My name is Charles McConaughay, and I am running to represent Minnesota House District 27B. I believe our communities deserve a government that works as hard as the people who live here and that fixes problems without drama.

I was born on November 28, 1981, and grew up in Pine City, Minnesota, where neighbors showed up for one another and where I first learned to help out. As a teenager, I became the person friends called when a printer jammed or a computer would not boot. I did not know it at the time, but that habit of digging into a problem and making it work would shape my career.

In 2005, I moved to Phoenix to start my IT career. Over more than 20 years, I worked as a Support Technician, Web Developer, Content Manager, and Support Analyst, and today I serve as a Senior Manager of IT Support. For the last seven years I have led teams and managed multi million dollar asset budgets. My work focuses on practical results. I help organizations track incidents with the right software tools, manage the full asset lifecycle, and streamline the day to day systems that people rely on.

The approach is simple. Listen first. Bring the right people to the table. Measure what matters. Then ship improvements that save time and money. That is how I plan to work for District 27B in St. Paul.

After nearly two decades in the desert, my family and I returned to Minnesota in 2022. We loved many things about Phoenix, but long term livability was a real concern. We also wanted our kids to grow up near aunts, uncles, and cousins. Home won.

Today my wife and I live in Baldwin, Minnesota with our son, our daughter, my mom, my dad, one enthusiastic dog, and one very opinionated cat. When the weather cooperates, we head for parks, forests, trails, and any place with a good view. When it does not, I am usually in the lower level of my multi-generational home tinkering with our home network or updating a server I built.