State Sen. Ann Rest reflects on career as she looks towards retirement after 40 years in the Minnesota Legislature
In the middle of an interview with Minnesota Sen. Ann Rest, two of her constituents just happened to walk by and say hello.
"We disagree about several things," the one person said, off-camera.
Rest quickly replied, "Oh my goodness, do we ever."
The pair usually comes to her listening sessions, she explained — meetings Rest has with people in her district covering some northwestern Minneapolis suburbs to hear about what issues are important to them.
"The last one, a couple of weeks ago, they stayed after and we had lunch together," she said with a smile.
It was a brief encounter that captures so much about one of the longest-serving legislators in state history and how she views public service. Rest told WCCO that in her 40 years at the state capitol, that kind of civility — disagreeing, agreeably — is becoming increasingly like a lost art.
But she said it is a value she deeply believes in, and hopes that will continue long after she retires after the 2026 legislative session ends.
"I think we have forgotten that it only takes an act of political will to be polite to someone," Rest said in an interview on Tuesday. "We listen too often to our dark sides."
"We have, I think, as a society — and that includes legislators as well — have forgotten that every single member of the Senate has a family and their family, and they love their family like you love yours," she continued. "You want people to treat you with respect even when there are great societal issues that you're discussing and you're not going to agree."
In June, political disagreement escalated to an act of political violence that rocked the state and upended lawmakers' sense of safety. Prosecutors say an accused assassin targeted Democrats, killing DFL former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark and injuring DFL Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. The shooter had a hit list, authorities say, that had others' names and addresses on it and that he visited two other lawmakers' homes the night of the shooting attacks.
Rest was one of them. She has never spoken about it publicly in an interview since it happened.
"I don't regard myself as a victim because I am alive sitting here smiling and talking to you, and I feel very fortunate in that and the good work of the New Hope police," she said when asked how the tragedy changed her. "I think, not just June 14, but maybe even more importantly, the shootings at Annunciation [Church and School] have really emphasized to me that on any and every occasion that I have the opportunity to vote for a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines, I'm going to do it."
The longtime state senator refuses to let the shootings of her colleagues change how she approaches connecting with her community, which she has proudly served since her first election in 1984 to the Minnesota House. She said she feels fortunate and grateful to New Hope police for checking on her that night.
"My dog likes to look out my front door, so during the day, that door is open for her to look out and I wear a shirt that says 'Minnesota State Senate' on it when I go to the grocery store sometimes," she said. "I'm not going to let evil people in the world define who I am — just not going to do it. I'm not going to be reckless, but I'm not going to do it."
Rest vows she's "not finished yet" as she eyes final legislative session
After four decades at the state Capitol, Rest still has a to-do list for her last act in the Legislature.
That there is always something else to do for her constituents motivated her to keep running for re-election year after year, she explained.
"Every time an election came up, I would make a new decision about what more was there that I wanted to accomplish," she said. "Every time I looked forward to — this is not finished yet. This is not finished yet. And I really love my job and that remains true right now."
She has the unique distinction of serving as the chair of both the House and Senate Taxes committees, powerful panels at the Capitol. Among the achievements she is most proud of stemmed from work in that role: cutting social security taxes for many seniors and a child tax credit designed to slash child poverty by one-third.
Her hope for 2026 is to expand the child care and dependent tax credit to help more families afford the high costs of child care, especially since flexible working schedules during the pandemic are shifting back to broader return-to-office policies.
"In the early 2020s, we said you can work without having to go to work. And now we're switching back that in order to work, you need to go to work," Rest said.
Now the focus should be "on more middle-income families, where the work opportunities may be diminished for a number of women who really want to work."
She is also proud of the Consumer Restitution Fund that passed this year. The first-of-its-kind account is set up to help victims of fraud recoup some of their losses by depositing half of the funds the attorney general's office recovers in civil penalties for consumer protection cases.
Before politics, Rest was once a teacher, a job she said she loved, but declining enrollment in the district led to layoffs and she wasn't spared. She then became a certified public accountant.
When asked what drew her to the taxes committee, she didn't hesitate: "There are some who say that you can track the social history of the United States through one book, and that is the Internal Revenue Code."
She said she is encouraging other women to consider running for her seat and a House seat that falls within her Senate district that will be left vacant by DFL Rep. Cedrick Frazier, who is running for Hennepin County attorney.
Rest was among 25 female lawmakers when she first joined the state House. That number has more than doubled today.
But Rest said there won't be enough women in the Legislature until they make up half of the 201-member body — until it is "unremarkable" that they serve.
"We still are hearing about a number of firsts — the first to do this, the first to do that," she said. "I'm looking forward to the time when that will not be a characteristic of women at the Legislature.