Note: Facebook posts we embedded in an earlier version of this blog entry are no longer available. We've replaced them with screengrabs, in one case replacing the example of the candidate's non-DFL behavior with a selfie of herself and two leading conservative Minnesota women at the December 20, 2020 Jericho March at the Minnesota State Capitol. [end update]
In Friday's Minnesota Reformer, former Minnesota state presentative Roz Peterson weighed on how Actually, it’s gonna be the Year of the Republican Women.
She's focused on the Minnesota House, but recent coverage of Minnesota's Seventh District candidates suggest that branding may reach further.
Including the Democratic primary.
First, we recommend Hunter Woodell's article about first-term representative, 'At the tip of the spear' for GOP: Rep. Michelle Fischbach counters Democrats' agenda.
Our takeaway: unlike her Republican colleagues from the Sixth and the Eighth, Fischbach's refused earmarks for broadband, because let's go Brandon.
There's more on the race in Jim Shaw's column A Republican runs as a Democrat in the Forum News chain. Shaw writes:
Attention, Minnesota voters. I have a quick question for you. Who are the two Democratic Party candidates running for Congress from the state's 7th District in next month’s primary? That’s what I thought. You don’t know.
Well, you should know. That’s because one of them is really a Republican. I wouldn’t make that up.
The unanimously endorsed Democratic candidate is retired English teacher Jill Abahsain of Sauk Centre. Abahsain sounds like a Democrat. She told me she’s an advocate for women’s reproductive rights, rural medical access, infrastructure for small towns and common sense gun control. Abahsain also told me she “loathed” the way Donald Trump behaved as president.
“Jill is a very educated and passionate candidate who understands western Minnesota,” said 7th District DFL Chair Jennifer Cronin.
The other candidate is Alycia Gruenhagen, who doesn’t exactly push the Democratic Party agenda. On her candidate Facebook page she proudly claims, “I am a freedom loving, patriotic, pro-life, pro 2nd Amendment conservative Democrat from the heart of Minnesota’s 7th District.”
So, you might be thinking she’s acting like a conservative Democrat in rural Minnesota. Well, then you should know that her father is Republican Minnesota State Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen.
Still not convinced? Then you should take a look at a picture she posted on Instagram where she’s wearing leggings that say, “Make America Great Again.” Nobody looking at that picture will confuse her with Nancy Pelosi.
This isn’t even Gruenhagen’s first time on the Democratic primary ballot. Two years ago, she ran and lost against longtime incumbent Collin Peterson.
“It is very suspicious,” Cronin told me. “I wonder what she’s up to.”
It is baffling. The incumbent member of Congress from the 7th District is Republican and Donald Trump bootlicker Michelle Fischbach. She is heavily favored to win re-election. So, what’s the point of a Republican such as Gruenhagen, hoping to run against the Republican Fischbach in a general election?
I tried to talk to Gruenhagen. I left phone messages for her, but she did not return my calls.
This race has been very low profile, with both candidates having little name recognition. Perhaps that’s what Gruenhagen is counting on. Namely, that voters won’t know either one of them, and so they will arbitrarily vote for her.
Well, I have this crazy theory that it’s a good idea for Democrats to nominate Democrats. I also think that Democrats would want to know if a MAGA Republican is trying to win their party’s nomination. Now, they know. . . .
We did a little checking and think Shaw has a point. One indication that this effort might be less serious is the lack of financial transparency. While Gruenhagen's name shows up in a search of the Federal Election Commission's database for the 2020 and 2022 cycles, there aren't any filings online.
Committee? Contributions and spending? Statement of candidacy? Nope.
And it's not just those leggings that Shaw mentions. When we looked to Gruenhagen's personal Facebook page, we found an embarrassment of pro-GOP riches.
At the top of this post, we share a Gruenhagen selfie (left) with her sisters, at Grandma Adeline's funeral and interment in April. We're not sure why one would sport a political button at a funeral, but hey, free speech.
And then there are the rally photos. Here's a family album of the Gruenhagen family at a December 5, 2020 gathering outside of the Governor's Residence:
Alas, that embedded post has been removed or made private--so we'll replace it with a screengrab of Alycia Gruenhagen with now-endorsed Republican Secretary of State candidate Kim Crockett and Restore MN's Sue Witherington at the December 20 Jericho Prayer March at the Minnesota State Capitol:
Part of a national pro-Trump Christian nationalist organizing effort, the December 20, 2020 event was hosted by Dan Hall, who had been defeated in his re-election bid for the Minnesota Senate, and state representative Eric Lucero, R-Dayton.
We'll have more about this photo-- and the Jericho March--in a separate post.
And a November 21, 2020 rally at the state capitol:
And how could we resist this 2019 rainy parade photo of Gruenhagen in a Trump "Keep America Great hat:
What, indeed, might make anyone suspect she's a Republican? Is there a special planet where swag doesn't matter?
Photo: We're sure Alycia Gruenhagen wasn't wearing a "Had Enough? Vote Republican" button at an interment in a cemetery to encourage any voting by those resting there.
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