DFL's Melin Wins Iron Range House Seat

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) -- The Iron Range will be represented in the Minnesota House by the first new Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party legislator in a decade.

Carly Melin won a special election Tuesday to represent District 5B. With 60 percent of the vote, Melin defeated Republican Paul Jacobson and Independence Party candidate Cynthia Kafut-Hagen in unofficial returns.

The district seat was vacated by former House Majority Leader Tony Sertich, who resigned to take a position in Gov. Mark Dayton's cabinet. The Chisholm Democrat now heads the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board.

The Duluth News Tribune says Melin once served as a legislative intern for Sertich. The 25-year-old Melin has been working as an attorney for the state judicial system.

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