Southern Minnesota House District 18A's history of flip-flopping attracts lots of outside funding
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Last weekend a group of volunteers met at Nicollet Mart, the only gas station in the rural town of Nicollet. It’s co-owned by Republican hopeful Erica Schwartz. She is a first-time candidate who is hoping to unseat incumbent DFL Rep. Jeff Brand and turn Minnesota House District 18A red.
The volunteers set out to canvass. In pairs they walked through the autumn leaves, knocked on doors and stuck literature into the storm doors if no one answered.
Schwartz said being new to campaigning she had to do a lot of learning.
“It’s been around-the-clock work,” she said. “It’s a 7-day job running a campaign, and also being a small business owner. I’m here at my business. I also work an 8-hour job as well. So, it’s been quite, quite some long days.”
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In the 2022 election, Brand won the seat by just 411 votes — one of the slimmest margins among all state House races.
That’s understandable: A majority of voters in the area chose Donald Trump in 2016, then swung to Joe Biden in 2020.
Schwartz senses another swing is in store and she is confident she can put the House seat in the Republican column this election. Schwartz, who helps run the family-owned convenience store, said things need to change.
“I’ve had a lot of families who are just basically struggling to make ends meet,” she said. “I’ve talked [to] a lot of people that are working overtime at their jobs if possible, or picking up a second job. Even if it’s a two-home income, one of the two adults in the house is working a second job.”
Volunteer Saynab Dahir drove down from Burnsville on behalf of the Minnesota House Republican Campaign Committee to help door knock with Schwartz around Nicollet. She describes herself as an independent, but leans conservative. She says the state government needs to be bipartisan.
Dahir doesn’t feel the current situation — where the DFL controls the Governor’s office, state Senate and House — represents her voice or aligns with her values.
“We’re just basically fighting for common core American values, which is just safety in our streets, [and a] good education system,” Dahir said. “We just want to be less taxed, more freedom for parents, more choices for them to take care of their children.”
Meanwhile, Democrats spent a weekend phone banking and canvassing for Brand’s campaign.
Brand won his first term in office in 2018, but lost to Republican Susan Akland in the 2020 midterms. Brand then won back the seat in 2022. He blames the narrow victory on COVID-19 restrictions that prevented him from engaging voters directly. He said those factors aren’t in play for this election.
“I think that at the end of the day, I’ve left everything on the field [and] I’m really proud of the campaign that we’ve had,” he said. “I’m really proud of all the volunteers that have shown up and stepped up to get us through the finish line.”
Brand noted “there’s a lot more money that’s being spent in this district” and that there were more outside groups spending money in advertisements targeting his campaign — although the DFL is airing TV ads and doing other campaigning on his behalf, too.
“It’s a targeted district. It’s probably in one of the top five districts that the GOP are looking for to try to pick up,” he said. “This election is less to do with me versus my opponent, and more to do with me versus this dark money that’s being filtered into the district.”
Daniel Levin of North Mankato — a volunteer for Brand’s campaign — said getting involved was important. He said Democrats are energized from this election cycle and want to keep momentum going ahead of Nov. 5.
“We are really about making the country work better for everyone, regardless of age, regardless of income, regardless of gender,” Levin said. “Regardless of religious views or sexual orientation. It’s all about making life better for Americans. All Americans.”
A trending pattern
As of Oct. 21, a little over $1.25 million has been spent on the District 18A race by outside organizations not controlled by the candidates. It’s the second highest amount among all state races. So far a total of about $17 million of outside money has been spent in Minnesota legislative races.
Kevin Parsneau, political science professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato, said District 18A typically leans conservative. However, this being a year where Gov. Tim Walz is also on top of the national ticket for the Democratic Party could energize voters for higher turnout on Election Day.
He also points to more independent groups purchasing political ads, which he considers “extraordinarily rare in state legislative races.” He says it stems from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling that prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations, nonprofits, labor unions and other groups.
These types of outside campaign spending, Parsneau said, might indicate more awareness by national groups on the importance of state elections, where in Minnesota, there are several key district races have an impact on who controls the state House and Senate and tip the current DFL trifecta of controlling both chambers of the legislature and the Governor’s office.
Parsneau said it is going to be close. With that fight for the House majority likely to come down to just a few seats, the race between Jeff Brand and Erica Schwartz is one neither party is willing to ease up on with just a few days to go.
“It’s really going to come down to a few volunteers on one side or the other turning up, going door to door. …sending out postcards, calling friends and reminding them to vote,” he said. “That will probably determine the outcome of which of these two people winds up serving in the legislature, and given a closely divided Minnesota Legislature…who controls the state legislature.”