Candidate hears out Martin County’s concerns
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FAIRMONT - Around 75 people filled the Martin County Library in Fairmont on Thursday as Democratic candidate Jake Johnson made his 20th of 21 stops across the 1st congressional district.
Johnson is a math teacher in Rochester, who first entered the race over a year ago. Starting June 20, he has gone to every county in the 1st congressional district, with his final stop being Dodge County on Aug. 30. He started his journey before the primary and continued as planned after winning his primary against Alex Eaton with 81.7 percent of the vote.
The event started with retired Fairmont Elementary School Principal Jim Davison introducing the candidate.
Davison said he is an independent who has gone back and forth between candidates from both parties in previous elections. With Johnson, Davison said he has stayed firm because while Johnson has committed to hearing from every county, Current 1st Congressional District Representative and Republican candidate Brad Finstad has not held a single in-person town hall during this race, opting to instead hold telephone town calls where district residents are randomly selected.
"How many town halls has Jake held? Twenty," Davison said. "He has one more to go. One more. And [Finstad], maybe he just hasn’t started yet."
On this, Johnson said he has also had no screenings for his stops, meaning anyone from across the political spectrum was invited and able to come speak their minds and hear what Johnson had to say.
In his time in Southern Minnesota, Johnson said he has already heard a lot from people on what they're struggling with and what they want to see change.
"Things are too expensive for the people of Southern Minnesota," he said. "Things are too difficult for the people of Southern Minnesota. We are not getting the investments that we need to maintain our way of life, and we have a government that we cannot trust, that is corrupt, and we need Congress to step up and start doing something about that. That’s exactly why I am doing this."
With that, Johnson opened the floor to questions. Nine people spoke up and had their questions heard, starting with Fairmont's Terry Riggs. She asked about his previous experience with organizing and leading. Johnson said after a 2023 referendum failed by just 318 votes and three to four schools were at risk of being closed, he got involved to try and save those schools.
"We worked, messaged, built and we won in 2024," Johnson said. "Even though people told us, 'It’s a tough year to run a school memorandum and you'll probably lose.' We actually ended up winning that by 14 percentage points because we told our story, we advocated. There were countless evenings of organizing together and working together as a community, to tell the story of our children."
Fairmont's Ken Atzenhoefer asked about the national debt, which crossed over $40 trillion in August. Johnson said this is an issue both Republicans and Democrats have handled poorly, and last year alone, U.S. taxpayers spent more than $1 trillion just paying interest on this debt.
To fix this, Johnson said serious people from both parties need to come together.
"It’s called a Hoover Commission," he said. "We’ve done it before. Sit down in a room and say, “Is how we are spending our money now really promoting the best of what our country can be?' We have 24 major government agencies in D.C. that own office space. 17 of those 24 use 25 percent or less of their office space. That means we, the taxpayers, are paying for empty floors in D.C."
On top of this, Johnson said billionaires need to pay their fair share of taxes as everyone else does.
"The fact that we have corporations in this country who can pay for the lawyers, all the ways to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, is completely unacceptable to me," he said. "We need Congress and members of Congress who are not beholden to corporations. I take no money from Corporate Political Action Committees."
Fairmont's Jodie Whitmore got the last opportunity. She raised concerns about the rising power of Donald Trump, and asked what Johnson could do in Congress to make sure power is balanced as it’s meant to be. Johnson said Congress has to get back to writing laws that will deliver for regular people.
Ultimately, Johnson said he has three things to offer the people of Southern Minnesota: his voice and his vote to advocate for the people while he is in Congress and ears to listen to always know his constituents and their needs.
"If I am elected, we’re hosting a town hall meeting in every county, every term," Johnson said. "Because I’ve got to go to D.C. and deliver the very best I can."