Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL Austin, is hoping to earn her sixth term in office this fall as state representative of District 27B, which covers Austin, most of Mower County and part of Dodge County. Poppe filed for re-election Thursday.

“I’ve been successful doing this for the past decade and I hope to continue to be successful,” she said.

A counselor at Riverland Community College, Poppe has represented the area at the state Capitol since 2004.

She serves on the higher education committee and chairs the agriculture policy committee in the House of Representatives, among other things.

Over the past two years, Poppe has been proud to introduce farm-to-food shelf legislation which secured $2 million to bring excess food gathered by farmers to Second Harvest, a food shelf distribution network across the state. She has also helped to secure funding for The Hormel Institute expansion, local flood mitigation efforts and has introduced legislation tightening child abuse laws, among other accomplishments.

If re-elected, Poppe believes transportation will be a major focus for the legislature and hopes to work on that issue in 2015. She also hopes to find more ways to fund higher education and make postsecondary institutions, from technical college to four-year universities, more affordable for Minnesotans.

Poppe will face Republican nominee Dennis Schminke for the District 27B seat this November. As of press time, he had not yet officially filed.