Jerry O. Relph (September 4, 1944December 18, 2020) was an American politician and 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 h ...
. A
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 ...
, he represented District 14 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 ...
from 2017 until his death from
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
complications in 2020.
Prior to his death, he attended a superspreader event, along with several other Minnesota Republicans, where attendees did not comply with public health recommendations, such as wearing protective face masks.
Early life, education, and career
Relph was born in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
,
and attended high school in
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...
.
He attended
Carleton College
Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...
, graduating in 1966 with a
Bachelor of Arts
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 ...
degree, and
William Mitchell College of Law
William Mitchell College of Law was a private, independent law school located in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, from 1956 to 2015. Accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), it offered full- and part-time legal education in pursuit of ...
, graduating in 1974 with a
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
.
After graduating from Carleton, Relph enlisted in the
Marine Corps
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
, spending 14 months in
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
. After that, he worked for
3M in personnel while attending law school. He later joined a small law firm in
St. Charles, Minnesota, specializing in municipal, real estate, business, and tax law. In 1984, Relph moved to
St. Cloud, Minnesota and joined the Hughes law firm, specializing in municipal and
zoning law
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
. He later joined LakeMaster.
Minnesota Senate
In his first run for public office, Relph was elected to 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 h ...
in
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
, defeating
Democratic–Farmer–Labor candidate
Dan Wolgamott
Dan Wolgamott (born October 24, 1990) is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Wolgamott represents District 14B in central Minnesota ...
by 141 votes. He ran for
reelection in 2020, losing to Democratic–Farmer–Labor candidate
Aric Putnam
Aric Putnam (born July 7, 1972) is an American politician and a member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), he represents District 14, which includes parts of Benton, Sherburne, and Stearns counties in ...
. Putnam declared victory a week following the election, with a lead of 315 votes. Relph requested and paid for a recount, which resulted in a gain of two votes for Putnam and three for Relph. Relph never formally conceded the election.
Political positions
Relph opposed a paid family/sick leave proposal, calling it a "statewide social security system". He opposed
universal preschool
Universal preschool is an international movement supporting the use of public funding to provide preschool education to all families. This movement is focused on promoting a global, rather than local, preschool program. The goal is to provide equ ...
, calling it a "step to creating cradle to grave control by the government."
In early 2020, Relph expressed concern over
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, arguing the state was inadequately prepared to combat it. He authored legislation, which was signed into law, to provide nearly $2.1 million in aid to fight the pandemic.
[
]
Personal life
Relph was married to Colette Relph from 1972 until her death in 1999. They had two children. In 2002, he married Pegi Broker, with whom he had four stepchildren. He lived in St. Cloud.
Death
Relph was one of several Minnesota Republicans who tested positive for COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
during the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota
The COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota is part of an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the state of Minnesota. The first confirmed case was reported on March 6, 2020.
Governor Tim Walz declared a state of emergency on Marc ...
after attending an in-person post-election party on November 5, 2020. At the party, there was little compliance with public health recommendations, such as wearing face masks. He was hospitalized in mid-November.
After weeks of hospitalization, Relph died from complications of the virus on December 18. His daughter, angry at the get-together that preceded his illness, asked, "Why are you throwing a party with 100-plus people in the middle of a pandemic?"
References
External links
Official Senate website
Official campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Relph, Jerry
1944 births
2020 deaths
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American lawyers
21st-century American politicians
Carleton College alumni
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota
Military personnel from Massachusetts
Military personnel from Minnesota
Minnesota lawyers
Republican Party Minnesota state senators
Politicians from Boston
Politicians from St. Cloud, Minnesota
United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War
William Mitchell College of Law alumni