A government and philosophy double major, Stevenson has been preparing for the official launch of his campaign since early December, he said. To advance his campaign, he has enlisted the support of close friends like Brice Acree '09, the campaign's communications director and a former College Democrat, who created the campaign's web site, Stevenson said. While at school during Fall term, Stevenson used his web site and e-mail to reach out to voters about his political priorities, personal biography and the state senate voting schedule, he said.
Stevenson said that if he is elected, he will focus on improving the general quality of life of Minnesotans in his district by boosting the local economy and improving the education and health care systems. Stevenson's hometown of Brainerd, Minn., is located in District 12, he said.
"My hometown is hovering around a 20 percent unemployment rate, which is the highest unemployment of any city in Minnesota," Stevenson said. "The top two employers are, first, the school system and then the health care system, so improving these sectors will also increase employment."
In his campaign platform, Stevenson said he aims to reverse the shift from income taxes to property taxes in his district, arguing that this shift is responsible for the widening gap between the rich and poor. In the last three years, District 12 has lost one-fifth of its teachers and cut its Advanced Placement course offerings in half, Stevenson said. He added that this issue particularly concerns him because his father has worked as a teacher in the public school district for 32 years.
Stevenson credits his idea to run in his home state to a personal conversation he had during his first year at Dartmouth with then-Senator Joe Biden, when Biden was campaigning in the New Hampshire primary.
"I asked Biden what he would say to a young person who wants to become politically active," Stevenson said. "We ended up walking over to the Hanover Inn together and he spoke to me for about fifteen minutes, encouraging me to do some of the same things he did. One of the things he told me was to go home, to go back to my hometown."
Stevenson also became interested in local politics after participating in the campaign of a family friend running for state representative, he said.
Stevenson became active in the New Hampshire Democratic primary in 2006 because of his involvement with the College Democrats, and grew familiar with the ins and outs of political campaigning as a result, he said.
"In his time at the College Democrats, there was no one more motivated and confident than [Stevenson,]" former College Democrats President David Imamura '10 said. "Because of him, we got hundreds of people to vote in the presidential election and he was always leading the charge."
College Democrats President Bret Vallacher '10 also said he had high hopes for Stevenson's political career.
"[Stevenson] is extremely organized, charismatic and funny, and I think a good sense of humor is necessary in politics," Vallacher said.
At Dartmouth, Stevenson found several professors who taught him the analytical thinking he is using to approach pressing political issues, he said.
"He's enthusiastic and willing to dig into hard questions," philosophy professor Larry Crocker said of Stevenson. "As a first year student he was willing to take on questions that were too hard for him and eventually he wrestled them to the ground."
Stevenson said he used the confidence that he gained at Dartmouth to investigate the viability of launching his own candidacy. The concept of a potential campaign grew into a concrete project in August 2009, he said.
"It's one thing to win an election and another thing to do the job you're elected for," Stevenson said. "I got a lot of positive encouragement, but I'm taking this one step at a time."
Stevenson's candidacy for the general election will be determined on March 6, if he obtains the Democratic Party's endorsement over the other potential Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate Terry Sluss. If he receives the endorsement, he will face either two-term Republican incumbent Paul Koering, or Republican candidate Paul Gazelka. There is a possibility he might face both, since Koering may run as an independent if he does not receive his Party's endorsement, according to Stevenson.
"Things are looking very good for the endorsement, but the general election is still a question mark because we don't know who we'll be running against," Stevenson said. "The demographics of this area are also more socially conservative."
Koering has historically fought tax increases and pushed for harsher criminal sentences and stronger gun rights, according to his campaign web site. Koering defeated Sluss in the 2006 election, weathering the fallout created by Koering's 2005 announcement that he is gay, the Brainerd Dispatch reported. Gazelka, previously the state representative from Brainerd, also lost his seat in 2006, according to the Dispatch.
Stevenson said he hopes to reverse income tax cuts that Koering has supported during his tenure in the state senate.
Needing only three more credits for graduation, Stevenson has taken the Winter term off to campaign and prepare for the March primary, when the future of his candidacy will ultimately be determined. Regardless of the results in March, Stevenson will return to Dartmouth to finish his senior year in the spring.
"Fall term was very hectic, working on the campaign by e-mail and Internet," Stevenson said. "If I win on March 6, Spring term will be very interesting."
