A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, he represented District 15A, which included portions of Stearns County in the west central part of the state.
He participated in the United States Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC, not to be confused with military service) from 1983-1985.
[6] On January 3, 2013, Gottwalt announced his intention to vacate his seat before the end of the month to join the Center for Diagnostic Imaging as its director of state legislative policy.
[8] In 2011, Gottwalt came under fire from some conservatives in his party for supporting elements of Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
[11] The arrangement in question occurred in 2011, when Gottwalt sponsored the Healthy Minnesota Contribution Program, a bill that diverted Minnesotans receiving MinnesotaCare to the private insurance market.
Gottwalt then obtained a license for himself to sell insurance and joined Boys and Tyler, a firm that actively lobbied for the bill.
[13] In his Statement of Economic Interests,[14] filed with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board, Gottwalt failed to disclose his insurance sales business activities.