Steve Simon. Incoming President of CarlDems, Max Kroloff ’28, introduced Simon as someone who “works to make our elections fair and accessible.” Simon is running for reelection for a fourth term and is currently in the process of “traveling to all 87 [of Minnesota’s] counties,” a journey he makes annually in an attempt to stay connected with his constituents.
Simon opened up his speech by sharing that “one of [his] favorite parts of this job…is talking to students.” The event was very popular across campus, prompting CarlDems to relocate the event to a room with a larger capacity due to the number of people who RSVPed. After the event, Emily Geisen ’29 shared that she was “happy that there was a lot of turnout and people interested in political participation.”
Simon expressed the uniqueness in the way that Minnesota’s election system operates and how he addresses citizen’s urges, such as “we want access and we want security.”
He was happy to announce that “Minnesota is usually one, two, or three in voter turnout.” Sustaining high voter turnout has been an important part of Simon’s work in office, where he helped to implement a 2024 bill allowing for “No Excuses” absentee voting, which allows anyone to apply for an absentee ballot with no reason required. Still, Simon also acknowledged that “laws are one thing… motivating and energizing people around voting [is what] really matters.”
As he was introducing himself and his platform, Simon also spoke about the Jan. 24 killing of Alex Pretti by United States Customs and Border Protection officers in Minneapolis. Simon mentioned how former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent his office a letter containing a list of demands in response to the murder.
Bondi demanded that Simon’s office must “hand over… millions of confidential voter records to her.” Simon’s response was straightforward: “the answer [was] no.” He added that Bondi and those outside of his office are “not entitled to that personal, private information.”
Simon also shared a more positive perspective about the future of democratic institutions in the U.S., describing himself as a “long-term optimist about democracy in America.””
“These institutions were built to last,” Simon added. He is especially optimistic about his own state, Minnesota, “because of our culture around voting” and the state’s history of high voter turnout. Turning to the audience of college students, Simon ended his speech: “I’m optimistic because of all of you.”
The talk then transitioned to a Q&A with the audience.
Opeyemi Adeyemi ’27 asked about the culture around voting. Specifically, she expressed her own personal experience in interacting with an individual who didn’t see the point in voting in non-presidential elections. Simon addressed her concern in navigating conversations with these types of voters, saying that voting advocacy is often “grounded in a ‘good deed’ category… I believe in [this category] but in addition to that, it is in your self-interest to vote.”
Additionally, Simon highlighted his attempts to connect with his constituents across all of Minnesota. He said that people must “try to seek out points of view that aren’t [their] own.” Simon himself aims to “get out and talk to people all over the state of Minnesota,” hence his goal of visiting every county in the state as part of his current reelection campaign.
Another student asked Simon about his thoughts on a possible decrease in voter participation in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections as a result of Operation Metro Surge. This operation was led by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and included the deployment of thousands of federal agents to Minnesota earlier this year. In response, Simon said, “I think [there] is a low probability of that happening.”
He went on to say that “if [a decrease] happens… just reminding everyone in Minnesota what’s on the menu for voting… mail-in ballots.” He added, “We have really good voting laws in Minnesota on who has access to polling places.” He also reminded the audience that it is against state law “to preemptively post law enforcement [of any kind] at a polling place.”
Finally, Simon ended on a positive note by reminding the audience about his campaign and the upcoming election. “We have 168 days to get pro-democracy candidates across the finish line.”
