[1] Steensma was first elected to the Minnesota House in 1986 when he unseated longtime incumbent Wendell Erickson in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party's "firestorm" that swept through the region, giving Democrats unprecedented control of southwestern Minnesota for the next several election cycles.
While in the Minnesota Legislature, he earned a reputation as a strong advocate for farmers and agricultural issues.
He served on the House Agriculture, Appropriations, Economic Development, Health and Human Services, Transportation and Transit, and General Legislation committees, and on various sub-committees relevant to each area.
[1] Steensma was elected mayor of Luverne in 2004, and served until January 2011.
[2] The community is located in Rock County just east of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.