Senator Dan Sparks represents District 27, which includes all or portions of Dodge, Faribault, Freeborn, Mower, and Steele counties in the southeastern part of the state.
Sparks was first elected to the Minnesota Senate in 2002. He was re-elected in 2006, 2010, 2012, and 2016. He was selected to chair the Senate Committee on Jobs, Agriculture, and Rural Development in 2012 and his special legislative concerns include education funding, lowering prescription drug costs, and economic development.
Currently, he serves on the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Housing Finance committee, the Capital Investment Committee, and is the Ranking Minority Member on the Commerce and Consumer Protection Finance and Policy committee.
Sparks attended college at the University of Minnesota and St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud. He and his wife Andrea live in Austin with their four children. He has worked road construction, at the Austin Hormel plant, at Farmers and Merchant’s Bank in Austin and on the family farm. Sparks has also been the YMCA Board of Directors, is a member of the local Lions club, and is involved in youth hockey and little league.
