Over the first two weeks of the Minnesota legislative session, the Senate operated under a “power-sharing” agreement because Democrats and Republicans were tied 33-33 after the death of DFL Senator Kari Dziedzic.

That’s all going to change next week when the DFL takes back the majority after the victory of Sen.-elect Doron Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, in a special election to replace Dziedzic.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS asked Clark why he ran for the Legislature at such a contentious time. “It’s fairly simple,” he said in an interview recorded for “At Issue with Tom Hauser.” “As I ran, I heard people say we need to work on education. We need to work on lowering the cost of housing and we need to get better at health care. That’s what I’ve seen in southeast and northeast Minneapolis that we need to do.”

Clark grew up on a sheep farm in Eyota, Minn., but has lived in his Minneapolis district for 25 years. He graduated from Hamline University in St. Paul and works for Medtronic as an analyst.

He’s looking forward to finding ways to reach common ground with Republican senators.

“I think we all have our north star,” he said. “When I talk to folks on the doors and when I talk to folks across the aisle, there is this commonality of education, housing and how do we drive down the cost of health care. So there are clear spots we can work together and move forward.”

Clark will be sworn in early next week after he receives his election certificate. You can see the entire interview on “At Issue” at 10 a.m. Sunday.