Senator Jim Carlson Contact information

Jim Carlson (born February 17, 1947) is a Minnesota politician and member of the Minnesota Senate. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), and he represents District 52, which includes all but one precinct of Eagan and Mendota Heights, all of Mendota, and some of Burnsville in Dakota County in the southeastern Twin Cities metropolitan area.

Carlson was first elected to the Minnesota State Senate in 2006. He was unseated by Republican Ted Daley in 2010, but ran again and was elected in 2012. Carlson was reelected in 2016, 2020, and 2022.

Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Carlson is a Lutheran. He was raised on a farm and is a retired Mechanical Engineer, having worked at Ecolab and 3M. He is married to Gayle and they have two children. They reside in Eagan, Minnesota.

Carlson is an alumnus of the Dunwoody Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he received a Certificate of Machine Design in 1967. He also attended the University of Minnesota and earned a B.M.E. in Mechanical Engineering in 1973.

In addition to his legislative service, Carlson has served on the Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented. His special legislative concerns include education, transportation, health care, economic vitality, and voter access.

As of 2023, Carlson chairs the Elections Committee and serves on the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, State and Local Government and Veterans Committee, and Transportation Committee.