Becky Lourey

Becky Lourey (born September 24, 1943) is an American politician, a former Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) state senator in Minnesota. Her son, Matt, served in the U.S. Army and was killed on May 27, 2005, as a result of injuries received in combat over Buhriz, Iraq, where he was serving in his second tour of duty.

Lourey was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1990 and, after being reelected to two additional terms, ran successfully for the state senate in 1996. She was Chair of the Senate Health and Family Security Committee and recognized as a health care expert. In 1990, she ran as a DFLer against a long-time incumbent Republican state representative and became the first woman to represent her rural district. Six years later she claimed a state Senate seat over yet another legislative veteran. The two incumbents Becky defeated to win public office had 44 years of legislative experience between them.

Lourey did not run for re-election in 2006. Her son, Tony Lourey, currently holds her former seat.

2006 Campaign for Governor

Lourey announced her candidacy for Governor in November 2005. She lost the DFL party endorsement to attorney general Mike Hatch, gaining votes of 31% of delegates on the first ballot, with 38% voting for Hatch and 29% voting for Steve Kelley. She withdrew from the endorsement process after the third ballot after having fallen behind Kelley and while Hatch's vote total was increasing. Lourey instead ran an opposition campaign against Hatch in the September primary. She lost, gaining 24% of the votes.

Lourey's Gubernatorial campaign health care platform was the Health Care Security Plan, which included the details to put a universal health coverage system in place in Minnesota by 2010. That system would have been voluntary, not mandatory such as in the new Massachusetts health program enacted into law in Spring 2006 and some other state-level health reform proposals, including the current Minnesota Medical Association's proposal.

At the heart of the Lourey health care plan was an expanded and reformed "MinnesotaCare", a state program providing health insurance coverage for low-income Minnesotans that Lourey had authored, along with several others, in the state legislature in 1993. Under her Health Care Security Plan, all Minnesotans would have been eligible to join the new MinnesotaCare by 2010. Employers could participate by offering their employer plan via the new BusinessCare program to be created as part of the revised MinnesotaCare. There were several cost containment measures contained in Lourey's Health Care Security Plan, including a requirement that any HMOs, private health insurers, or Third Party Administrators receiving contracts to administer state-funded health plans spend no more than 5% on administrative expenses.

Electoral history

*2006 Race for Governor - Democratic Primary
**Mike Hatch (DFL), 73%
**Becky Lourey (DFL), 24%

*2002 Race for Minnesota Senate - District 8
**Becky Lourey (DFL) (inc.), 55%
**Bruce Nelson (R), 31%
**Steve Keillor (IPL), 8%

*2000 Race for Minnesota Senate - District 8
**Becky Lourey (DFL) (inc.), 68%
**Dennis Janssen (R), 33%

External links

* [http://www.beckylourey.org/ Lourey's campaign website]
* [http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/2006/campaign/governor/lourey/ Campaign 2006: Becky Lourey (Minnesota Public Radio)]