ST. PAUL — A special election for Minnesota Senate District 60 in Minneapolis on Tuesday, Jan. 28 is set to decide who will take control of the Senate.

The Minneapolis Senate seat opened after the Dec. 28

death of Sen. Kate Dziedzic

, DFL-Minneapolis, leaving the Senate in a temporary 33-33 tie. The seat is expected to return to blue on Tuesday, Jan. 28, as it has been since 1970.

During its tie, the Senate has been operating under a

temporary power-sharing agreement

that passed on the session’s opening day and includes the establishment co-presidents and equal control of committees.

In a primary for the Minneapolis Senate seat on Tuesday, Jan. 14, Abigail Wolters won the Republican race with 72% of the vote and Doron Clark won the DFL candidacy with 38% of the vote. Voters of District 60 will decide between Wolters and Clark Tuesday.

Voter Information

Republican candidate Wolters is a lifelong Minnesotan, software engineer a 2021 graduate from the University of Minnesota. Some of her top priorities are public safety, fiscal responsibility and investments in education and the economy, according to

her campaign website

.

DFL candidate Clark lives in Northeast Minneapolis working full time in ethics and compliance at Medtronic. He served as Senate D60 DFL Chair in 2022. Some of his top priorities are public education, healthcare and housing for all, according to

his campaign website.

The Minnesota Secretary of State website

advises those with absentee ballots to drop them off in person on election day because of the tight deadline. Voters can do so at either the Hennepin County Government Center or the Elections and Voter Services office in Minneapolis. More information on locations for in-person voting and drop-off can be found on the

Secretary of State’s website.

Mary Murphy joined Forum Communications in October 2024 as the Minnesota State Correspondent. She can be reached by email at mmurphy@forumcomm.com.

A woman has been charged in connection with a fire that killed two people in August.

Deonna Marie Presbury, 35, faces two counts of second-degree murder and three counts of first-degree arson.

As previously reported, 59-year-old Debbie Leshelle Allen of New Richmond, Wisconsin, and 66-year-old Kerry Sims of Minneapolis were killed in the apartment fire.

According to a criminal complaint, several people reported a fire at an apartment building at 1501 11th Avenue South in Minneapolis on Aug. 13. Allen and Sims were later found deceased in the building.

Two other people were seriously injured in the fire and needed to be hospitalized.

Arson investigators found two points of origin for the fire. The first was at the rear stairway of the second floor and the other was in the second-floor hallway, originating from a pair of pink rollerblades.

Court documents state that a witness said Presbury was in the hallway of the building with her daughter and was arguing with him before the fire was set. Presbury had demanded that her belongings be returned. The witness said he gave Presbury her items, which included clothing, a bicycle and pink rollerblades.

Another witness in the apartment told police that she heard Presbury say, “I’m gonna burn this [expletive] down…You got me messed up…I’m gonna kill this [expletive].”

The witness said she smelled smoke coming from the hallway a few minutes after Presbury left with her belongings.

The first witness called Presbury on speakerphone while being interviewed by police. When he told her that the fire had killed two people and suggested she was responsible, Presbury reportedly responded, “Love will [expletive] you up anytime.”

A third witness told police that before the fire, he heard a woman arguing in the hallway and threatening to “burn this place down” if she didn’t get her stuff back.

Court documents state that motion-activated security images showed Presbury leaving the apartment with her daughter. Presbury reportedly left behind the pair of pink rollerblades determined to be the point of origin for the second fire.

Presbury and her daughter were then seen walking toward the location of the first fire’s origin, according to court documents. The two are then seen leaving — Presbury reportedly had a lit cigarette and was wearing a blue rubber glove moments before the fire.

Investigators then learned that Presbury is a person of interest in other intentional fires involving the male witness’ property and is known to carry a torch lighter with her. Arson investigators believe the fires at the apartment building could have been started with a torch lighter.

Presbury was arrested and, in an interview with investigators, denied being at the apartment building that day. Police asked again if she was at the building and she promised she wasn’t.

When shown the photos of her and her daughter getting her belongings from the man’s apartment, Presbury admitted to being at the building. She denied speaking to the man about the fire and said she heard about it from the news.