State Sen. Sandy Pappas had wanted to go out on a high note as a legislator. Finding that moment, however, came after more than 40 legislative sessions at the State Capitol.
“Between 2023, [20]24, [20]25, [and] hopefully [20]26, the DFL really accomplished a lot and I was really involved with a lot of that,” Pappas said. “It’s nice to out when you feel like you’re kind of at the top of your career.”
Pappas, who has represented St. Paul in the legislature since 1984, announced last week that she would be retiring next year, with the 2026 session being her last. She won her senate seat for an 11th time in 2022; prior to her election to the senate in 1990, she served in the state house from 1984-90.
“Sandy Pappas has been tremendous asset to her city and state these past four decades, and her wisdom will be missed by all of us,” said Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy. “I have learned and shared so much with Senator Pappas as her seatmate on the chamber floor, and as a caucus member came to value her work ethic and skillful negotiating. Her leadership as chair of the Capital Investment Committee will benefit communities across the state for generations. The Women’s Economic Security Act is a landmark employment law that makes successful, equitable careers a possibility for women, and the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board will do the same for the communities that care for our seniors. Beyond her accomplishments, we have all gained from Senator Pappas’ compassionate, thoughtful perspective as a global citizen in our increasingly connected world.”
Pappas has seen a notable shift in the legislature during her tenure. For starters, she said, new legislators don’t “keep quiet” and bide their time.
“I think it’s a lot easier for younger legislators now than when I started, because there’s a lot more openness and more team-playing,” she said. “And everybody’s included; younger legislators are encouraged and supported in carrying major legislation.”
Pappas said she has always considered herself a “pragmatic progressive” legislator who, for much of her early career in St. Paul, found herself and her party in the minority.
“I was able to have influence once I chaired committees, but a lot of times I wasn’t,” in that position, she said. “It wasn’t really until [20]23; we really saw after the [20]22 election, a huge number of progressives, a lot of women, a lot of people of color, a lot more diversity get elected who are impatient, not willing to sit around and wait, and we were able to get a lot done.”
Earlier in her career, Pappas said there was more blurring of political ideologies; rural Democrats who were socially conservative and fiscally progressive, or suburban Republicans who may have been more liberal on social issues but fiscally conservative.
“The whole alignment has changed,” she said. “I think what’s stayed most stable is in the [Twin] Cities.”
Pappas isn’t planning on coasting through her last term to retirement. She chairs the Senate Capital Investment Committee, which helps lead the effor to get a bonding bill passed for state infrastructure improvements. Her committee just went on a tour of the northwestern part of the state, and has a southwestern Minnesota tour planned for next week.
“Basically we’ve toured the entire state to look at what their infrastructure needs are,” she said. Beyond things like roads and bridges, Pappas is also focusing on water and sewer needs throughout the state, as well as investment at the state’s colleges and universities. “There’s a huge backlog there.”
Pappas said she’d like to see some reforms of Minnesota Management and Budget.
“They have been holding us back in terms of a large bonding bill and it’s just not matching the needs of the state,” she said. “A lot of our infrastructure was built post-World War II or the 60s, even in the 80s. That’s a long time ago.”
Pappas pointed to the Minnesota Dream Act and the Minnesota Secure Choice Retirement Program as two pieces of legislation that she carried that she is particularly proud of.
The Minnesota Dream Act, authorized in-state tuition rates and private scholarship aid at public institutions for Minnesota high school graduates who were undocumented immigrants but didn’t realize that was their status.
“I had these high school students who would come and talk to me about how their dream is to go to college. And so many kids take it for granted,” Pappas said. “Being able to pass that, especially now in the time with the way immigrants are being treated by by the federal government, by ICE, I feel like that’s, that’s part of the American dream, is to be able to come to America, and work hard and go to school and, you know, be able to get a good job and support your family, and the students were being deprived of that.”
The Minnesota Secure Choice Retirement Program is a new pension program that goes into effect in January 2026, for low-wage workers who don’t have access to a pension plan. The story behind that legislation was also very personal: her aunt Rose’s husband passed away before she did, and after lived on his pension until the money ran out.
“She sold all her property and ended up just living on Social Security, but her rent was $900 a month and her social security was $1,100 per month,” Pappas said. The money will come from a person’s paycheck and be invested with the State Board of Investments. “That could be your food budget, and that also can reduce people’s dependency on welfare, on SNAP benefits, on food shelves, because they’ll have that little bit of money.”
Pappas’ passion for those legislative initiatives comes from her Jewish practice.
“It’s the Jewish prophets, Micah and Isaiah, who talk about act justly, yeah, and seek justice and defend the oppressed,” she said. “Ethical conduct is very strong in Reform Judaism, where I come from.”
