Mark William Holsten is an American politician in Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. Holsten, a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

, served in the Minnesota House of Representatives

Minnesota House of Representatives

The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house in the Minnesota State Legislature. There are 134 members elected to two-year terms, twice the number of members in the Minnesota Senate. Each senate district is divided in half and given the suffix A or B...

 from 1993 to 2002. He represented district 56A until November 2002 and, after redistricting, won election in 52B but was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Natural Resources before the following session started. He served as chairman of the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Committee. Holsten was recently appointed to replace Gene Merriam as Commissioner of Natural Resources starting in January 2007.

Holsten holds a bachelor's degree in sociology and history from the University of Minnesota Duluth

University of Minnesota Duluth

The University of Minnesota Duluth is a regional branch of the University of Minnesota system located in Duluth, Minnesota, USA. As Duluth's public research university, UMD offers 13 bachelor's degrees in 74 majors, graduate programs in 24 different fields, a two-year program at the School of...

 and a teaching license from the University of Saint Thomas

University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)

The University of St. Thomas is a private, Catholic, liberal arts, and archdiocesan university located in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States...

.

Electoral history

• 2002 MN State House Seat 52B
  • Mark Holsten (R), 58.75%
  • Rebecca Otto (DFL), 41.17%

• 2000 MN State House Seat 56A
  • Mark Holsten (R), 57.57%
  • Joan M. Beaver (DFL), 42.43%

• 1998 MN State House Seat 56A
  • Mark Holsten (R), 64.3%
  • Paul A. Hetland (DFL), 35.5%

External links