The DCCC Would Never Target NRCC Chair Tom Emmer, But That Isn't Stopping Ian Todd

Minnesota's 6th district hasn't been friendly territory for congressional Democratic candidates in a very long time. Originally white flight suburbs and exurbs north and west of the Twin Cities, the district is the reddest in the state, with an R+12 PVI. It's Michele Bachmann's old stomping grounds and after she was forced to resign from Congress, it's been represented by Tom Emmer, best known for 2 things-- the Financial Services Committee member who took immense bribes from the banksters to lead the charge against Dodd-Frank and as the current head of the NRCC. The district voted against Obama both times he ran and then voted even more strongly against Hillary. In 2016 Trump won the district 58.9% to 33.2%.

Asians and Somalis from Minneapolis have been settling in and around St. Cloud and the district is beginning to change... slowly. Last year progressive Democrat Ian Todd did better than any Democratic candidate since the scandal-burdened Bachmann was nearly defeated in the 50.5% to 49.3% 2012 election that helped persuade her to retire. Last year-- in the midst of the Anoka Catholic dioceses going bankrupt after a series of child molestation scandals, Todd drew 122,332 votes campaigning on a solid working class, Bernie-like platform. That wasn't enough votes to win but I want to point something out about it. The DCCC ignored Todd's race entirely and refused to give him a dime and warned institution Democratic donors they would be wasting their money if they contributed to the progressive. Meanwhile the DCCC poured millions of dollars into conservative corporate Democrats. I want to compare Todd's 122,332 votes to what the DCCC bought for their winning conservative candidates in California:

• Josh Harder- 115,945 ($8,358,405 + $5,351,775 from the DCCC)
• TJ Cox- 57,239 ($2,872,974 + $361,883 from the DCCC)
• Katie Hill- 133,209 ($8,342,521 + $3,541,202 from the DCCC)
• Gil Cisneros- 126,002 ($12,030,393-- $9,252,762 self-funded-- + $5,330,201 from the DCCC)
• Harley Rouda- 157,837 ($7,636,294 + $7,070,891 from the DCCC)

Remember, Todd spent $81,577 and had no outside help and still took 122,332 votes. He made significant headway in 2 of the 3 top counties, Anoka and Stearns. And now he's running again. The Democrats in the district know the difference between a Republican-lite corporate Dem and a real Democrat. In 2016 Bernie slaughtered Hillary 62.4% to 37.6% in MN-06. Todd is an Air Force veteran who worked as an intelligence analyst as part of the drone program before moving to Sauk Rapids. I asked him to introduce himself and explain why the second run-- and as a no-nonsense progressive in this red district is going to move the ball down the field. If you like what you hear, please consider contributing to his campaign here.





It Will Take A Progressive To Win In  Minnesota's 6th District
by Ian Todd

In 2012, our district came within one point of DFL victory; to call this area highly conservative or a lost cause for Democrats is highly misleading, but that doesn’t stop the claim from being repeated ad nauseum. The reality is that this district, like most of Minnesota, could swing either way, and is home to a variety of independent voters that are proud to have no party loyalty. [In 2018 Amy Klobuchar won both Anoka and Stearns counties.]

Perhaps the largest part of that group are the progressives that often see the Democratic Party and the DFL as too centrist and will not vote for DFL candidates running with conservative policies. It’s my belief that rural Minnesotans that are willing to cast their ballot for the DFL aren’t looking for Republican-lite candidates. If they were, they’d probably just vote Republican and never give any Democrat the time of day. In 2012, this district almost flipped blue, and the DFL candidate was a strong supporter for LGBTQ+ rights, specifically the right to marriage. In 2014, the DFL candidate was an outspoken pro-life Democrat, and the gap between GOP and DFL widened by 18 points. That gap has stayed ever since.

I’m not here to cast judgement on those that ran before me, and the fate of an election certainly isn’t contingent on just one point, but I do believe that my district, especially the progressive voters and the youth that have never gone to the polls before, is looking for a candidate that can be a champion for the issues that plague their lives and have caused them to lose faith in politicians and our entire system of government. I’ve traveled all over my district to knock on people’s doors, and everywhere I go I meet country raised folk like me that hold progressive populist ideas. They always seem to think they’re alone, too, so it’s my pleasure to tell them that they have neighbors just as left leaning as them.

I’m running on the same progressive policies I ran on in 2018, and I will continue to fight for these policies until we solve the underlying issues that make them necessary. I fight to end the corruption of money in politics because legalized bribery cannot be part of free and fair elections. I fight for Medicare for All because health is a fundamental human right and any system that lets people fall through the cracks or be locked into crippling debt for the crime of illness or injury is unjust. I fight to solve climate change because the security of our planet is at risk and the desire of a few for more profits cannot justify the damage being done to our world. These issues mean just as much to people that grew up in rural America, small towns, and the suburbs as they do to people that lived their whole lives in a city, and they need a representative that can make sure that when reforms come to pass, the positive change is brought to their neck of the woods, too.

However, as a candidate in a district of many political ideologies, I can’t win without being a unifying voice for more than just folks as progressive as I am. I’m under no illusion, I will have to fight for my beliefs and values in the political arena, but that doesn’t mean I have to use underhanded tactics that have come to dominate political discourse or disparage those that hold other beliefs. This is the way we bring civility back into our politics without sacrificing convictions, and communicating this way is something I’ve had a lifetime to practice.

Throughout my life I’ve dealt with people that don’t agree with my politics. There’s a painful source of strength in standing up for your beliefs when they are consistently questioned, belittled, disrespected, and ultimately discarded by your peers. I often joke that if I never learned to get along with those I don’t agree with, I wouldn’t have had many friends. I suppose it’s good I can laugh about it now; I certainly couldn’t then. However, I learned a fine art of sticking up for myself and others without alienating those whose beliefs I could not square with. It’s perhaps the most important skill I have as I run for office today.

From growing up in northwest Arkansas where there’s a unique blend of poverty and gratuitous wealth thanks to the presence and dominance of Wal-Mart and its home office, to enlisting in the Air Force where dropping bombs on people was celebrated with the ringing of a bell and roaring applause, I have always found myself in positions where I felt compelled to speak up and often alone when I chose to do so. The most amazing this about running for office here in Minnesota is that while I still have to fight for what I believe in every bit as hard as I ever have, I don’t feel alone in doing so anymore.

People still say the 6th congressional district is too conservative. I’ve been called the DFL’s sacrificial lamb. But I know that rural America doesn’t mean Republican America. I know that even the districts like mine can be won and are worth fighting for.