Remembering Paul Wellstone

Ten years ago today, en route to a campaign event less than two weeks before Election Day 2002, Sen. Paul Wellstone’s plane crashed, killing the senator, his wife Sheila, daughter Marcia, three campaign staffers, and two pilots. A decade later, there is a void in the Senate that still has not been filled. It is as though we are suffering from phantom limb syndrome. Whenever an issue of moral urgency, an issue of conscience, comes before the Senate, I still expect to see Paul holding forth on the floor, chopping the air with his hands, speaking with his special passion, urging us to do the right thing.

With good reason, Paul was respected as the conscience of the Senate. His last major vote, in the midst of a hard-fought reelection campaign, was in opposition to the resolution later used by President George W. Bush as authority to invade Iraq. It is a measure of his political courage that he cast that vote knowing it could mean his defeat. Instead, even Minnesotans who differed with him respected his principled stand.


No one ever wore the title “Senator” better, or used it less. He loved it when ordinary folks would come up to him and call him Paul. Some senators might take offense at that. Not Paul. He took it as a sign that people knew he was one of them, that he was approachable, that he cared — all of which was Paul to the core.

Paul was my best friend in the Senate. But in truth, he was one of those rare souls who so many saw as their best friend. He had a powerful authenticity that made a miner in the Iron Range know he was as important to Paul as the president of the United States. The hard-working folks he cared about most didn’t have lobbyists or influence. But they had Paul Wellstone.

Paul once said, “Politics is about what we create by what we do, what we hope for, and what we dare to imagine.” Green was his favorite color. Green was the color of that campaign bus he climbed aboard 22 years ago in his first campaign for the Senate. But Paul never meant it to be a solo voyage. He wanted us all on board.

And though Paul is no longer with us, his journey for justice continues. Near the site of the tragic plane crash in northern Minnesota — where family and friends of Paul will gather today — there is a beautiful physical memorial to Paul and the others who died. But there are also living memorials that Paul would have been truly passionate about.

One of those is the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wellstone Action organization — founded by Paul’s sons, Mark and David – which trains citizens in civic activism and grass-roots, people-to-people politics, the kind of politics that he loved and excelled at like no one else. Wellstone Action has trained more than 55,000 community organizers, student activists, campaign staff and candidates.

In addition, Paul and Sheila’s legislative legacy includes the landmark Violence Against Women Act, which Paul co-sponsored with then-Sen. Joe Biden. And Paul was a relentless advocate — along with co-sponsor Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) — of mental health parity legislation to end the absurd practice of treating mental and physical illness as two different things under health insurance. Six years after Paul’s death, Congress passed the Wellstone and Domenici Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act.

And there is one more Wellstone legacy. It is our memory of Paul’s passion, his convictions and his incredible capacity for bringing people together to accomplish important things. For those of us who had the privilege of serving with Paul Wellstone, his spirit is still very much with us.

A decade later, we have moved beyond our grief. What remains is the light that Paul radiated every day in the U.S. Senate. He was the finest of men.

Sen. Tom Harkin is a Democrat from Iowa.

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Paul Wellstone