1st DFL MN CD7 Congressional Candidate Steps Out in Style!

As I depressingly explained the other day, Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District is now double digit R+ republican. But… That don’t mean we can’t have a vigorous campaign that excites democrats to action and forces the republican incumbent to actually defend her seat instead of helping accomplices in more competitive districts. First time candidate Mark Lindquist of Ortonville is doing just that with a campaign kickoff today that was bigger than anything CD7 democrats have seen in decades- Campaign RV, merch, staging, sound system, staffers, and all. This follows thousands of dollars in just the past few days of earned media exposure in the Fargo/Moorhead and Grand Forks markets. Granted, Congresman Colin Peterson set the bar for low key congressional campaigns, but sixteen months out Mark has already outclassed Colin’s biggest event.

I don’t know if Mark’s campaign is modeling there’s after J.D. Scholten’s campaigns in similar Iowa CD4, but JD used a similar strategy of an RV, lotsa events and voter contact, and centrist rural vision. That strategy got JD within 3% of winning in 2018 in a similar R+ double digit district to MN CD4 after republican incumbent King was outed as a neo-nazi. For 2020 the republicans found another candidate who wasn’t a Neo-nazi and with Trump leading their ticket JD lost by double digits along with most of the candidates in the district. But in losing JD brought national attention to rural democratic issues and produced a noticeable jump in democratic turnout in swing counties like Cerro Gordo (Mason City) and Woodbury (Sioux City) and probably helped elect a couple democratic legislators.

That’s why we need democrats like Mark not just filing but running vigorous campaigns everywhere!

Here’s Mark’s campaign website: https://markforall.com/

And a few more photos: