Four major contenders in the Minnesota governor's race participating in a candidate forum at FarmFest in Redwood Falls Wednesday.
There were four participants, three of the Republicans ahead of next week's Primary. They are Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, now former MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, and local businessman Kendall Qualls who also received the state Republican endorsement.
The Democrat nominee is U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is vying to keep the DFL in charge of the governor's office after two terms with Tim Walz, following two terms with Mark Dayton. The GOP hasn't won a statewide office in Minnesota since Tim Pawlenty's second term as governor in 2006.
What appears to be the largest issue in the race is the tackling fraud, which has been plaguing state programs. Klobuchar says it's at the top of her list.
"The minute I get in there I will launch a top to bottom audit of state government," she said. "I will root out the fraud. I'm going to make sure that we're vetting all the contracts."
Republican-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Kendall Qualls:
"We have mega spending bills that funded the fraud programs," he says. "No more mega spending bills."
Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth:
"The explosive fraud in Minnesota is a direct result of incompetent Democrat control in this state for more than 16 years," she explained.
Businessman Mike Lindell:
"Fraud is the biggest blessing our state has ever had because it's opened our eyes to get rid of the current government we have," he says.
WCCO political analyst Blois Olson moderated the forum and he tells WCCO's Chad Hartman the reaction from the audience was clearly the strongest around fraud issues.
"When issues like fraud came up, the whole crowd went crazy," Olson said Wednesday afternoon. "And so, I do think there's almost like a triangulation between Trump's unpopularity and these issues that Republicans have kind of a platform on."
Olson adds Minnesota is an outlier when it comes to the top issues on voters minds.
"Fraud is still the top issue. Healthcare is second. Every other state we work in, healthcare is number one far and away," says Olson. "And so, it's not just that fraud is a big issue in Minnesota, it's the only issue. It doesn't show up in other states. And people in Minnesota say, well, other states have fraud. Yeah, but it is not on the minds of those voters."
The forum was mainly focused on rural issues, which is normally the case in FarmFest political forums. They hosted Congressional candidates on Tuesday from all of the state's rural districts, and also hosted a U.S. Senate forum on Wednesday afternoon.
