Aric Putnam (born July 7, 1972) is an American politician and a member of the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are hel ...

. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), he represents District 14, which includes parts of Benton, Sherburne, and Stearns counties in central

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Early life, education, and career

Putnam was born on

Andrews Air Force Base Andrews Air Force Base (Andrews AFB, AAFB) is the airfield portion of Joint Base Andrews, which is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force. In 2009, Andrews Air Force Base merged with Naval Air Facility Washington to form Joint B ...

while his father fought in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. After returning, his family moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where he grew up. After graduating from high school, Putnam earned his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

. He later moved to

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, where he completed his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

. In the late 1990s, Putnam moved to

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, where he completed his PhD at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. He has been a professor of communications at the

College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University are two closely related private, Catholic higher education institutions in Minnesota. The College of Saint Benedict is a women's college located in St. Joseph, while Saint John's Univ ...

since 2003.

Minnesota State Senate

Putnam was elected in 2020, defeating incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Jerry Relph Jerry O. Relph (September 4, 1944December 18, 2020) was an American politician and member of the Minnesota Senate. A Republican, he represented District 14 in central Minnesota from 2017 until his death from COVID-19 complications in 2020. Prior ...

, who died after the election. He was an unsuccessful candidate for District 14A of the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint Pa ...

in 2016 and 2018 against

incumbent

Tama Theis Tama Theis (born February 9, 1960) is a Minnesota politician and member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, she represents District 14A in central Minnesota. Education Theis attended St. Cloud ...

. Putnam serves on the following committees: * Aging and Long-Term Care Policy * Higher Education Finance and Policy * Jobs and Economic Growth Finance and Policy

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Putnam, Aric Democratic Party Minnesota state senators 21st-century American politicians College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University faculty University of Minnesota alumni University of Maine alumni San Francisco State University alumni Politicians from St. Cloud, Minnesota Living people 1972 births