Sep. 23—ROCHESTER — Is there much of a political middle anymore? It’s hard to find evidence of one.
The U.S. government right now is careening toward a shutdown over partisan differences on health care.
A state Senate working group was unable to find common ground on ways to tamp down gun violence after the shooting deaths of two Annunciation Catholic Church students and former Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark.
At a memorial service for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Sunday, President Donald Trump told the stadium-packed crowd, “I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them.”
Cultivating the political middle thus might seem like jousting at windmills today, but that’s what a Minnesota-based nonprofit called Majority in the Middle was doing in Rochester Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025.
And its advocates don’t see it as a hopeless cause. It invited people, politicians and non-politicians from Rochester, to sign a pledge committing themselves to “building a civic coalition that demands something better.”
Signatories to the”The Civic Pledge for a Better Minnesota” are affirming their commitment to reject political violence and foster civic trust, said Shannon Watson, the nonprofit’s executive director who is leading the charge on the pledge campaign.
“Despite what you see on social media or from political campaigns, not all politics is divisive,” Watson said at a press conference at Saint Mary’s University in Rochester. “Not every legislator sees enemies on the other side of the aisle.”
The civility pledge campaign was launched by the group soon after the assassination of Hortman on June 14, 2025. The accused was later found to have a number of DFL legislators on a target list, evidence that the acts were politically motivated, Watson said.
But Watson said the political middle needs to speak up and be better organized. Too often voices of moderation are drowned out by those who are “really unhappy about an issue,” issue advocates, political staff and campaign operatives.
So far, some 300 elected and non-elected officials in Minnesota have signed the pledge, Watson said. Efforts to promote the drive have been held in Mankato and St. Cloud, and another is planned in Duluth.
One of those in attendance at the press conference was Sheila Kiscaden, a former state senator from Rochester who made a career of roaming the political middle during a 15-year legislative career. She said she saw the value in such a pledge. It allowed people to declare their commitment to civil discourse without having to take a “hard stand on a particular issue.”
“Many people are really unsettled about the political times we’re in, not just elected officials but the average citizen,” Kiscaden said. “They don’t necessarily want to be showing up at political rallies. This is a way that people can say, ‘I stand for civility.'”
Various speakers at Tuesday’s event agreed that today’s heightened political climate stems from a number of factors: A fragmented media environment, social media and its ability to reel in users through content curated to engage emotions, and gerrymandered political districts.
However, those same speakers said there is a reason a political movement geared toward civility has potential.
For one, the vast majority of Americans reject political violence as a solution to problems. There is more that binds us than separates us, they argued. That common identity stems from widespread support for common values, such as freedom of speech and equal protection under the law.
And while there is passionate disagreement between the parties on a number of issues, none of them rise to the level of an existential crisis that was true, say, of the 1960s, when debates over Vietnam, race and civil rights were tearing at the nation’s fabric.
GOP state Sen. Carla Nelson of Rochester, who signed the pledge, noted how partisan tensions are often exacerbated by how districts are carved up and created. She noted that she represents a district that is “very bipartisan,” but many other legislators don’t. Their greatest fear is not losing to a challenger from the opposite party but being primaried by someone from within their party.
“That’s one of the things that could be most helpful as we look at redistricting,” she said.
Tim Shea of Rochester was on hand to sign the pledge. The country “in many ways, is at a turning point,” he said. “We just have to do everything we can do to change the rhetoric on both sides.”