Trump Appointee Launches Bid For Congress In MN’s 1st District

MINNESOTA — Brad Finstad, former President Donald Trump’s head of rural development in Minnesota, launched his campaign Monday to represent the state’s First Congressional District.

Finstad, who Trump appointed in 2017 to serve as state director for USDA rural development in Minnesota, also represented District 21B in the Minnesota House of Representatives for three terms.

He is now running to succeed the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died at 59 in February, two years after he was diagnosed with kidney cancer.

“Jim Hagedorn fought tirelessly for our conservative values and the people of southern Minnesota,” Finstad said Monday in a statement on his campaign website. “I’d be proud to continue the fight for our shared values in Congress.”

Working for Trump was “an honor,” Finstad said, while adding he will ‘“fight for our conservative values” and against Democratic leaders — including President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi — and their proposals if elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

“I am running for the future of my family, your family and our country,” Finstad said. “I'll put the brakes on the out-of-control Biden/Pelosi agenda that is fueling inflation and hurting southern Minnesota families.”

In his campaign announcement, Finstad called for leaders to “slash inflation, get control of the border, restore American energy independence and end the Covid mandate madness.”

Finstad, a father of seven from New Ulm, has also held leadership roles in the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, the Center for Rural Policy and Development, and the Minnesota Farm Bureau.

MN District 1 Special Election: Here's What To Know

A special primary is scheduled to be held May 24, with the special election to fill Hagedorn’s vacant seat to take place Aug. 9.

Candidates must file their paperwork with the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office by March 15.

Finstad is expected to face off against several other candidates for the Republican Party’s nomination.

Ken Navitsky, a Rochester sales executive and emcee at monster truck shows, and perennial candidate Bob Carney Jr. have also filed to enter the race to succeed Hagedorn, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Carney listed his name as Bob “Again” Carney Jr., according to candidate filings on the office’s website.

Republican state Rep. Jeremy Munson announced his campaign last week for the seat, running on a “100% pro-life, 100% pro-gun” platform that includes sending Dr. Anthony Fauci to prison.

Facui is the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and has been the public face of the government’s response to the coronavirus throughout much of the pandemic.

Munson had not filed his candidacy paperwork with the Secretary of State's Office as of Monday.

Richard Painter, an author and law professor, is the only Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate to file paperwork with the state by noon Monday.

Red Wing bookstore owner Richard DeVoe has also said he plans to run for the DFL’s nomination in the special primary, ABC 6 reports.