Education Minnesota endorses Simon for secretary of state
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CHRIS WILLIAMS
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ST. PAUL, Minnesota. May 27, 2026 — Education Minnesota has endorsed Secretary of State Steve Simon’s campaign for reelection.
The political action committee of Education Minnesota recommended the endorsement, which was accepted by the union’s governing board. As part of the endorsement process, Simon met with educators and answered questions on expanding voter access, protecting Minnesotans from federal interference in state elections, combating election misinformation, and ensuring that students and all eligible voters can participate in free, fair and secure elections.
“Steve Simon has spent more than a decade making it easier for Minnesotans to vote and harder for anyone to tamper with the results. That matters to educators, because a democracy worth teaching about must be a democracy worth voting in. We are proud to stand with him.” said Monica Byron, president of Education Minnesota.
Thirty educators from across the state comprise the Education Minnesota PAC board. They are classroom teachers, education support professionals, retired educators, higher education instructors and aspiring educators who are studying for their careers.
Free and fair elections and the work of educators in the state’s public schools and colleges are inseparable. Educators spend their careers teaching students to think critically, evaluate evidence, and take part fully in civic life. That work only pays off if the elections those students eventually vote in are honest, accessible and secure.
Simon’s record aligns directly with those values. As a member of the Minnesota House, he authored the “No-Excuses” Absentee Voting law, which allows Minnesotans to vote from home for any reason, and he authored the law that now allows online voter registration in Minnesota. After being elected secretary of state, he worked across the aisle with Republicans and Democrats on measures including securing equal voting rights for all members of the National Guard and ensuring voters can take time off work to vote in regularly scheduled elections. Under his leadership, Minnesota has been among the national leaders in voter turnout for the past three elections in a row.
During his current term, Simon has made a priority of expanding access, resisting federal pressure, and defending the integrity of Minnesota’s elections. He helped implement a law to pre-register 16- and 17-year-olds so that students still sitting in Minnesota classrooms are ready to vote the moment they become eligible. He declined to turn over Minnesota voter registration data to the federal government, citing voter privacy protections, a decision that has made him a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice. And he has consistently pushed back against disinformation about election integrity, affirming that Minnesota’s system is fundamentally fair, accurate, honest and secure.
The students in Minnesota’s classrooms will be voting in elections that Simon is working right now to protect.
“Our students are learning to think for themselves, and they deserve a democracy that trusts them to do that,” Byron said. “Steve Simon has spent more than a decade making sure every eligible Minnesotan can vote and that every vote counts. That’s the world our kids deserve to graduate into.”
Education Minnesota will announce more endorsements in the weeks ahead.
About Education Minnesota
Education Minnesota is the voice for professional educators and students. Education Minnesota’s members include teachers and education support professionals in Minnesota’s public school districts, faculty members at Minnesota’s community and technical colleges and University of Minnesota campuses in Duluth and Crookston, retired educators and student teachers. Education Minnesota is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and AFL-CIO.
