Elementary school teacher to run against Quam

Kasson-Mantorville Elementary School teacher John Vossen announced Friday he is running for the Minnesota House.

Vossen, 40, said he is becoming increasingly concerned about the inability of state lawmakers to work together.

"I've been working with colleagues, and we work together to come to solutions and this is what we expect of our kids is to work together," he said. "But it seems at the Capitol and in the news people can't work together for the common good. It is just for their own agenda."

The new legislative boundaries will not be known until the courts release the final redistricting maps on Feb. 21. But under the current boundaries, the DFL candidate would be taking on first-term Republican Rep. Duane Quam of Byron.

Vossen has spent 15 years teaching in the Kasson-Mantorville school district. He graduated from Hutchinson Senior High School and went on to earn a bachelor of sciene degree in eduation from Minnesota State University in Moorhead. He has a master's degree from Winona State University.

He said he is very concerned about rising tuition at colleges and universities and how that is putting pressure on middle class families. If elected, he would also focus on getting funding to finish upgrading U.S. 14 because it has become a major public safety threat.