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A day after her  special election victory, newly-elected Rep. Carly Melin, DFL-Hibbing, is making the rounds at the Capitol today.

She says she's already got the keys to her office and that she'll probably be moving into the State Office Building early next week. Her election has yet to be canvassed and made official, but she expects that will happen soon, as well.

Melin says she's already talking with minority leader Paul Thissen about what committees she'll join. She's hoping for Jobs and Economic Development at the least.

"People want jobs," she said in a press conference this afternoon. We have a 50 percent unemployment rate in the construction trades right now and a lot of people in rural Minnesota, northern Minnesota, depend on that industry... They want to get back to work."

Melin also hopes Dayton's bonding bill will bring some more work to the Range, and that she thinks the governor's budget is "a step in the right direction."

She said Dayton's proposed income tax hike wouldn't effect 95 percent of Minnesotans. "There's not a lot of rich in my area," Melin said, "So it'll probably be higher than 95 percent in my area."

Melin is the first woman to represent the Range since Rep. Lona Minne left office in 1988.

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Tim Pugmire

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Newly elected Rep. Carly Melin, DFL- Hibbing,  is already in St. Paul

Carly Melin makes Capitol debut

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