Free Republic

The win expanded the GOP's narrow majority in the chamber and ended more than two decades of representation in the district by Democrats and members of the Lourey family. Jason Rarick, Republican candidate for State Senate in the SD11 special election, spoke with Lori Cervenka and her daughters Hannah and Casey, at a bingo fundraiser in Sturgeon Lake ahead of Tuesday's election. Republican Jason Rarick won a hotly contested special election for a Minnesota Senate seat Tuesday, expanding the GOP’s narrow majority in the chamber. Rarick, a state representative from Pine City, defeated Democrat Stu Lourey 53 percent to 45...

ST. PAUL - The son of a Minnesota state senator was killed in Iraq when his helicopter was shot down, officials said. It was the second tour in Iraq for Chief Warrant Officer Matt Lourey, 41, who flew helicopters with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division — though his mother, Sen. Becky Lourey, and other relatives opposed the war and had tried to talk him out of it. "He didn't want to die, but nonetheless he signed up for military service and he understood what that meant," said his brother, Tony Lourey.(snip) Chief Warrant Officer Matt Lourey, 41 (snip) When he...

Lourey, son of state Sen. Becky Lourey, has been killed in Iraq, a senate spokesman said. Details of the death of the helicopter pilot were not immediately available, said John Pollard, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson.