NISSWA — The DFL filed a campaign finance complaint against Senate District 6 Republican candidate Keri Heintzeman on Thursday, April 24, alleging she violated contribution limits.
State statute limits individual contributions in state senate races to $1,000. But the complaint states Heintzeman accepted $2,000 from nine separate donors, according to her public campaign finance report.
“Keri Heintzeman broke the law to advance her campaign and has no business serving in the Legislature,” said DFL Chairman Richard Carlbom in a news release.
But Heintzeman told KAXE she was assured she is not violating the law by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
"They [the DFL] can go ahead, I did double check with campaign finance," she said by phone on Thursday.
Heintzeman also shared the email she received from a legal analyst there, which appears to confirm her statement.
"Yes, the contribution limits applicable to a special election cycle are completely separate from the contribution limits applicable to the regular election cycle segment," the email from Andrew Olson stated, "so an individual could donate $1,000 to your campaign committee prior to the day the writ of special election is issued, then donate another $1,000 to your campaign committee during the special election cycle (see Minnesota Statutes section 10A.27, subdivisions 16b and 16c)."
Because she collected donations before Gov. Tim Walz issued the writ for the special election to fill former state Sen. Justin Eichorn’s seat, $1,000 from each of those donors technically applies toward a 2026 run.
Heintzeman said she did not know this was possible until earlier this year, when a different special election took place in the Minnesota House between Republican Paul Wikstrom and DFLer David Gottfried in March.
"I didn’t know about this until I worked on the Wikstrom special election, where his campaign discovered that this is how it works," she said.
The nine donors come from four different families, all current or former business owners, primarily in Northern Minnesota.
The donors are Nita and Robert Gross, who own a Brainerd electronics manufacturing company; Justina and Michael Higgins, who own the Northern Pacific Center in Brainerd; Brian, Greta, Mary Ann and Peter Nystrom, from the family that founded a for-profit mental health provider; and Steve Grosser, an executive at Midcontinent Media.
None of these donors will be able to contribute more to Heintzeman before the 2026 election.
Heintzeman emerged from a field of eight Republicans to face DFL candidate Denise Slipy in the special general election set for April 29.
