Barb Yarusso

Barb Yarusso (born 1956) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, she represented District 42A, which included portions of Ramsey County, Minnesota in the north-central Twin Cities metropolitan area.

Barb grew up primarily in Columbia Heights, Minnesota and graduated from Columbia Heights High School. She earned a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and Ph.D. in the same field from University of Wisconsin–Madison. After college, she worked in the lab as an engineer for General Mills and as an industrial trainer and self-employed engineering consultant for HB Fuller, 3M, and Ecolab, as well as teaching at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Hill-Murray School, the University of Minnesota, and as a freelance tutor.

Yarusso was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2012 to an open seat created by post-census redistricting. She lost re-election to Republican Randy Jessup in 2016.