Local DFL leader honored with award

Waseca County DFL Chair Deb Hogenson has been selected to receive the 2026 Minnesota DFL Orville Freeman Award, an honor which acknowledges “Distinguished Service to Greater Minnesota and Agricultural Issues.” Hoganson and two other honorees will be presented at the DFL Farmer-Labor Picnic scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26 in St. Paul. 

 

Hogenson told the Pioneer she feels both honored and humbled to receive the award, named after a distinguished Minnesota Democrat.

 

Upon announcing her selection, the Minnesota DFL stated Hoganson is being recognized “for her decades of activism and service to rural Minnesota and the DFL. A longtime organizer, party leader, and advocate for rural communities and agricultural issues, Debra has been active in DFL politics since attending her first caucus as a college student in the 1970s. 

 

“She and her late husband, Doug Bauman, farmed near Worthington and became fixtures in southern Minnesota DFL organizing, including hosting an annual gathering that began during Tim Walz’s first campaign for Congress. Debra has served as a director of the DFL State Central Committee, chair of the First Congressional District DFL, leader of the Nobles County DFL and later of the Waseca County DFL, and as a national delegate and presidential elector. She has also served as a member of the Farmers Union. “Deb continues to show up for Southern Minnesota in a way only she can. Our state is better for it,” finished the DFL statement.

 

Also being recognized on Sept. 26 are Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou of the Twin Cities who is receiving the Paul D. Wellstone Aware for Lifetime Commitment to Organized Labor, and Brayden Sorenson, who most recently served as Political and Organizing Director for Peggy Flanagan, the DFL nominee for U.S. Senate. Sorenson is receiving the Mike “Kenner” Kennedy Award for Organizer of the Year.