Two friends called to share their reflections on a CD1 DFL fundraiser in Fairmont at which five potential DFL candidates spoke to South Central Minnesota Democrats. The photo above, shared on the First Congressional District DFL Facebook page, shows the range of talent running for party endorsement. From left to right: Daniel Feehan, Colin Minehart, Joe Sullivan, Vicki Jensen and John Wayne Austinson.
The candidates are making the rounds. In the Albert Lea Tribune, Sam Wilmes reports in DFL candidates for governor, 1st District visit town:
. . . Democratic congressional candidates to replace Walz’s First Congressional District seat — Vicki Jensen, Colin Minehart, John Austinson and Dan Feehan — also spoke at the picnic. . . .
“This is great that I am able to get out to events like this, where people (gather), and I can go and talk to them, knowing that I am running for Congress,” Jensen said.
She said she has focused on local issues as District 24 senator, and she held an event the second Saturday of every month that she said has helped her. . . .
Jensen served one term in the Minnesota Senate while toeing something of a Republican Lite line exemplified by failing to defend against attacks on the chair of the Citizens Board of the MPCA and voting against raising the state minimum wage. That worked out for her. She lost her seat in the 2016 election to John Jasinski by 58.52 percent to 41.35 percent.
Our friends at the Fairmont event described a stump speech in which Jensen apparently forgot a memorized text, remained mostly silent for 30 seconds or more, then resumed speaking. According to these sources, they were not impressed.
Wilmes continued:
Austinson, a former Byron High School football coach who described himself as a bridge candidate, urged DFLers to bring a positive message.
Minehart discussed his qualifications working with small businesses, noting he wants to represent constituents in Washington, D.C.
Feehan, former principal deputy assistant secretary of defense, discussed his service in the Army and as a math teacher, and he spoke of his support for universal health care and economic opportunity.
Republican Jim Hagedorn is the lone GOPer to file for election for Walz’s seat, said Freeborn County GOP Chairman Ebenezer Howe. Republicans Blake Huffman, Christopher Chamberlin, Jeff Johnson, Matt Dean and Phillip Parrish have filed for election for governor.
Austinson ran for Minnesota House seat 26B in 2016, losing to Nels Pierson in a 59.14 percent to 40.73 percent vote. More on his background in this 2016 Rochester Post Bulletin profile.
In May, Matt Stolle reported in the Post Bulletin story, First Congressional race expects to draw flurry of interest:
While no DFL candidates have yet to announce their candidacy for the 1st Congressional District held by U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, the field could get crowded within the next month or so.
Dan Feehan, a 34-year-old Army veteran who served as assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration, is preparing to run for the seat, the Wall Street Journal reported this week. Although he hasn't lived in the district since he was 14, Feehan grew up in it and reportedly is house-hunting in Mankato, with his wife and two children. Feehan still lives in Washington.
"I'm on a very steep learning curve to learn everything that goes into this and to maintain every aspect of authenticity that I have," Feehan, who hasn't run for political office before, was quoted as saying in the journal article. . . .
Feehan's mention in the Journal story was part of a larger look at the national map. It noted the last time Democrats won a House majority was in part because of the unpopularity of the Iraq War. Now, many of those who fought in America's post-9/11 conflicts are running as candidates.
The Democratic party is running military veterans in competitive congressional districts across the country: 15 veterans already have launched 2018 House campaigns, and 10 more may enter races by the summer, the journal quoted Democratic leaders as saying.
But Feehan will have to overcome the carpetbagger label the GOP will seek to attach to him if he does run.
"The Obama administration has kind of handpicked somebody to come and be a carpetbagger for our district," Munson said. "I don't think the Democrats like this top-down dictating who the candidate is supposed to be."
Given that Jim Hagedorn spent much of his adult life in Washington DC before moving back in 2009 to run for congress, we think that line would make a cat laugh. Following one of several unsuccessful bids for the nomination, he followed a love interest to California, only to return to Southern Minnesota to run again.
Minehart, who lives in Albert Lea, owns a bar in Alden and has been an active member and leader in the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association. His role as a promoter for the pulltabs that once were hoped to fund the Vikings Stadium is scrutinized here by The Deets.
We're still looking for information about Joe Sullivan, who was at the Fairmont event.
UPDATE: The Joe Sullivan exploring a potential congressional bid appears to be this Joe Sullivan, Manager of Strategic Relations for the Center for Energy and Environment:
Joe Sullivan is the Manager of Strategic Relations for the Center for Energy and Environment. Joe works with policy makers, regulators, utilities, energy advocates, and other key stakeholders to advance energy efficiency and clean energy in Minnesota.
Prior to coming to CEE, Joe worked as the Regional Policy Manager – West for Wind on the Wires (WOW). For WOW, Joe worked in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa to advance policies for wind power and transmission access. Joe also spent six and a half years representing a municipal power agency and greater Minnesota cities as a senior attorney at Flaherty & Hood P.A. in St. Paul, Minn. At Flaherty & Hood, Joe worked on renewable energy, transmission issues, state conservation goals, greenhouse gas reduction initiatives, net metering and Community-Based Energy Development issues. He’s also represented Minnesota cities on nuclear waste issues and an electric rate case. Additionally, Joe has worked extensively with coalitions, particularly the Coalition of Utility Cities, on utility taxation issues. Prior to joining Flaherty & Hood, Joe worked in Washington, DC at the U.S. House Committee on Science and at the Internal Revenue Service.
Joe holds degrees from Marquette University and University of Wisconsin Law School.
Joe is a currently on the advisory board for Xcel Energy's Renewable Development Fund and is a Board Member of the Region 9 Development Commission's Renewable Energy Task Force.
Our source at the Fairmont event said that Sullivan said he worked in the energy sector and he appears to be the fellow in the Facebook photo. [end update].
More as this endorsement contest shapes up.
Photo: The contenders at Fairmont.
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