Kim Norton (born September 22, 1957) is an American politician serving as the current mayor of

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Acco ...

. She previously served in 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 ...

as a

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, representing District 25B, consisting mostly of the northern portion of the city of Rochester in Olmsted County in the southeastern part of the state. She was elected to become the first female mayor of Rochester in a nonpartisan race in November 2018.

Early life, education, and career

Norton was born in

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and artificial island, man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the ...

at a military base. She earned a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in Human Development and Special Education, specializing in Early Childhood Education, at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

. She also attended graduate school there, studying Deaf Education, Behavioral Impairments and Curriculum. Norton served on several committees in the Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning from 1998–2003 and, upon returning to Rochester, served on the Rochester School Board (as clerk in 2001, chair in 2005, and treasurer in 2006) prior to being elected to the House.

Political career

Norton first ran against incumbent Rep. Fran Bradley in 2004, an election she lost by 311 votes. She ran again in 2006, defeating

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 ...

challenger Rich Decker by just 99 votes. In 2008, she easily won re-election against Republican challenger Jason Johnson. In 2010, she was re-elected over Republican challenger Mike Rolih. Norton stated in September 2015 that she would not seek re-election in the 2016 election saying "I've made the decision, after a couple of years of consideration, that it's time for me to retire, so I am not going to run for re-election in 2016. It makes me a little sad, I will say, but at the same time it feels like the right thing to do and the right time to do it." Norton said that following her announcement not to run for reelection to the Minnesota House of Representatives that she was "fed-up" with partisan politics, and since leaving the House, she has worked to stay out of party politics. During her tenure as a state representative, she was widely viewed as a moderate, with a history of going against the DFL on some issues.

Election history

Personal life

Norton has four children: Chris, Cody, Katherine, and Kelsey.

References

External links