Robert J. Kupec ( ; born November 27, 1968) is a

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

politician and member of the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Minnesota Legislature, Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any State legislature (Unite ...

. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), he represents Senate District 4, which includes most of

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

and

Becker Becker () is one of the German-language surnames, along with Bäcker and Baecker, that derive from the root, which refers to baking. The surname began as a name for a baker (and thus his family). In northern Germany, it can also derive from th ...

counties. Prior to seeking elected office, he was for a decade the chief meteorologist at

KVRR KVRR (channel 15) is a television station in Fargo, North Dakota, United States, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. Owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company, the station maintains studios on South 40th Street an ...

and previously at

WDAY-TV WDAY-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Fargo, North Dakota, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship television property of locally based Forum Communications ...

Early life, education, and career

Kupec was born in eastern

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. Both of his parents were active union organizers. He attended college at the State University of New York-Albany, studying Atmospheric Science, and earned a degree in 1992. He moved to

Moorhead, Minnesota Moorhead ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Minnesota, Clay County, Minnesota, United States, on the banks of the Red River of the North. Located in the Red River Valley, an extremely fertile and active agricultural region, Moo ...

in 2000, and began work as a meteorologist, first for WDAY-TV and then served as chief meteorologist for KVRR.

Political career

Prior to moving to Minnesota, Kupec ran as a

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

party candidate for the Albany County Legislature in 1999. In 2022, incumbent DFL state senator

Kent Eken Bernhard Kent Eken ( ; born December 12, 1963) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represented District 4, which includes portions of Becker, C ...

decided not to seek reelection. Kupec ran, and was unopposed in the DFL primary. He defeated Moorhead City Councilman and Republican Dan Bohmer in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

, winning 52.5% of the vote compared to Bohmer's 46.8%. Kupec serves on the following committees: * Vice Chair: Agriculture, Broadband, and Rural Development * Health and Human Services * Higher Education * Labor

Personal life

He is married to Deb White, a Moorhead City Councilwoman. They have one son, Quinn.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kupec, Rob 1968 births Living people Democratic Party Minnesota state senators University at Albany, SUNY alumni People from Moorhead, Minnesota American meteorologists 21st-century members of the Minnesota Legislature