(bright music) (mellow music) - [Presenter] Welcome to "Meet the Candidates," the local election forum from Pioneer PBS.

This season, we asked every candidate the same list of questions to learn more about what type of legislator they will be if elected.

In this episode, we will meet candidates from Minnesota House District 15A.

District lines have changed since the 2020 census.

District 15A is made up of Lac qui Parle, Yellow Medicine, and Lyon counties.

Major cities include Marshall, Granite Falls, Tracy, and Canby.

To find out which district you live in, visit mnvotes.org.

And now, let's meet the candidates.

We'll start with the DFL candidate, Nathan Schmig.

- Hi, I'm Nathan Schmig.

I'm running for Minnesota House District 15A.

I've been working as a garbage man for Olson Sanitation for about 15 years.

I was born in Milbank, South Dakota, and grew up on farms in Stockholm, South Dakota, and Canby, Minnesota.

I graduated from Canby.

I lived in Minneota, Minnesota, for about 30 years.

I'm married and I have four kids.

I want to thank Pioneer PBS for having me on and allowing me to speak to you.

When I was young, I remember my grandparents watching a membership drive.

My uncle Jim was on TV taking calls.

They were excited to see him and proud of him for donating his time and energy to such a worthy cause.

I learned to read at an early age due in part to watching educational programming like "Sesame Street" and "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" on PBS.

My grandparents knew that public media exists to serve the public interest.

They didn't have much money, but they believed in contributing for the good of the community.

Growing up, if you were at my grandparents' house or my parents' house and it was time for lunch or supper, you were invited to eat with us.

You were assumed to be eating with us.

It was insisted upon.

You were obligated to really.

If there wasn't enough food to feed everyone, more would be made.

This is how I was brought up and I'm proud to say this is how my sisters treat guests in their home to this day.

So if you're gonna visit near mealtime, consider yourselves warned.

(mellow music) - [Presenter] Why do you want to be the representative for your district?

- On January 24th of this year, I watched a press conference held by Kristi Noem, the then-secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

She made statements about VA nurse Alex Pretti that were immediately refuted by cell phone videos uploaded by bystanders.

I was furious.

I had been disgusted by the repeated violations of rights enshrined in the US Constitution, warrantless searches, illegal detainments, demands to show ID on public walks and in public streets.

Renee Good was shot and killed just over two weeks prior.

After both killings, federal government officials made extraordinary claims that did not appear to be supported by extraordinary or just ordinary evidence.

I felt the people of Minnesota had shown great courage and restraint when the surge of masked, unidentifiable, unaccountable, unwanted, and uninvited federal officers were sent here to punish us for what?

Not voting for the president?

Understanding how tariffs work and not liking the inflation they cause?

To fight fraud?

Clearly not.

If financial fraud was suspected, then an army of IRS or FBI agents might have made sense.

However, the IRS and FBI have rules and regulations that make it difficult for them to tear gas protestors or children.

So to answer the question, why do I want to be the representative for my district?

I can't stand by and do nothing in the face of injustice.

We need to be a part of the solution.

Midwesterners have a long tradition of standing up and doing their part when needed.

I think we're needed now.

I intend to do my part for my community.

(mellow music) - [Presenter] What are your priorities for the next legislative session?

- The Tuesday, September 1st issue of the "Marshall Independent" had a front page story with the headline, quote, "Minnesota Medicaid spending is accelerating," end quote.

The article spells out how, quote, "Even as the sprawling program is getting more expensive, provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the Trump administration's targeting of Minnesota ostensibly over the widespread fraud are worsening the funding picture.

The result is a shift of these higher healthcare costs onto the state, healthcare providers, and patients," end quote.

The Wednesday, September 2nd issue of the "Marshall Independent" had a front page story with the headline, quote, "SNAP cuts could raise cost of free school meals for Minnesota."

Quote, "More than one million American children have lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP following a recent federal law.

Now, as schools gear up for a new term, a portion of those children could be at risk of losing their free meals viewed as critical supports for both childhood hunger and classroom learning," end quote.

I'm asking voters to give me the thankless job of trying to deal with a mess dropped into the laps of Minnesotans by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Republican legislators like our own representative, Michelle Fischbach, at the federal level.

This law cut taxes for extremely wealthy people and corporations and cut benefits for, well, just about everyone else.

I'm a supporter of universal healthcare.

I support feeding kids in school.

I support education, K through 12, tech schools, apprenticeships, and higher ed.

These aren't my only concerns, but they seem like top priorities to me.

(mellow music) - [Presenter] What unique perspective do you bring to the Minnesota House?

- I'm a garbage man who grew up on the farm.

Before working as a garbage man, I've worked in a grocery store bakery, a hotel as a front desk clerk, night auditor, and maintenance man, and several different factory jobs.

I've never lobbied a legislator at the Capitol or been president of an organization larger than the Friends of the Minneota Public Library.

For one year.

Gary Buysse was always my president.

I have helped fundraise, clean, and move many heavy things to restore the Big Store in Minneota and turn it into the new Minneota Public Library.

It was and continues to be a community effort.

I have helped fundraise, clean, and move many heavy things to reopen and support the Canby Theatre.

I still have a high-vis shirt splattered with black paint from helping paint the ceiling in theater one.

I am not a heights guy, but it needed to be done.

I volunteered a few hundred hours popping popcorn, working concessions, and doing whatever odds and ends needed doing at the theater.

It was and continues to be a community effort.

I have known what it is to not have enough.

My wife and I raised four kids.

We couldn't be prouder of them or their friends or their cousins or the neighborhood kids who are still welcome in our house, but we have had to decide between groceries or the electric bill.

We had WIC benefits.

We had some SNAP benefits.

We got by with help from friends and family.

Many of our friends and family have had it much harder than us.

People going through hard times aren't lazy.

It's people like you, like me.

It's us.

(mellow music) - [Presenter] What is your vision for the future of Minnesota?

- In the immediate future, I see difficult times ahead for all of us.

With self-defeating trade wars, a pointless war in Iran, cuts to social safety nets, and exploding national debt due to tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, and a chaotic narcissist at the wheel supported by members of his own party, unwilling to do anything to reduce economic pressure and improve affordability for the constituents.

All that stands in the way of chaos is us.

We can do this.

I once had a conversation with a coworker.

We were discussing differences in health insurance.

She pointed out that some other coworkers who made less money had better health insurance than she did because they qualified for Medical Assistance or MinnesotaCare.

She paid much higher premiums and had a much higher deductible.

She thought this was unfair.

I told her I agreed with her completely.

We should all have Medical Assistance or MinnesotaCare.

Why should anyone have to contribute to a for-profit corporation's bottom line, the middleman between you and your medical care?

If we can free people from having to remain in their jobs solely for the health insurance benefit, maybe people will be free to find work that suits them better or remain at their job because they want to stay.

If we can make it easier to afford a better education, more educated citizens would benefit everyone.

Paul Wellstone famously said, "We all do better when we all do better."

I am very interested in a future with us all doing better.

(mellow music) Let's try.

- [Presenter] And now, a closing statement.

- I know I'm supposed to tell you all about myself and why you should vote for me.

Time is short though, and I want to talk about what's most important.

I want to talk about you.

You deserve healthcare that makes sense.

No one should go bankrupt because they got sick.

Healthcare should be available and affordable.

You deserve the Boundary Waters protected from poisoning and destruction by copper sulfide mining.

You deserve a say in where AI data centers are built, how they are powered, who benefits from their construction, and whether they should be built in the first place.

You deserve justice for our fellow Minnesotans who have been hounded by masked, unidentified ICE agents.

Our people have been pulled from their homes.

Our people have had their rights violated repeatedly.

Our fellow citizens have been shot in our streets.

We all deserve justice and accountability.

You deserve answers when tariffs are raised, fuel and fertilizer prices are driven up, and an unjustified war no one asked for is fought in your name.

We are told that our problems are caused by poor people or people of color or LGBTQ people or immigrants, anyone but the people who actually have power and wealth who rake in record profits and endlessly suck up resources.

I want to talk about you.

I need you.

Your community needs you.

The country needs you.

We can do this.

The problems facing us are not insurmountable.

If we all demand action, rights, better government, and justice, we can have it.

You deserve it.

We all deserve it.

Get together, speak up, be heard.

Learn more about me at schmigforminnesota.com.

I'm Nathan Schmig.

I'm running for Minnesota House District 15A.

Stand and be true.

(mellow music) - [Presenter] You can find more information about Nathan Schmig at schmigforminnesota.com.

Next, the Republican candidate, Brad Hennen.

- Hello, my name is Brad Hennen and I would like to represent you here in District 15A in Minnesota, which includes the counties of Lyon, Lac qui Parle, and Yellow Medicine, including the city of Granite Falls.

My kids have played ball in most of these districts, so I know that most of these towns, so I know the district pretty well.

And I have lived in this district most all of my life, save for a few years where I went off to get an animal science degree.

And I've raised nine children in this district and my wife and I are soon to be expecting our 16th grandchild.

So I have a lot vested in this district in terms of family and business.

I've raised hogs for 25 years, just a couple miles away from the farm where I grew up on.

In the last 15 years, I have been selling ag products across the Midwest and I've worked with vendors and other hog farmers, so I understand a lot about business and their needs by virtue of my own family and the needs of my grandchildren and my mother-in-law.

I understand the needs of people of various ages within the district, and I would like to help lower the cost of living for people and improve the business climate.

And I firmly believe that the conservative values that this district represents are a good fit for my values and the understanding that I have about the needs of people in our communities.

(mellow music) - [Presenter] Why do you want to be the representative for your district?

- Well, I think the district is a very good fit for me.

I see how communities in our district are struggling with cost of living issues, with regulatory issues that reduce the freedoms that our businesses and families should be enjoying.

I believe that people have great innate understanding of what it needs, what they need to derive their own lives and their own livelihoods, and I believe they know how to care for themselves and government can provide some of the basic infrastructure, some of the basic needs that they have, but I would like to see greater freedoms and less involvement from St.

Paul other than to provide some of the basic infrastructure and the needs of our local communities should largely be available from a local tax base.

(mellow music) - [Presenter] What are your priorities for the next legislative session?

- I believe that one of the highest priorities in our session is cost of living.

Throughout our society, whether it's business or whether it's families or whether it's healthcare, we've been burdened with a lot of regulation that comes down from the state.

These regulations serve to reduce the supply and increase the cost of a lot of things that we rely on, including healthcare.

Because government has restricted the supply of healthcare through these regulations, healthcare has necessarily gotten more expensive.

Therefore, government turns around and decides that we want to subsidize the demand.

Neither of these approaches does anything to increase the supply and therefore lower the cost of healthcare and industry.

Similar challenges are evident throughout our business community and throughout our families.

If we can reduce the regulation, if we can do things that will foster increasing the supply of goods, particularly healthcare within our society, then we can begin to lower the cost, then we can begin to increase the standard of living, lower the cost of living within our society.

(mellow music) - [Presenter] What unique perspective do you bring to the Minnesota House?

- So in my experience throughout my life, I've been involved with organizations, some of which have had the opportunity to go to St.

Paul, to go to D.C., to interact with our legislators, to try to bring forth ideas and needs of our communities.

And I've had the chance to explain my conservative principles, to explain the values of the community that I've lived in, the community that I interact with, the community that I do business with.

And I have understood how to present ideas.

I've understood ways to present our basic principles and values in ways that can hopefully resonate at the basic level where we can all find agreement and then build on that to come up with solutions that will be available and improve our standard of living, improve our ease of doing business throughout our district.

(mellow music) - [Presenter] What is your vision for the future of Minnesota?

- You know, recently, somebody asked me why Minnesota continually ranks as one of the nicest places to live, and yet we have people leaving our district.

We have people leaving our state to go to other areas in order to start their families or start their business.

And this seems at odds, but the analogy that I put forth is throughout my time in sales, I've had the chance to travel across the Midwest and inevitably at night, I need to find a place to stay.

So I look at a hotel that might be available in that area and I can find a hotel priced anywheres from $50 to $250.

I like to choose a place that is kind of the best value, right?

So that might be $100, might be $150, whatever it is, someplace in that range where I get what I need at a price that I can afford that brings to me the best value that I perceive.

The challenge in Minnesota is our cost of living has become so high that we're looking at a choice between a $200 hotel and a $250 hotel stay.

And we're getting a lot of things, we're paying for a lot of things that we don't need, and I would like to reduce the regulation and reduce the cost of living to the point where, yeah, not only is this a great place to stay, but I can afford it.

This is a place where I want to raise my family.

This is a place where I want to start my business, and it's that value proposition that I want to bring to Minnesota.

It's that value proposition that I think will help to improve the standard of living and create the best cost of living, the best place to live to raise our families.

(mellow music) - [Presenter] And now, a closing statement.

- I would like to be able to represent you in St.

Paul.

I don't have all of the answers, and I don't believe any individual in our legislature or across our state has all the answers.

I trust you to help me to bring some of those ideas to St.

Paul.

My phone number is 507-828-0276.

Feel free to text me or to call me and we can schedule a conversation or we can have a conversation right at that time to understand not only what issues you find challenging in your business, in your family life that we in St.

Paul might be able to help improve, but also I trust that you actually have some of the answers to those questions of the challenges that we face, right?

Whether it's cost of living issues, whether it's infrastructure needs, whether it's family freedoms, if there's ways that you are aware of that you want to bring solutions through me to St.

Paul, I welcome your input.

I am only gonna be one voice out of 134 in one chamber of the House of Congress, but I think together we can improve our lot in life, both for our communities and for our families and for our businesses through our local organizations, through our local government, and through our state government.

And I will work with you to help achieve those goals that we can all agree on, and I want to be part of the solution and I want you to be part of the solution, and I thank you for your support.

My name is Brad Hennen, and I would like to work with you in St.

Paul.

(mellow music) - [Presenter] You can find more information about Brad Hennen at hennen4house.com.

Learn more about voting, how to register, and what district you live in by visiting the Minnesota Secretary of State website at MNVotes.org.

Remember, Election Day is Tuesday, November 3rd.

Thank you for watching "Meet the Candidates" on Pioneer PBS.

(mellow music continues)