Gordon Rosenmeier

Official portrait of Rosenmeier for the 1941–42 legislative session

Rosenmeier ran in another special election in 1940, this time following the death of Frederick Joseph Miller. His opponent was Brainerd city council member Vic Quanstrom.[3] Rosenmeier received 14,031 votes to Quanstrom's 7,231, winning by nearly a two-to-one margin.[7]

Rosenmeier served in the United States Navy during World War II, and won the 1942 general election in absentia, running unopposed. He served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater until at least 1944.[3][8][9] Rosenmeier was named chairman of the military affairs committee upon the start of the 54th Senate session, though once again, his military service interfered with his role in the Senate and an acting chairman was called upon to fill his spot.[10]

Rosenmeier cosponsored Luther Youngdahl's fair employment practices bill, which aimed to eliminate workplace discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin. Measures like these were frequently introduced in state legislatures throughout the union at the time. Youngdahl's proposal was especially noteworthy, however, as it would establish an interracial council for educational purposes to help eliminate workplace discrimination, with $5,000 being allotted for the annual payment of a councilmember.[11] The bill was hotly debated in the Senate, but failed by a vote of 34–29. Six years later, the measure passed with Rosenmeier's support.[3]

Rosenmeier also sponsored legislation that would establish a state mental hospital in Brainerd. Minnesota had seen a shortage of adequate mental hospital facilities, with a waiting list present for patients and crowded conditions in the ones that were available.[12] The hospital opened in June 1958 and continued to expand, becoming one of the three state facilities for the mentally disabled and epileptic in 1967.[13]

Camp Ripley, a Minnesota National Guard facility that Rosenmeier's father helped create, expanded northward, thanks to legislation sponsored by Rosenmeier.[3] The last of these expansions occurred in 1961, with the base measuring at 53,000 acres.[14]

Rosenmeier had become one of the leading figures in the Senate, in large part to his position as the chairman of the Senate judiciary committee. He was widely considered the leader of the Conservatives.[3][15]

When the Mississippi River oil spill occurred in 1962 and 1963, Rosenmeier introduced legislation that gave the state's Water Pollution Control Commission power to enforce rules to prevent the contamination of groundwater. It gave the commission the ability to order the abatement of sewage and industrial wastes, and if a municipality refused to comply, the state would take over the municipality's sewage treatment function. It would design facilities, levy taxes and assessments, acquire land, and supervise the construction of adequate sewage treatment facilities. This legislation, called the Rosenmeier Act, became law on May 22, 1963. An amendment was later added to prohibit storing waste where it could enter state waters. The Rosenmeier Act sparked additional legislation for environmental protection in the state. It also led to the formation of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in 1967. Rosenmeier found that the commission was inefficient in enforcing the rules set forth in his legislation, and had decided to create the agency to better keep the laws enforced. With the creation of the agency, it became the first state agency to consider pollution an ethical concern.[16][17]

The state planning agency was created in 1965, with Rosenmeier sponsoring legislation for its creation.[18] The agency was responsible for allocating state resources and coordinated activities between governmental bodies. The agency existed in this form until 1991, becoming the Office of Strategic and Long Range Planning, which was abolished in 2003.[19]

Rosenmeier was also a key figure in the establishment of the Metropolitan Council. When the idea was first proposed following a 1967 Citizens League report, Rosenmeier questioned the need for such a body. He later changed his stance, saying he supported the creation of the council, though he argued for a less powerful body than did some others. Bill Frenzel and Harmon Ogdahl proposed an elected council with a broad range of authority. Rosenmeier and Howard Albertson countered their proposal with a planning and coordinating body whose members were appointed by the governor and whose authority was limited to select regional services. The Rosenmeier-Albertson proposal prevailed in both houses.[3]

In 1969, Rosenmeier was instrumental in securing funding to develop the Lindbergh House and Museum. The site would later be transferred to the Minnesota Historical Society. It is likely that soon after, the house received the state historic site designation.[20][21]

In 1969—four years before the U.S. Supreme Court's upheld the constitutional right to have an abortion in Roe v. Wade—Rosenmeier, as chair of the judiciary committee, granted a hearing on Kelly Gage's bill to relax the state's ban on abortion. Rosenmeier voted for the bill in the committee, though he claimed that it was so it could reach the Senate floor so it could be debated further.[3] The bill was later passed, permitting abortions performed for medical reasons.

In the 1970 general election, Rosenmeier had a serious opponent for only the second time in his career. The first saw Rosenmeier defeat future House representative Howard E. Smith by a relatively wide margin.[22] Rosenmeier's opponent, 26-year-old Win Borden, had planned on running against him for years. He used Rosenmeier's vote on the abortion bill against him, and employed modern strategies like canvassing, the printing of brochures, and other forms of advertising. Rosenmeier was noted as not performing well in the debates and his campaign could not compete with Borden's. Borden later said of Rosenmeier:[3]

"He was just not used to being challenged, he was a fine legislator—did many wonderful things. But the political thicket in the street wasn’t something he was used to.”

The resulting election saw Borden win by a 14-point margin, which was considered by many as an upset.[23] Borden, an attorney from Brainerd, would win reelections in 1972 and 1976 before resigning to take a leadership position with a forerunner of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.[24]

Upon his defeat, Rosenmeier ranked seventh in terms of all state Senators in terms of service length. As of January 2021, he was tied for twelfth all-time.[25]