MINNEAPOLIS— Voters in Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District will decide Tuesday whether Republican Rep. Pete Stauber will fend off the Democrat Jen Schultz again to serve his fourth term.
The district covers much of northern Minnesota, stretching from the northeast corner of suburban St. Paul and Duluth, the Boundary Waters, Brainerd and including the White Earth, Red Lake and Leech Lake reservations.
Historically a Democratic stronghold, the district was one of three congressional districts in the country that flipped from Democrat to Republican during the 2018 midterm elections.
The candidates
Stauber is from Duluth and was first elected to Congress in 2018. He is a former professional hockey player and served as a police officer for 23 years. In Congress, he serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and chairs the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources on the Natural Resources Committee.
In 2020, Stauber was one of three Minnesota representatives to sign a last-ditch effort to get the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. The lawsuit was dismissed by the court on a 7-2 vote.
Pete Stauber/Jen Schultz
Schultz has called Duluth home for 20 years and works as an economist and lecturer at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. She has a PhD in health economics and advertises her union membership. She represented Duluth in the Minnesota Legislature for eight years, during which time she said she helped bring millions of dollars in bonding projects to the city and secured federal funds to clean up the St. Louis River.
Stauber and Schultz went head to head in 2022, but Stauber pulled forward with 57% of the votes.
Important issues
Schultz has emphasized that she will vote for infrastructure bills to bring green and alternative energy solutions to the area. Democrats have criticized Stauber for touting the $1 billion in federal funding for reconstruction Blatnik Bridgeeven though the money came from Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, which he voted against.
Stauber pushed back, saying the bill did not originally guarantee federal money for the bridge, but he was able to secure the money by advocating for Secretary of State Pete Buttigieg and President Joe Biden.
Schultz also advocates for campaign finance reform, strengthening Social Security and lowering costs for working families.
“I will grow the economy by growing the middle class and ensuring retirement security – that means protecting Social Security and Medicare,” Schultz said.
Highlighting the rising cost of living, Stauber says, “We must put America first by building a pro-growth economy and pursuing an all-American energy policy that is not dependent on our adversaries.” He calls for ending dependence on foreign minerals and bringing mining back to the region.
