Minnesota House District 40B candidate guide
Who is running for MN House District 40B in the 2026 General Election?
Meet the candidates for MN House District 40B: Allen Shen and David Gottfried.
Below is a candidate guide to get to know each candidate with information curated based on campaign websites, publicly available information, and responses to a Roseville Reader candidate questionnaire.
Allen Shen
Republican
Campaign website
Allen Shen is running for Minnesota House to represent District 40B. He was born in China and immigrated to the United States at age twelve. Shen graduated from Mounds View High School and then joined the U.S. Army. After that, he moved to Shanghai, China to work in international business for two French companies, before returning to the U.S. to "assist American corporations in expanding their business interests to global markets," according to his campaign website. Shen later worked on Governor Mark Dayton's Trade Commission. Shen lives in Roseville.
"I will fight to defend our constitutional rights, our freedom and the American way of life. We are the land of the free because we are home of the brave!" Shen wrote on his campaign website.
Shen's campaign priorities include school choice for students and school vouchers, job creation in Minnesota, medical freedom, public safety, reducing taxes, and election integrity, according to his campaign website.
Why are you running for elected office?
"Preserve Freedom, protect our constitutional rights. The reason I decided to run for public office is because in Jan of 2026, a group of leftist mob stormed and invaded my church in the city of St. Paul. It is not ok to yell at families during a Sunday worship, it is not ok to yell and intimidate children at a church during service. To me, that's crossing the line too far! That's what made me want to stand out for those who can't."
What are some of your legislative priorities for the next legislative session?
" *Election Integrity, Voter ID laws.
* Protect Title IX, boys should not play in girls' sports, I call it cheating.
*Make adoptions easier and cheaper in MN. so the unexpected mothers can give her child up for adoption.
*Hold Fraudsters accountable, we must take back our money from the fraud, since it's our money, we should take it back.
*Lower cost for Minnesotans, income tax, property tax, gas tax, sales tax, and car tabs should all go down.
*Expose and investigate the Chinese Government Spy networks in Minnesota."
How would you work to make life better for ordinary people living in the Roseville area?
"*Transportation and safety. Bring back the reflective lanes so we can see the lanes when it's rainy and dark.
*Bring the bike lanes to secondary roads and take then off the major roads.
*Maintain our great park system in Roseville
*Working with the Roseville Police for public safety"
What are your priorities when it comes to public education?
"Fund for students' academic performance, not indoctrination. MN public school ranking drop significantly after Covid, we used to be top 5 in the country before Covid, but after Covid MN failed to manage the after affects of Covid policies in education which caused us to drop to number 19 in the country.
We should go back to the basics, and make up the human aspect factors that we lost over Covid policies."
How do you plan to connect with residents in the Roseville area and their local city leaders to represent their unique interests at the state level?
"If elected, my communication channel would be always open for my constituents, I will attend the out-reach events in the community.
I will have coffee with the local community leaders and listen to them regarding their interests and concerns."
What else do you want voters in the Roseville area to know about you?
"Go to my website at: www.allenshenformn.com to learn more on my policies."
David Gottfried (incumbent)
Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Campaign website
David Gottfried is running for re-election to the Minnesota House of Representatives to represent District 40B. Gottfried won a Special Election in 2025 which restored a tie in the Minnesota House. Outside of the Legislature, Gottfried works at a law firm as a Pro Bono Specialist. He received a Master's Degree in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Gottfried lives in Shoreview.
"I hope to earn your trust to serve our district for another two years," Gottfried wrote in his questionnaire response.
Gottfried's campaign priorities include "facing down fascism in the federal government," lowering the cost of groceries, property tax reform, protecting workers from artificial intelligence, sustainable development, supporting small businesses, and fighting fraud, according to his campaign website.
Why are you running for elected office?
"There's a lot of work we need to get done on behalf of Minnesotans. Last session, we passed major legislation to catch and prevent fraud in the future, and lower costs for people in our state. There's still much more we must do. I'm running again to help make life more affordable for my community through systemic property tax reform, legislation to lower the cost of health care, child care, and senior care, and finally address the housing affordability crisis. These are all high cost items that weigh heavily on Minnesotans. Last, I seek to develop a framework to regulate the use of AI in our state - we cannot act soon enough on this. In short, I'm running for office, because there's lots of work to do to help the people of this state."
What are some of your legislative priorities for the next legislative session?
"Beyond what is listed above:
1 - Accountability for federal overreach.
2 - Comprehensive gun violence prevention package.
3 - Pass the Equal Rights Amendment, so voters can decide on its adoption in our state constitution.
4 - Pass the Patient Centered Care Act, which would have the state directly pay care providers for work with patients on Medical Assistance and MNSure, cutting out greedy insurance companies that profit off sickness.
5 - Restructure property taxes so industry and commercial lots pay their fair share, making sure the burden does not fall so heavily on regular residents. This is especially important as Republican's Big Ugly Bill transferred $100 Billion of costs every year (for the next 10 years) to local and county governments who set our property taxes.
6 - Program integrity measures to make sure every dollar spent by the state is put toward the public good."
How would you work to make life better for ordinary people living in the Roseville area?
"Since I addressed multiple policies that would improve the lives of people living in the Roseville area, I'll speak more to how I'd go about my work.
1 - You are my bosses. Full stop. I commit to transparency, accountability, and accessibility. You have a question or concern? Reach out. I want to hear from you and I will get back to you.
2 - I have worked collaboratively with the City of Roseville and Ramsey County to fully understand the impact of our legislation on the local communities and advocate for changes that will benefit our residents. This will continue.
3 - Every year, I try to work on a local or constituent-driven bill. These last two years, I carried three of them and was able to get one fully across the finish line. This will continue as I already have five such bills ready to go for next legislative session."
What are your priorities when it comes to public education?
"Fully fund training for the READ Act, which was passed in 2023. This is a critical piece of legislation that changes how we teach reading. It's core idea is that children LEARN TO READ at critical stages of development so that in later years they are fully prepared to READ TO LEARN. We must also continue to support educators in this career with family-supporting wages and dignified retirement plans. The professional attrition in education is far too high and we need to make sure that we are retaining talented educators throughout their working careers."
How do you plan to connect with residents in the Roseville area and their local city leaders to represent their unique interests at the state level?
"When I say "you are my boss," I take that seriously. In fact, I led all Representatives in the Minnesota House in Constituent Correspondence these last two years - which means I was the most accessible Representative in the entire state. If you reach out to me in good faith, even if we disagree, I will engage with you. That is my promise."
What else do you want voters in the Roseville area to know about you?
"I truly believe we have more in common than most think. There's a lot of noise in the world that intentionally separates us. The one way to cut through the noise is by having honest, open-minded conversations with someone that may view the world different than you. If we can do that, we'll be a stronger community, state, and country for it."
Candidate Forum & Speak Outs
The League of Women Voters Roseville Area held a candidate forum for the MN Senate District 40 candidates. Both candidates participated.
NineNorth invited the candidates to participate in a "Speakout" in which they each had an opportunity to share their campaign pitches. Both candidates were invited, but only Allen Shen participated.
Prepare to Vote
Find out what else is on your ballot, check your voter registration, and locate your polling place:
Additional Roseville-specific election coverage:
Editorial note: This candidate guide is intended for informational purposes only. The Roseville Reader does not endorse political candidates.
