Mayors, activists, and politicians gathered in Spiral Brewery last week for the official launch of Sen. Judy Seeberger’s (DFL-Afton) re-election campaign.

“She has stepped up and showed up over and over and over again,” said Hastings Mayor Mary Fasbender at the event. “I don’t normally typically endorse, but I can talk about how she’s helped us.”

In announcing her re-election, Seeberger spoke to her understanding of politics as a “team sport” that demanded bipartisan cooperation.

“You gotta get the help of the other side […] we agree on more things than we disagree on,” said Seeberger.

This January, Seeberger’s bill often referred to as Amara’s Law, came into effect banning intentionally added PFAS to various products ranging from carpets to dental floss to menstruation products. The bill was named for Amara Strande, a Woodbury resident who developed a rare type of liver cancer which took her life in 2023.

Speakers at the event highlighted the bill as a concrete step forward in the fight against PFAS in the south metro area.

Seeberger was first elected to Minnesota Senate District 41 in 2022 in the closest victory for a DFL candidate that year with a margin of 0.7% or just over 300 votes. That race was against Tom Dippel, who would go on to win the Minnesota House District 41B last year in order to represent Hastings in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Last month, Dippel announced he wouldn’t be seeking reelection in the House, instead running for Senate District 41 in a rematch against Seeberger.

For Hastings residents, the race will pit both of their current state legislators against each other, even as they assumedly will work together during the upcoming legislative session.

Seeberger and Dippel openly fought during the last legislative session, both authoring similar bills that would allocate funds for Hastings PFAS water treatment plants in various ways. None of those bills passed.

About that rematch, Seeberger referenced that unlike the 2022 race, voters will have “real history to look at,” in order to differentiate the two candidates between bills authored, votes cast, and actions taken while in St. Paul.

“That’s what the voters will have this time around that they didn’t have last time,” said Seeberger.

Last year, the DFL has a single seat majority in the Senate. Those numbers are expected to be similar coming into 2026 so flipping even a single seat could change the balance of power in St. Paul.

“The road of DFL Senate Majority runs through 41,” said Carla Bingham, former Minnesota Senator of District 41.

Another issue Seeberger spoke to from the Spiral Brewery stage was finding funds to offset the costs of PFAS water treatment plants in Hastings. A bonding bill is top of find for finding those funds, which the state has not passed in the last two years.

Last Tuesday, the Senate Capital Investment Committee visited Hastings City Hall to hear about the need for funds for water treatment plants. Details of that meeting will be in next week’s edition of the Hastings Journal.

Despite the looming state deficit, Seeberger was “optimistic we can get some infrastructure funding done.”