Langseth to retire after term ends
State Senate stalwart Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon, likely won’t pursue an 11th term.
In an interview for the forthcoming Politics In Minnesota: The Directory, Langseth noted his age when his current term ends after 2012 session.
“I’ll be 75 when this term is over. I don’t intend to run again,” Langseth said.
Langseth has been mostly invincible in his district going back to the mid-1980s. But Langseth’s margin over Republican Jeff Backer in the Republican wave election last November was reduced to 5 percentage points.
There’s been a trend of Republicans picking up western Minnesota Senate seats held by long-time DFLers in recent election cycles. Seats held by the late Dallas Sams of Staples and Jim Vickerman of Tracy are now in the Republican column.