Former Minnesota State Sen. Melisa López Franzen said she is running U.S. Senate in March to support students and working-class Minnesotans by making education and healthcare access more affordable.

Lòpez Franzen previously worked in the state Senate for over a decade and served as the DFL minority leader in the Senate from 2021 to 2023, representing the southwest Twin Cities area. After leaving the Senate, she served as the government and community relations executive director at the University of Minnesota in 2023. 

Lòpez Franzen announced her campaign after Sen. Tina Smith (DFL-Minn.) announced she would not run for reelection. She will be running against Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in the DFL primary.

Minnesota Daily: Why are you running for the U.S. Senate?

López Franzen: “I served in public service in elected office for 10 years prior to coming to the University of Minnesota. I’ve always had that spirit and the urge to represent voices that are underrepresented in government, and I served my community for 10 years. I left because I was redistricted, and then I ended up being tapped to take the role at the University of Minnesota in government relations. It was an area that I was really comfortable in. After I was redistricted, I still wanted to be involved in shaping policy. So that seemed to be a really natural fit for me to help the University tell its story and be able to be supportive of the institution, but also the research of students and the faculty that work there. It’s been a year and a half in that role and when the current federal administration started to make some changes and the cuts that were coming down the pike, they were directly impacting the mission of the university. I saw firsthand how important it is to continue that public service.” 

Daily: How will your experiences at the UMN and in the state Senate influence your campaign? 

López Franzen: “In the state Senate, I was also the Senate leader, so I was able to help be the voice of every district of the state. I’m pretty well-connected and well-versed in the changes of different parts of the state and what their struggles are. Obviously in this moment, they’re different and being at the university gave me a front-row seat to learning what public institutions like the U and higher ed do to really navigate lives, because a lot of my job was to really translate the importance of public institutions like the university to the state and research in developing the next generation of leaders.

I’ve also worked in the private sector. I’ve also had my own small business before coming to the U. I’ve been in different settings that have given me a really well-rounded and robust experience that I can take to the national level and represent everyday Minnesotans.”

Daily: How will you prioritize college students when in the U.S. Senate? 

López Franzen: “I think students right now are in a very tenuous situation because the world is different than it was even a few months ago. It’s harder to overcome the changes, drastic changes. People go to school, and then they want to have a good job, and then they want to buy their car and be able to buy it for their first home and get married and have a family. Whether that’s the traditional route or something else, it’s getting harder and less affordable to do all of that. I recognize that very intimately because I know what it costs for tuition, and I know people are going to think twice if they can’t get the Pell Grant because the Department of Education is being dismantled. I know what it takes if their Fulbright Scholarship is being taken away from them.

We need to mobilize and really showcase that we are the future, but you have to invest in the future. That’s a huge role of our federal government that we are right now questioning whether they’re going to be a good partner to invest in our future.”

Daily: How would you support working families if elected? 

López Franzen: “Let’s take a step back. We voted for change. The United States voted for change. Whether it’s this change that was voted for is still to be determined, but there’s an opportunity to build back a public sector that really is reflective of the community, but also responsive to the needs of today. Things like health care are one of the things that I really have cut my teeth in in my prior experience at the legislature, serving in nine of my ten years in the health and human services sector, and they are really things that I want to focus on. Education, from childcare all the way to higher education and trades, are areas that are very much basic needs in my mind. Of course, housing is really important, but when I say basic needs are the functions of, if we have a well-educated workforce and a well-educated citizenry, we have healthy communities, right? If we have healthy communities, that means they’re healthy inside and out, whether they have housing that they can afford or the health care that allows them to thrive.”

Daily: Besides advocating for the working class, what are your other goals?

López Franzen: “I came to Minnesota from Puerto Rico, which is where I grew up, on a scholarship, on a DEI scholarship, that now you don’t have the ability to offer scholarships that open doors for people like me. I’m still paying for my student loans. There is a disconnect there. It was a struggle when I was coming into this, to Minnesota to uplift my own life, and it’s only getting more complex for people and students.

Students are having more challenges, whether they can afford their rents or whether they can afford a lawyer, for instance, if they have an issue with their landlord, which we’ve had experience with at the U. Whether it’s food insecurity or mental health supports, all those things are things that I was working on on behalf of students to make sure that legislators would know that we need to support our students and we need to support their ability to have a good future. I want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to thrive with the conditions that can help them get there. It’s not a handout. It’s what the government is supposed to provide.”

Daily: How do you plan to contend with the Trump administration? 

López Franzen: “In my background, I’ve flipped a district from one party to the other, from red to blue. I’ve always been a consensus builder, and I’ve worked in divided government as well as trifectas. I’ve played well working with people on any angle. I’m a lawyer by trade, so they train you to argue the other side but be empathetic and certainly open to to getting your mind changed by real facts. We’re questioning what those are right now, but at the end of the day, we build progress by building coalitions, and we have to find certain compromises, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to compromise your core values. We need real change in Minnesota, and we need to make sure that we move forward, but we also need to make sure we’re working together to make those coalitions stronger.” 

This story has been edited for grammar, clarity and length.