How did Joan Growe make Minnesota political history ... twice?
When Joan Growe was elected Secretary of State in 1974, she was the first woman in state history to be elected to a statewide office without without first having been appointed.
In 1984, she also made history by being the first woman in Minnesota to capture a party's nomination for a U.S. Senate bid. She lost, however, to Republican Rudy Boschwitz in that election.