Voters in Minnesota House District 16B have a choice next Tuesday between Paul Torkelson, an experienced, veteran legislator who shares the conservative values of the vast majority, and Mindy Kimmel, an appealing newcomer with a background in psychology and counseling, a mediator, and heaven knows the Legislature could use a lot of that.

We have endorsed Rep. Paul Torkelson in the past, and we will endorse him again this election, but with a caution. While we think Torkelson is a fine legislator, the people he caucuses with are walking a desperate and dangerous line to try to gain the majority in the Legislature.

It’s no secret that partisanship and polarizaiton have hamstrung the Legislature time and again. Republicans and Democrats have been playing hardball, trying to coerce each other into doing each other’s bidding for years. It culminated, perhaps, in 2017, when Gov. Mark Dayton used the line item veto to cut out legislative funding from the state budget, in an attempt to force them back into negotiations on the budget.

It didn’t end there. This summer the Republicans in the Legislature have been trying to get Gov. Tim Walz to relinquish the emergency powers he has been using to combat the spread of COVID-19. Unable to get the necessary votes in the House, the Republicans in the Senate started picking off Walz’s commissioners one by one in the monthly special sessions he has called. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt said Republicans wouldn’t vote for any bonding bill unless Walz first relinquished his power, a stance he abandoned this past month,

Last week, Republicans vowed to Minnesota voters that if they gain the majority in the House, they will “reward” us by rescinding all of the governor’s emergency orders and let people use their own judgment as to how they will keep themselves and others safe from COVID-19. We expect Minnesota would join South Dakota and Wisconsin in the race for most new cases and deaths.

We think Torkelson has more common sense than that, and we hope, if re-elected, he will use it to lead his caucus back from the edge.