Melisa Franzen is a new comer to politics but a very successful businesswoman. She will be running for District 49’s State Senate position this election.

Q: What position are you running for this fall?

A: State Senate for district 49, which is Edina, West Bloomington and portions of Eden Prairie and Minnetonka.

Q: What made you want to run for State Senate this fall?

A: I’ve always been very involved in the community and in my job. I worked in Government affairs for Target so I’ve been doing that for 6 years and I’ve been advocating for business for 6 years. So I have seen the wave of divisiveness and a lot of polarization in politics around the nation and finally in Minnesota in the last couple years and I just thought it was finally time to jump in and do something about that and find more common ground and compromise.

Q: Personally, what makes you Melisa Franzen?

A: I would say that I love people and I love to be involved in the community, I’m not one of those that likes to watch shows on TV, and have a social life in that regard, my husband and I love to entertain and love to be involved in our community, he sits on the on the Edina Transportation Commission and I have always been on numerous boards in the community. Right now I am on the Girl Scout Board for Minnesota – Wisconsin River valley so I have always spent a lot of time in the community and have been active in civic services.

Q: If you were elected, how do you think your job would affect the students of Edina High School?        

A: Well the state is mandated by our constitution to provide strong public education so that is a role of government to make sure we provide the best public schools and so that is directly related to where you go to school every day, making sure that those schools have the adequate funding and the adequate resources to make sure we provide that best education possible and that we are also innovative with the times and make sure that we are being a good partner from the state level, all the way to the local level with education needs.

Q: Do you believe that you can relate to and represent the students of Edina High School as opposed to just their parents?

A: I worked a lot with kids and youth in my capacity as a board member for the Girl Scouts so have always engaged in that capacity, and all the time I get asked to be a speaker on certain panels with youth and making sure they find a good career path and so forth. So I have always had time working with youth and young professionals so I think that it certainly keeps the pulse with what the community needs and what our youth needs to prepare for the jobs of the future and so forth.

Q: What in your opinion is the most important issue facing Edina today?

A: I would say that we are very proud of our schools and we want to make sure that we preserve them so we are always rated as some of the top schools in the state and in the country so we want to make sure that we are always competitive and that we are always innovative and that we are always creative in that we continue to preserve our great quality of life. When I go door knocking, I talk to so many people and so many young families are moving to Edina particularly. And I always ask them, even though I know the answer “Why are you moving to Edina?” And the first thing coming out of their mouth is “because of the schools.” So they know that this is not only a great quality of life but also great schools for their kids, and that’s why they move here.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add?

A: I would say to the students to be curious and engaged and to be engaged civically and volunteer in their community, that’s the best way to give back to really know what your community needs and to always be curious about how can we make our community better.