John Hottinger

Who is John Hottinger?

John Hottinger is a Minnesota attorney and politician and a former member and majority leader of the Minnesota Senate. First elected in 1990, he was re-elected in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2002. A Democrat, he represented the old District 24 prior to the 2002 redistricting, and the current District 23 thereafter. The district included portions of Blue Earth, Le Sueur, Nicollet, Sibley and Waseca counties in the south central part of the state.

Hottinger served as a majority whip from 1993 to 2000, and as an assistant majority leader during the 2001–2002 biennium. He was chosen majority leader in 2003 after Senator Roger Moe retired to run for governor. After a difficult year, in which the DFL Party majority was seen to have been outmaneuvered by Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty, Hottinger stepped down, turning power over to Senator Dean Johnson. In January 2004, he was selected the national legislator of the month by the Center for Policy Alternatives one month after Illinois legislator Barack Obama won the honor Hottinger has been quoted as saying the two of them have since taken “divergent” paths.