Kurt Louis Daudt (born September 26, 1973) is an American politician and the Minority Leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives. He is a former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the

Republican Party of Minnesota The Republican Party of Minnesota is the oldest active political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The Minnesota Republican Party’s platform is relatively moderate. The party’s main issues are economic growth, education, healthcare, civi ...

, he represents District 31A, which includes portions of Anoka, Isanti, and Sherburne counties in east-central Minnesota, north of the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

metropolitan area. He lives on his family farm in

Crown, Minnesota Crown is an unincorporated community in Stanford Township, Isanti County, Minnesota, United States. The community is located north of St. Francis. Isanti County Roads 7 and 8 are two of the main routes in the community. State Highway 47 ( MN ...

Early life, education, and career

Daudt attended Princeton High School, where he graduated in 1992. Rep. Sondra Erickson was his English teacher there. Daudt attended the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of ...

to study aviation management but did not graduate. He is a licensed private pilot. Daudt served as an Isanti County commissioner from 2005 to 2010. Before that, he was a township board supervisor for Stanford Township from 1995 to 2005, and a member of the East Central Regional Library Board. He was also a founding member of Project 24, a nonprofit organization that builds orphanages in

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. To date, the project has raised over $500,000 and built six orphanages. Before his election to the legislature, he worked at auto dealerships as a salesman and business manager.

Minnesota House of Representatives

Tenure

Daudt was first elected in 2010. After Republicans won a House majority in the 2014 midterm elections, Daudt was selected by Republicans to become Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives for the session beginning in 2015. Daudt was elected as Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives by the full House on January 6, 2015. Daudt is the youngest person to serve as Speaker since the 1930s.

Committee assignments

Daudt served on the Elections Committee and the Rules and Legislative Administration Committee for the 2013-2015 Session. He previously served on the Commerce and Regulatory Reform, the Higher Education Policy and Finance, and the Redistricting committees, as well as on the Taxes Subcommittee for the Property and Local Tax Division.

Accomplishments

In his first term, Daudt proposed major reforms to Minnesota's welfare system including crackdowns on out-of-state use of EBT cards, limits on monthly cash benefit withdrawals, and eligibility disqualifications for individuals who purchase alcohol or tobacco using an EBT card. The tobacco and alcohol provisions were signed into law as part of the 2011 Special Session Health and Human Services bill, and restrictions limiting EBT use to states surrounding Minnesota were passed and signed into law in 2012. In 2016 under Speaker Daudt, the legislature approved a bill that made Minnesota one of at least 12 other states to fully exempt military retirement benefits from state taxes. In 2017, Daudt and the Republican-led Minnesota Senate successfully negotiated the largest tax cut in two decades, including a $750 million cut over ten years for social security recipients, a $500 tax credit for student loan payments, tax cuts for tobacco products, and property tax relief for agriculture land. Former Minnesota Governor

Mark Dayton Mark Brandt Dayton (born January 26, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He was a United States Senator for Minnesota from 2001 to 2007, and the Minnesota State Auditor from 1991 to 1 ...

took the unprecedented step of attempting to veto funding for the Minnesota legislature in an attempt to reverse tax cuts passed by the legislature, but none of the tax reductions were ultimately revisited.

Controversies

In 2013, Daudt, then the House minority leader, was involved in an incident in Montana when a friend Daniel Weinzetl, brandished a handgun during the sale of a vintage vehicle, pointing it at the seller's "entire family, including the children." The handgun belonged to Daudt. The altercation arose after Daudt and the seller differed about the condition of the vehicle. Daudt was later released by Montana police without being charged with a crime. In 2015, U.S. Bank and Capital One won legal judgments against Daudt, stemming from his failure to pay approximately $13,000 in overdue charges and legal fees incurred pursuing the money. However, the companies declined to pursue the judgments after the debts were paid in full.

Personal life

Daudt is a member of the

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), also known as the Missouri Synod, is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 1.8 million members, it is the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States. The LC ...

. He is unmarried.

Elections

References

External links

Rep. Kurt Daudt
''official Minnesota House of Representatives website''
Kurt Daudt
''official campaign website''
Project Votesmart - Rep. Kurt Daudt Profile
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Daudt, Kurt 1973 births 21st-century American politicians Commercial aviators County commissioners in Minnesota Living people Republican Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives People from Isanti County, Minnesota People from Springfield, Minnesota Speakers of the Minnesota House of Representatives University of North Dakota alumni