Donald Raleigh (politician)

Donald Raleigh (born October 9, 1965)^[1] is an American politician and businessman who served as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from the 38A district from 2021 to 2023. Elected in November 2020, he assumed office on January 5, 2021. He lost re-election to a new District 32B in 2022.

Donald Raleigh
Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from the 38A district
In office January 5, 2021 – January 3, 2023
Preceded by	Linda Runbeck
Succeeded by	Matt Norris (new district)
Personal details
Born	(1965-10-09) October 9, 1965 (age 59)
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Marnie
Children	4
Residence(s)	Blaine, Minnesota, U.S.
Education	American Military University (BA)
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1984–1992
Unit	3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment

Education

Raleigh graduated from Osceola High School in Polk County, Wisconsin in 1984.^[2] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in emergency and disaster management from American Military University.^[3]

Career

Raleigh served in the United States Army from 1984 to 1992, where he was a member of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment. From 1992 to 1994, he worked as a salesman for InaCOMP, a technology company based in Southfield, Michigan. He was also a salesman for Entex Industries, Syntegra, Control Data, BT Group, and Creative Internet Solutions. He later worked as a consultant at Control Data. In 2002, he founded Evolve Systems, a marketing agency.^[4] Raleigh also owns MYGUN.com LLC and Monitoring Management Solutions, Inc.^[5]

Raleigh was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in November 2020 and assumed office on January 5, 2021.^[6]

On September 8, 2022, a Minnesota Reformer article revealed that Raleigh was on the membership roster of the Oath Keepers, a group designated by the Anti-Defamation League as an "anti-government extremist group."^[7] In an interview, Raleigh stated that he "disavows the group and its beliefs, and that he only signed up for a membership years ago as part of a project to conduct market research on organizations targeting veterans."^[8]

Personal life

Raleigh and his wife, Marnie, have four children and live in Blaine, Minnesota.^[9]

Raleigh was detained at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport in 2016 while en route to Washington D.C. after a loaded gun was discovered in his carry-on luggage. Raleigh later entered a guilty plea after being charged with presenting a prohibited item at the security screening area.^[10]

Raleigh has been linked to a series of web comics authored “by Dan & Don” originally posted on the violent cartoons depicting the murder of various people by guns.^[11][12] The cartoons were originally posted on MYGUN.com. The dozens of illustrations show a stick figure shooting and murdering a variety of victims, including kids, people of color, a Girl Scout selling cookies, military members, environmentalists, a blind person, an overweight person, a Jehovah Witness and a DMV employee.  Donald Raleigh has never publicly addressed the cartoons, however, a MN Republican spokesperson denied the cartoons were drawn by Donald Raleigh and asserted the drawings were by his younger brother, Dan.^[13]