Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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I would like to respond to the letter titled "Don't leave Jensen fans behind" that appeared in the Monday edition of the Star Tribune. As a fellow resident of Wright County, I have concerns about the statistical split of the blue metro vs. outstate red areas on the map that seems to play out in Minnesota statewide elections. Are we to believe that these "Jensen fans" do not want adequately funded public schools or the right of women to choose their health care? Are we to believe that infrastructure expenditures for roads and bridges, water systems, improved wastewater treatment or decent housing and health care for the elderly are not needed by "Jensen fans" in outstate Minnesota? Are we to believe that when public health is a concern that responding in an informed way using science-based methods is not something that "Jensen fans" want?

It seems to me that the policies of many of the DFL administrations, now and in the past, have been trying to further these initiatives to improve lives in all of Minnesota. I daresay that red outstate areas including Wright County have benefited from these policies even when GOP representatives have fought against them. So in response to the writer's question, "Where's the disconnect?", one must ask what the needs are of the majority of people across this state and how we can best deliver as a state to meet those needs. Color-coded maps do not solve these problems, and I suggest focusing on these maps will only slow us in our problem-solving and further divide us.

Boyd Emmel, Buffalo, Minn.

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It's embarrassing how the Democratic Party ignores rural Democrats. Now the DFL took the easy way and selected an all-metro team for its leadership! ("Winners set sights on future," Nov. 11.) If the party took the time to know some rural representatives, they would find some great talent, and possibly prevent rural Democrats from becoming extinct!

Harold Kleven, Big Lake, Minn.

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A big thank-you to all of the Minnesota candidates who put their names out there and spent countless hours and energy on behalf of their campaigns and the desire to help Minnesota. The 99.9% rest of us have the luxury to complain and solve the state's problems from the comfort of home and on social media. As someone who votes Democrat most of the time, I was very pleased with the election results. However, my hope moving forward is that the first bill to pass is bipartisan. We are Minnesotans first. Please find something we can agree on (official state carpet color?). We need to listen to and respect each other. This great state deserves it.

Liz Strom Knutson, Minneapolis

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Election night convinced me this was not a wave but a bubble election. So many right-wing/leaning friends seem confused at the outcome. Why, because they have fallen into the "Donald Trump trap." They no longer seek the truth but search for confirmation bias. They can't see what's really happening out there because they only want to believe what they believe, even though it may defy truth and logic.

Escape the bubble; start seeking balanced information. Question what you don't believe but accept facts for what they are.

The mushy middle is pretty angry at both sides right now, but this election revealed something loud and clear. It told me that even though things are kind of a mess right now, those deciders would rather remain with incumbents instead of misguided Trump puppets and election deniers.

The Republican Party, both local and national, is at a fork in the road. Continue down the path of Trumpism, or find candidates with the same values as you all with a level of respect for the Constitution, our republic and your fellow citizens that Trump has never displayed. Your call, or this will happen all over again.

This should be an eye-opener for the party, or a mirage. You get to pick.

Kurt Schiebel, Roseville

HENNEPIN COUNTY ATTORNEY

Moriarty's win is a loss for justice

In response to Eric Rice's commentary "Why Mary Moriarty's win is a victory for justice" (Opinion Exchange, Nov. 10): Martha Holton Dimick was portrayed as a "tough-on-crime," "status quo" candidate during the race for Hennepin County attorney by Mary Moriarty's campaign. Clearly it was effective.

In reality, Dimick is a lifelong Democrat who was raised during the civil rights movement in a violent area of Milwaukee with, at the time, an objectively racist police chief. She faced discrimination herself as a young Black woman. She would have been viewed as a progressive by any measure prior to 2020 when the Minnesota DFL lurched leftward.

Dimick had nuanced views and ran for Hennepin County attorney to restore the effectiveness of the office, fairly prosecute violent crimes, promote community-law enforcement trust, push for reform within the Minneapolis Police Department, and continue to advocate for youth rehabilitation and diversion of low-level crimes.

Moriarty was ousted in her role as Hennepin County chief public defender due to her toxic and divisive management style, and as part of the settlement agreed to never serve as a public defender in Minnesota again.

How this is a victory for justice is beyond me.

Dimick was an excellent candidate with bipartisan support, which is a huge feat in 2022, but lost out to a candidate who will lead similarly to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and Former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, and who ran an effective smear campaign against Dimick's character and successfully obfuscated Dimick's views and positions.

It will be interesting to see what comes of Moriarty's victory, given that violent crime finally started trending downward in Minneapolis within the past two months. Hopefully that trend continues regardless.

Rachael Bauleke, Hopkins

HOSPITAL STAFF SAFETY

New laws won't help

I appreciate the great reporting in "Assaults on staff surge at Minnesota hospitals" (Nov. 11). My concern is with the discussed legislative solution: making it a federal crime to assault or intimidate hospital workers. While some assaults seem unrelated to mental illness, some people with mental illness who are agitated or psychotic can have assaultive or threatening behavior. In other situations the behavior may occur when a patient is not fully cognitively functioning, either because of illness or medications they have been given. I am sure that if such a law was passed, people with mental illness or other cognitive dysfunction would get caught up in this net.

We already have a big problem with criminalizing mental illness. Our prisons are among the largest treatment facilities for mental illness. People with mental illness end up in jails and prison for crimes committed while ill, instead of being in an appropriate treatment facility. This is bad for them and their illness. It is expensive. And with the proposed law, they would then have a felony record.

It is unlikely that such a law will prevent the vast majority of such assaults. Yes, this is a serious problem that deserves solutions. We already have laws under which assaultive people can be charged. We do not need another law that is likely to exacerbate the other serious problem we have, which is people who primarily need treatment for mental illness but are instead criminalized. That is bad policy and is inhumane.

Carrie Borchardt, Apple Valley

The writer is a retired psychiatrist.