At an open house and rally at the new Keep America Great Office in Glencoe Wednesday, Republican Minnesota 7th Congressional District candidate Michelle Fischbach told a crowd of supporters this is the year to turn the district red.
"I am very, very excited that in the 7th District, President Trump won four years ago by 31 percent," she said. "That's awesome. We're going to make it more this year."
Minnesota Republicans have shown a renewed interest in recent years in wrestling the 7th Congressional District — one of the largest in the country — from "Blue Dog" conservative Democrat Collin Peterson, who was first elected in 1990. For several elections, Peterson won reelection by a wide margin. Torrey Westrom brought the race within 10 percentage points in 2014, and Dave Hughes brought the difference to five percentage points in 2016 and 2018.
Fischbach, who served on the Minnesota Senate from 1996 to 2018 before briefly serving as Gov. Mark Dayton's lieutenant governor, told supporters the race was about a larger picture.
"It is all about a red wave from top to bottom in Minnesota," she said.
Speaking with a reporter after the rally, Fischbach said voters she has met across the district have told her they are most concerned about the economy.
"It was going so great prior to the COVID," she said. "I want President Trump in charge of making sure that the economy is moving forward. Most people believe that he's the one that can move us out of this one."
If elected, Fischbach said, she would support making the 2017 tax cuts permanent. She would also support workforce education.
"We take a look at those two-year trade schools across the district, making sure they're strong and that people are able to know that's a viable option and that they're ... on the cutting edge of training," she said.
In the agriculture sector, she said processors needed to operate at capacity, and highlighted the Farm Bill.
"When we work on that 2023 Farm Bill, we need to make sure that we're doing things that are really, truly helpful to farmers, and that we're talking to farmers and they're telling us what works and what doesn't work," she said. "You know, obviously crop insurance is a huge one. But making sure that those other programs are actually what farmers want and need."
She said President Trump is dealing with trade issues.
"China has made it very clear that they're an untrustworthy actor," Fischbach said. "We need to continue to make sure that we are opening other ... trade partners. We look at Korea, we look at those others we can help and stabilize those trade agreements so that we aren't as dependent. China is always going to be a big trade partner because they have a huge population. But I think if we move things forward with those other countries, we can stabilize some of that."
If elected, she said she would support measures to help businesses in rural communities that have suffered financial losses due to COVID-19.
"If we need to continue some of the programs? Absolutely," Fischbach said. "If we need to do additional ... COVID relief issues, particularly for ag, I will certainly take a look at those."
