southwest metro legislators and candidates or President Donald Trump. Several local and federal proposals, including caps on prices or copays and [...]
So-called “Free Market” for medications makes them harder to get.
January 20, 2020, SW News Media -- In the Dec. 19 Prior Lake American, State Rep. Tony Albright was quoted as saying that government price controls on pharmaceutical drugs could lead to controlling doctors’ fees by a “bureaucratic force.” He suggests that innovation and market forces are the better way [...]
Scott County caucuses draw voters, create platforms
February 25, 2020, SW News Media -- About 25 people filled a classroom on the third floor of Shakopee High School for GOP precinct caucuses Tuesday night. In one corner of the room, an 18-year-old named Matthew Pastrana participated in his first-ever caucus. At the other end of the [...]
Letter: Vaccinating children protects us all
March 11, 2020, SW News Media -- As a physician, public health expert with a master's in public health and the daughter of a polio survivor, I was dismayed to read in the Feb. 29 Prior Lake American that my state senator, Eric Pratt, told GOP caucus-goers he "stands with [...]