Ryan Patrick Winkler (born December 30, 1975) is an American politician and the former

majority leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

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 ...

. A member of the

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is the Minnesota affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party. As of 2022, it controls four of Minnesota's eight U.S. House seats, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the Minnesota House of Represen ...

(DFL), he represented District 46A, which includes portions of the cities of Golden Valley,

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, and St. Louis Park in

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its county seat is Minneapolis, the state's most populous city. The county is named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. The county extends from Minneapol ...

. In February 2018, Winkler announced his intentions to run for the legislative office he previously held in District 46A. He was re-elected, succeeding

Peggy Flanagan Peggy Flanagan (born September 22, 1979) is an American Democratic political organizer, activist, and politician serving as the 50th lieutenant governor of Minnesota. Flanagan has been involved in various political campaigns and progressive pol ...

, who had left the house to run for

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

. DFL legislators elected Winkler to serve as

Majority Leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

in November 2018, and he took office in January 2019. Winkler announced that he will retire from the Minnesota House of Representatives at the end of his 2021–2023 term. He went on to run in the DFL primary election for Hennepin County Attorney on August 9, 2022, finishing in 3rd place.

Education

Winkler graduated with a B.A. in history from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1998 and J.D. from the

University of Minnesota Law School The University of Minnesota Law School is the law school of the University of Minnesota, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school confers four law degrees: a Juris Doctor (J.D.), a Master of Laws (LL.M.), a Master of Science in Patent Law ...

in 2001.

Minnesota House of Representatives

He was first elected in 2006, and was re-elected in 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014. In 2021, legalizing recreational marijuana came up for a vote in front of the Minnesota House of Representatives for the first time. Winkler was a lead proponent of the push.

Elections

Resignation

On May 21, 2015, Winkler announced he would resign effective July 1, 2015. His wife at the time, Jenny, accepted a job as an executive with the Rezidor Hotel Group, which is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, and his family moved there to support her.

Comments on Voting Rights Act lawsuit

Following the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

's decision in '' Shelby County v. Holder,'' Winkler took to

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

to write, " VRA majority is four accomplices to race discrimination and one Uncle Thomas" referring to Justice

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 199 ...

, an African American. "

Uncle Tom Uncle Tom is the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel, ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. The character was seen by many readers as a ground-breaking humanistic portrayal of a slave, one who uses nonresistance and gives his life to protect ...

" is a derogatory used against blacks who are perceived as being apologetic for their race. Winkler later deleted the tweet and posted, "Deleted Tweet causing offense regarding Justice Thomas. I apologize for it, but believe VRA decision does abet racism." On Twitter, he added that he did not understand "Uncle Tom" as a racist term.

Personal life

Winkler is

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

and has Norwegian ancestry. He has three sons.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winkler, Ryan Patrick 1975 births 21st-century American politicians American Lutherans Harvard College alumni Living people Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives People from Bemidji, Minnesota University of Minnesota Law School alumni