For Minnesota District 1 candidates, finances, economy among top concerns

Oct. 15—All four of the candidates who seek spots to represent District 1 in the Minnesota Legislature say finances and the economy are issues that need addressing, both in the district and in the Legislature in general.

District 1 sits in extreme northwest Minnesota, and includes a considerable swath of the state map, essentially from Hendrum to Hallock on the west and from Warroad to Fosston on the east. It's so large geographically that its House of Representatives districts have been split in two, with the dividing line roughly from Warren to Thief River Falls.

On Nov. 8, voters in District 1A — the northern half of the district — will choose between two House candidates: Incumbent Republican John Burkel, of Badger, or Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party candidate James Sceville, of Thief River Falls. In District 1B, the House candidates are DFL challenger Cynthia Ansbacher, of Crookston, and Republican incumbent Debra Kiel, also of Crookston.

District 1 Sen. Mark Johnson, of East Grand Forks, is running unopposed.

In a questionnaire sent to the four House candidates, the Herald asked each to name their "biggest concern — at least legislatively — for northwest Minnesota and your district in particular."

All four responded with concerns about the economy.

"Letting people keep more of what they earn so they can afford to live. With a budget surplus of more than $10 billion, we need to get that money back to the people of Minnesota," said Kiel, a farmer/homemaker. "We already spend more than $50 billion on state government programs, which is more than enough. Too many people in northwest Minnesota, and across the state, are struggling to get by. The Legislature needs to pass laws that recognize the economic policies of the Biden and Walz administrations have been disastrous and that we need to change course by providing significant and permanent tax relief."

That budget surplus likely will be on the minds of whomever is elected. After leaders of both major parties reached an impasse earlier this year, more than $9 billion remained. Some lawmakers had hoped it would be directed toward tax relief, but the money remains unspent.

Burkel, a fourth-generation turkey farmer, also noted the surplus in his response to the Herald.

"The biggest legislative concern will be appropriate and prudent use of the huge budget surplus as we put together the next budget," he said. "Shortfalls in funding for transportation infrastructure in our region need to be addressed along with fair funding for our rural schools, students and teachers as we all work together to reverse learning loss and help get our students back on track."

Sceville, an optician for a local health care provider, said the focus for District 1 should be on job development, and especially for high-tech industries.

He said the district is in a "very odd spot when it comes to our needs."

Northwest Minnesota is rural — perhaps the epitome of what is traditionally called "outstate Minnesota" — but the legislative district also has a high number of technical and blue-collar jobs, due to large employers like Polaris in Roseau, Marvin in Warroad, and Arctic Cat and Digi-Key in Thief River Falls.

"We are large and rural with an agriculture base but have the infrastructure needs that far outpace most with our high-tech manufacturing jobs," Sceville said. "We need to get the projects in place to keep these large, well-paying jobs in the area so they don't move to places that can support them."

Throughout her responses to the Herald questionnaire, Asnbacher, a retired nurse who now works in a group home as a designated support person, listed a number of concerns for the district, including infrastructure, public education, the environment, women's health/rights and health care.

"In addition to the above issues, northwest Minnesota residents, especially the working class, continue to face rising costs of living," she said.

Examples, she said, include rising fuel prices and grocery prices, without an increase in wages to balance inflation.

"I would pass legislation to prevent price gouging, ensure universal health care becomes available to all Minnesotans, and that women have access to all health care needs," she said.

Both of the DFL candidates raised concern about what they consider partisan politics in St. Paul. Sceville, for instance, called out current lawmakers for playing the "political game" rather than working together on, say, figuring out a solution to the multi-billion-dollar budget surplus.

"There was simply no consequence for the divided government to not do anything," he said. "Instead of working for the people, everyone wanted to find a way to use it as a campaign issue. The surplus should be used to make sure that we have our educational system properly funded, making sure our children are fed in schools and making sure our taxes are at a proper amount so that we don't have an unprecedented surplus again."

Ansbacher quoted Minnesota Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Fridley, saying "if Minnesotans think we need to have a special session to finish this work, if Minnesotans think we need to invest in schools and nursing homes and roads and bridges and pass these tax cuts, they need to let Senate Republicans know"

Ansbacher added that "when both parties cannot come to an agreement, it is Minnesotans who get hurt. I would do my best to work with both parties to help and not hinder the legislative process."

However, Burkel, in his response to the Herald, defends the work of lawmakers during recent sessions.

"During the 2022 session, the Legislature was able to replenish the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, protecting our main street businesses from a huge tax increase as they struggled to recover from the pandemic, passed $500 million in front-line worker pay and extended the reinsurance program to insulate consumers from a large increase in health insurance premiums," Burkel said. "I would argue that the Legislature did complete the people's work when it passed the $52 billion budget in 2021, fully funding the state for the biennium and when it protected our small-town businesses from a harmful unemployment tax increase and when it passed front-line worker pay — without a tax increase and while preserving those surplus dollars."

He did acknowledge that "prudent use of the record-setting budget surplus is in order moving forward."

Kiel directs blame toward Democrats.

"What went wrong is that House DFL leadership and Governor Walz wanted to spend away most of our unprecedented budget surplus. We had just set our state budget in 2021 at more than $50 billion," she said. "With the surplus, the Democrats wanted to permanently increase budget spending AGAIN by billions of dollars, which was a senseless move as everyday Minnesotans are barely getting by trying to pay their skyrocketing grocery, gasoline and electricity bills."

To learn more about the candidates, read "

A look at candidates seeking election in the Minnesota District 1 House of Representatives race

" on the Herald's website.