Representative Steve Drazkowski was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in a special election on August 7, 2007. He has been re-elected 7 consecutive times since, receiving two-thirds of the vote of his supporters in November of 2020.
During his tenure in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Steve served 4 years as the Chair of the House Property Tax Committee and has also served as an Assistant Minority Leader in the House Republican Caucus.
The Drazkowski Family
Steve and his wife Laura live in Mazeppa, Minnesota. Mazeppa is a beautiful town of 842 people and is located on the very western edge of Wabasha County. Laura has had a long career working for the United States Postal Service. Steve’s daughter Kinsey and her family live and work in Virginia.
Born on November 27, 1964 in Winona, Steve grew up with four younger brothers on a family beef and crop farm in Bluff Siding, WI (just 2 miles east of Winona – across the Mississippi River). During his years growing up, Steve learned a great deal about hard work, family, and faith. The farm brought many long days of throwing hay bales, filling silo, making fence, and doing fieldwork. It was these experiences as a farm boy, that Steve formed the foundational structure for his values. His family still owns and operates the family farm today.
Steve graduated from Cochrane-Fountain City High School in 1983. During his high school years, he served as senior class president, was elected as a Wisconsin State FFA officer, and participated as a member of the National FFA Chorus. After high school, Steve attended college at the University of Wisconsin – River Falls, where he served for two years as the student senate president and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture, graduating in 1989.
Steve worked for 6 months as a temporary Extension 4-H Agent with the University of Minnesota Extension Service in Buffalo, Minnesota. Shortly after, in 1990, he was hired for the position of County Extension Agriculture Agent in Hinckley. In 1994, while working full time and raising his daughter, he earned a Master of Education Degree from the University of Minnesota. Steve worked in Pine County until late 1997, when he decided to move back closer to his home, landing a position as a regional extension agriculture educator for Wabasha County. He continued to work as a regional agricultural educator for the University of Minnesota Extension Service up until March of 2004. Subsequently, Steve directed Minnesota field operations for Whitetails Unlimited for two years. Additionally, Steve worked in website search engine optimization and marketing with Vision Design Group in Winona, for eight years.
In 2015, when his mother passed away unexpectantly, Steve took over the family’s retail shoe business, Baker Shoes, in Winona. He is the 4th generation owner of the 98-year-old business started by his great grandfather, John R. Baker, an Irish immigrant. Winona’s authorized Red Wing Shoes dealer, Baker Shoes is a traditional “sit and fit” shoe store that meets the comfort and safety footwear needs of thousands of customers in the Winona area.
Steve has a long history of volunteerism in his community. He is a former DNR Firearms Safety Instructor, a Wabasha County 4-H volunteer, and has served in numerous positions within the Minnesota Republican Party at county, district and state levels. He is the past president of the Minnesota Forage and Grassland Council, served many years volunteering with Kinsey’s Girl Scout troop, and has judged numerous FFA and 4-H youth events throughout southeastern Minnesota. Steve is an avid outdoorsman, enjoying fishing and hunting whenever he gets the chance, and he maintains membership in the National Rifle Association, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, and local sportsmen’s clubs. The Christian faith is important to the Drazkowski family. They are members of the St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Mazeppa.