Kresha was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2012 and has been reelected every two years since. He first ran for an open seat following legislative redistricting.[2] In 2022, Kresha faced a primary challenge from the right, leading the House Republican Caucus to increase spending in the district to defend his seat.[4][5]
Kresha serves as the minority lead on the Education Finance Committee and also sits on the Ways and Means Committee. He served as an assistant majority leader from 2015 to 2016 and as majority whip for the Republican House caucus from 2017 to 2018.[2][6] In 2018, after the retirement of Joyce Peppin, Kresha's name was floated as a potential replacement.[7]
Education
In 2015, Kresha supported bipartisan legislation to expand early learning scholarships for disadvantaged children, and a bill to target preschool funding to low-income families.[8][9][10] He opposed legislation that would create a Department of Early Childhood.[11] He has called for focusing on improving math and literacy scores before legislators "throw money" at the public school system, and called DFL funding proposals "unrealistic".[12][13]
Kresha has largely opposed Governor Tim Walz's education proposals, calling them "mandates" and saying they would "indoctrinate students with messages that focus on our nation's flaws".[14][15][16] He also criticized the Walz administration's handling of grant oversight after the Feeding our Future investigation uncovered one of the largest federal fraud cases in state history.[17] He opposed language requiring comprehensive sex education in elementary and secondary schools.[18]
Kresha has co-authored bills that seek to change the state constitution's language guaranteeing all children the fundamental right to a quality public education, and criticized Education Minnesota, the state's largest teachers' union, for its opposition to the proposal.[19][20][21]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kresha sponsored legislation to allow local school leaders to determine their own school reopening plans, arguing against a "one-size-fits-all" approach.[22][23][24][25] He also advocated for allowing districts to hold in-person graduation ceremonies.[26][27]
School choice
Kresha is a supporter of the school choice movement, and authored legislation to expand school choice and offer tax credits and scholarships to families whose students opt out of public schools.[28][29] He has argued that more opportunities for private schools would help close the state's education achievement gap.[30][31]
Child protection laws
Kresha was a member of Governor Mark Dayton's Task Force on the Protection of Children, and authored the group's 11-point plan to reform the state's child protection laws.[32][33][34] The legislation included a provision to mandate child protection reports be sent to law enforcement, and would rank child safety above keeping families intact.[35] The bill unanimously passed the Minnesota House in 2015.[36] He has called for better training of front-line child protection workers.[37][38]
Other political positions
Kresha has co-sponsored legislation to provide broadband subsidies to rural communities, saying the private market alone would not provide full broadband coverage.[39][40][41] He authored a bill to fund an opioid prevention pilot project in his district.[42] Kresha abstained from a vote to declare racism a public health crisis in the state, saying it was "forcing an opinion based on words".[43]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kresha criticized Walz's emergency orders and Attorney General Keith Ellison for taking legal action against business owners who opened bars in defiance of the orders.[44][45]
Kresha authored a law that prohibits government contracts from being issued to vendors who boycott Israel.[46][47] In 2015, he visited Turkey as part of a bipartisan delegation sponsored by the Niagara Foundation, a nonprofit organization with ties to Fethullah Gulen.[48]
