{{short description|American politician}} {{about||the New Zealand district nurse|Ellen Alice Anderson}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Ellen R. Anderson | image = Ellen Anderson.jpg | caption = Anderson in 1993 | office1 = Chair of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission | term_start1 = March 20, 2011 | term_end1 = January 30, 2012 | preceded1 = David C. Boyd | succeeded1 = Phyllis Reha (acting) | state_senate2 = Minnesota | state2 = Minnesota | district2 = 66th | term_start2 = January 5, 1993 | term_end2 = March 20, 2011 | preceded2 = Gene Waldorf | succeeded2 = Mary Jo McGuire | party = Democratic | birth_date = {{birth date and age |1959|11|25}} | birth_place = Gary, Indiana, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = Carleton College<br>University of Minnesota Law School | profession = Attorney, legislator | spouse = {{marriage|Andy Dawkins<br>|1995|2018|end=div}} }} '''Ellen Anderson''' (born November 25, 1959) is a Minnesota politician, and an advisor to former Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton.

Anderson is a former member of the Minnesota Senate who represented District 66, which includes the northern portion of the city of Saint Paul, as well as the entire city of Falcon Heights in Ramsey County, which is in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. A Democrat, she was first elected in 1992, and was re-elected in 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006 and 2010.

Anderson was a member of the Senate's Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications, Finance, Higher Education, and Local Government and Elections committees.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_bio.php?leg_id=10015 |title=Senator Ellen R. Anderson DFL District 66 |publisher=Senate.leg.state.mn.us |date=1959-11-25 |accessdate=2010-07-20 |archive-date=2010-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722092039/http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_bio.php?leg_id=10015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In December 2008, she was appointed by Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller to the Minnesota Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council.<ref name="leg.state.mn.us"/>

On March 9, 2011, Dayton announced her appointment as chair of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. She resigned her Senate seat effective March 20, 2011. A special election was held on April 12, 2011, to fill the vacancy.<ref name="leg.state.mn.us">{{cite web|url=http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail.asp?ID=10015 |title=Minnesota Legislators Past & Present - Legislator Record - Anderson, Ellen R |publisher=Leg.state.mn.us |date= |accessdate=2010-07-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.twincities.com/politics/ci_17577772?nclick_check=1 |title=Sen. Ellen Anderson tapped for PUC chair |publisher=TwinCities.com |accessdate=2012-12-30 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402185128/http://www.twincities.com/politics/ci_17577772?nclick_check=1 |archivedate=April 2, 2012 }}</ref> Anderson was ousted as PUC chair on January 30, 2012, when the Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate voted not to confirm her appointment. Dayton subsequently appointed her to a position as a staff advisor on energy issues.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hauser |first=Tom |url=http://kstp.com/article/stories/s2475221.shtml |title=Minnesota Senate Rejects Anderson, Faces Possible Lawsuit |publisher=KSTP |date=January 30, 2012 |accessdate=2012-12-30}}</ref>

In 1995, Anderson married Andy Dawkins, who served as a state representative from Saint Paul from 1987 to 2003.<ref name="leg.state.mn.us"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail.asp?ID=10127 |title=Legislator Record - Dawkins, Andrew J. "Andy" |publisher=Minnesota Legislators Past & Present |date= |accessdate=2012-12-30}}</ref> They divorced in 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thefreelibrary.com/Cooperative+divorce+aired+out.-a0586431638|title=Cooperative divorce aired out|date=|accessdate=2019-07-24}}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{MN-legdb|10015}} *[http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_bio.php?leg_id=10015 Senator Anderson Web Page]{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }} *[http://www.ellenanderson.org Senator Ellen Anderson Campaign Web Site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511190340/http://www.ellenanderson.org/ |date=2008-05-11 }} *[http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/votetracker/legislator_view.php?id=77 Minnesota Public Radio - Votetracker: Ellen Anderson Voting Record] *[http://votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=3877 Project Vote Smart - Senator Ellen Anderson Profile] *''Follow the Money'' - Ellen Anderson Campaign Contributions ** * [http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/candidate.phtml?c=96842 2008] * [http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/candidate.phtml?c=82304 2006] [http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/candidate.phtml?c=75083 2004] [http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/candidate.phtml?c=11151 2002] [http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/candidate.phtml?c=59164 2000] [http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/candidate.phtml?c=36194 1996]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Ellen R.}} Category:Democratic Party Minnesota state senators Category:Minnesota lawyers Category:University of Minnesota Law School alumni Category:Carleton College alumni Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:Politicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota Category:Women state legislators in Minnesota Category:21st-century American women politicians Category:21st-century members of the Minnesota Legislature