Heather Edelson was born on April 4,1981 and is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2019.
18 Facts About Heather Edelson
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Heather Edelson was raised in north Minneapolis and attended Columbia Heights Public Schools.
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Heather Edelson has worked as a mental health therapist and served as a guardian ad litem in Hennepin County.
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Heather Edelson served on the Edina Public School Board Special Education Advisory Council and the Edina Race and Equity Working Group.
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Heather Edelson was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2018 and has been reelected every two years since.
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Heather Edelson first ran for the DFL party endorsement in 2016, losing to Ron Erhardt, an 11-term incumbent who switched from the Republican to the DFL party in 2010.
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Erhardt lost the general election, and Heather Edelson won the DFL endorsement in 2018, going on to defeat one-term Republican incumbent Dario Anselmo.
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Heather Edelson serves as vice chair of the Ways and Means Committee, and sits on the Education Finance, Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy, and Human Services Policy Committees.
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Heather Edelson drafted a bill that would allow medical cannabis and CBD oil in schools for students with a doctor's approval.
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In 2022, Heather Edelson sponsored legislation that legalized food and beverages, including gummies, containing THC if it was derived from hemp.
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Heather Edelson said she wrote the legislation to strengthen consumer protections in an emerging market, and that she would write bills to add additional requirements and work with local governments to help them regulate THC edibles.
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Heather Edelson carried legislation that would raise the legal age of tobacco, e-cigarettes and vaping devices from 18 to 21, and supported efforts to raise youth awareness of the harms of vaping.
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Heather Edelson supported Governor Tim Walz's proposal to raise taxes on nicotine and tobacco products, saying increased revenue could go to prevention efforts.
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Heather Edelson worked with Republican Representative Tony Albright on bipartisan legislation to fix the competency restoration program, adopting recommendations from a task force dealing with gaps in the system for those found incompetent to stand trial.
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Heather Edelson supported legislation giving incarceration alternatives for women who would otherwise be separated from their children.
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Heather Edelson supported legislation to expedite police training to address workforce shortages, and has supported various measures to address increasing car theft in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
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Heather Edelson sponsored legislation to give grants to religious groups to increase security following a rise in antisemitic attacks.
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Heather Edelson was the only DFL representative to vote against the 2019 House tax bill.