Howie Hanson is Minnesota’s Columnist, writing about power, money, sports and civic life across the state. His daily column is sponsored by Lyric Kitchen . Bar of Duluth.
St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay made it official recently: he’s running for re-election . Not with fireworks. Not with a list of grievances. With a resume.
Ramsay, a steady presence in a county that stretches from the streets of Duluth to the woods and water near the Canadian border, framed his re-election bid around what he calls measurable progress — drug enforcement, employee stability and experienced leadership when things get sideways.
“Serving the people of St. Louis County is an honor, and I’m proud of the work our team has done to strengthen public safety and support the employees who do this job every day,” said Ramsay. “I’m running for re-election to keep building on that momentum.”
Momentum is a word politicians like. Voters, though, tend to prefer numbers.
On drugs, the sheriff points to a hard one: opiate overdose deaths in the county are at a six-year low. That didn’t happen by accident, he argues. Using opioid settlement dollars, the Sheriff’s Office added two deputies to the drug task force — bodies assigned specifically to investigations, interdiction and disrupting trafficking routes that snake through Northern Minnesota.
That’s not glamorous work. It’s patient. It’s tedious. It’s often invisible. But the goal is simple: make it harder for poison to move through St. Louis County.
At the same time, Ramsay has spent much of his term focused inward — on the people wearing the badge.
Law enforcement agencies across Minnesota and the country have struggled with recruitment and retention. Burnout is real. So is competition for qualified deputies. Ramsay says his office increased attention on employee wellness and worked to improve pay and retention, aiming to reduce turnover and keep patrol coverage consistent across a county that covers more than 6,800 square miles.
The argument is straightforward: stable staffing equals stable service.
Then there are the moments no one can schedule.
St. Louis County has faced some of the most challenging wildfire conditions in decades. Entire communities have watched smoke roll in and winds shift with little warning. In those moments, Ramsay says, leadership isn’t theoretical.
“When our communities were dealing with the most serious fires many of us have seen in a generation, we led with a steady hand,” Ramsay said. “Experience matters when conditions are changing by the hour and the stakes are high.”
It’s a clear message to voters: continuity over experimentation.
If re-elected, Ramsay says his priorities won’t drift. He lists them plainly — reduce the impact of illegal drugs, maintain a healthy and effective workforce and deliver professional, responsive service across the county. No slogans. No dramatic pivot. Just a bet that in uncertain times, steady counts.
Now the decision moves where it always does — to the voters of St. Louis County, who will decide whether progress as defined by Ramsay is progress they want to continue.
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The HowieHanson.com Five-Year Plan
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Artificial intelligence can generate words endlessly. Algorithms can distribute content endlessly. But neither can replace lived experience, local memory or earned credibility.
Readers know the difference. And increasingly, they are choosing humans over systems. That gives independent writers something we haven’t felt in years: Momentum.
A Promise Going Forward
Here’s what will not change over the next five years. I will keep showing up. I will keep writing about Minnesota with honesty and curiosity. I will keep asking uncomfortable questions when they need asking. And I will keep treating this space not as a platform, but as a shared conversation built over decades.
If you’ve been reading since the early blog days, thank you for staying. If you just arrived, welcome aboard. The next chapter of independent journalism isn’t starting somewhere else.
It’s starting right here — the same way it always has — with one writer, one story, and readers who believe it still matters.
Howie Hanson writes at HowieHanson.com, where independent Minnesota journalism has lived online for more than two decades.
