Kelsey Waits and her family moved to the Hastings community after her spouse left active duty military service. A member of the Hastings School Board since 2017, she has helped oversee many improvements in the district, including entering into a Solar Garden contract which is saving the school district an average of $100,000 per year. She has a Master’s in Statistics from the University of Connecticut, a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Wellesley College.
Waits believes that the job of our state legislators is to protect the well-being of Minnesotans, which means adequately funding schools, ensuring that all Minnesotans have access to clean water and affordable health care, and supporting small businesses. Clean water is a particular priority as a large portion of her district has struggled with PFAS contamination and high nitrate levels in the water supply.
Kelsey Waits on a just transition to 100% clean energy:
“I would support this legislation. In order to create an equitable solution to the climate crisis, countries like the United States need to lead the way, and states can lead the way for the country. Setting goals is important, and the faster that we can move to 100% clean energy production, the better. Corporations, like Xcel Energy, have already set this as their own goal and as a state, we should move these goals to a larger scale. Elected officials need to be bold with these decisions because we no longer have time to take “baby steps” when addressing the climate crisis.”
