I’m Keith Klawitter, and I’m running to represent our community in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

I’ve spent my life in rural Minnesota. I graduated from Hector High School and later from Golden Valley Lutheran College and the University of Minnesota, Morris. I moved to Morgan in 1978 to teach, and it’s been home ever since.

I taught English, coached football, basketball, and track, and directed school plays in Morgan and Franklin for over 30 years before retiring in 2010. If you grew up around here, there’s a good chance we’ve crossed paths.

Since retiring from teaching, I’ve stayed working and stayed connected to this community. I drove feed truck for HarvestLand (now Farmward) and sweet corn truck for Del Monte. I’ve helped with sugar beet harvest for a local Morgan farmer and spent five seasons driving for Transystems hauling beets from the pile sites to the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative in Renville. I also officiate football and basketball, umpire softball and baseball, and I’m looking forward to my third season working maintenance at Dacotah Ridge.

My wife Carla and I have been married for 50 years. We raised four kids here and now have eleven grandkids.

I’ve lived here for nearly 50 years, and I’ve seen a lot of changes over that time. Some good, some harder. I’ve seen schools consolidate, small businesses close, farms face tighter margins, and families have to make tougher choices about whether they can stay.

I’ve also seen too many of our elected representatives go to Saint Paul and be rubber stamps for state and national party politics instead of doing the job they were sent there to do for the people they were elected to represent.

I’m running for the Minnesota House because I believe rural communities like ours deserve strong schools, a local economy that works for the people who live here, and a government that is accountable to the people it serves.

I’ll work with anyone—Republican, Democrat, or independent—if it means getting something done for this district. But I’m also not afraid to speak up when something isn’t working or when rural Minnesota is getting the short end of the stick.

I’ve spent my life here. I know the people, I know the work, and I know we can do better.