This CEO has deep agricultural roots in the district through his running of Hormel Foods. There is a special election this Tuesday due to the fact that Rep. Jim Hagedorn passed away of kidney cancer. Majority Savers is writing this article to raise awareness and due to the fact that a similar dynamic as Nebraska-1 could be in play. It is time to support Jeff Ettinger for Minnesota’s 1st district!
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Jeff Ettinger for Minnesota-1
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Candidate Background
Jeff Ettinger is a first time politician, which carries high risk but also high reward. If he is seen as a problem solver and not partisan, he stands a chance of winning — even in this district. Luckily, he has the right profile for an ideal candidate for the district.
- Ettinger got his degrees from UCLA, and he moved to southern Minnesota around thirty years ago. That gives him deep roots in the district in spite of not being born there.
- He rose through the corporate ladder, and eventually became CEO of Jennie-O (a subsidiary of Hormel) and eventually Hormel itself. He oversaw a period of rapid growth for the company, and he created many jobs for southern Minnesota at the same time.
- Since 2016, he has been focusing on philanthropy in southern Minnesota and serving on the boards of several companies. He would obviously step down from these positions if elected to Congress to avoid conflicts of interest.
Signature Issues
Jeff Ettinger will NOT be a progressive in Congress. He is likely to be one of the most conservative members of the Democratic House delegation if he happens to win. This district handily supported TFG twice and will not support a progressive firebrand. What matters is that it adds one more member to our razor thin majority of three seats right now.
Abortion: One issue where he will be very helpful is on abortion. He has already pledged to codify Roe into law and is aghast at criminalizing doctors (an important constituency in the district) and women in general. While not the centerpiece of his campaign, abortion is a close second.
Defending Democracy: Ettinger was motivated to run because of 1/6. He wants to make sure that every person has the right to vote, and would likely support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. He thinks it is important for politicians (he hasn’t been one until this year) to respect the will of the voters and not try to overturn elections.
Supply Chains and Inflation: As a CEO, Ettinger would be a strong person in Congress to propose ideas to strengthen our local supply chains and to curb inflation. Some of the ideas may not be as progressive as we would desire, but ignoring his expertise in running a large company like Hormel would be a mistake if he were elected to Congress.
Elections History
Recent Elections —
2020 President: TFG (R-inc) 53.9%, Joe Biden (D) 43.8%
2020 House: Jim Hagedorn (R-inc) 48.6%, Dan Feehan (D) 45.5%
Special Election Race Rating: Likely Republican
2022 PVI: R+7
This district tended to elect more moderate members from both parties. The GQP held this district from the 1994 Republican Revolution until the 2006 blue wave. Rep. Gil Gutknecht epitomized a “moderate” member of the GQP. He didn’t rock the boat and sometimes crossed the aisle to vote for non-controversial legislation.
In 2006, Gutknecht had to face the voters over Bush and Iraq, and that created a huge opening that now Gov. Tim Walz took advantage of. Obama narrowly carried the district twice in his runs for president, and Walz narrowly held onto his congressional seat during the Obama era in both 2010 and 2014 during the red wave elections.
Minnesota has been undergoing a political revolution, as places away from the Twin Cities metro area have bolted away from the Democratic Party. Minnesota’s 1st district is included in that calculus, as TFG handily won the district in 2016. Walz hung on yet again in a nail biter against future member of Congress Jim Hagedorn.
Walz abandoned this seat in 2018, and Hagedorn prevailed in picking up the district, albeit winning very narrowly twice. Hagedorn passed away earlier this year, leading to the need for this special election. While it is highly likely that State Rep. Brad Finstad will prevail, the lesson from Nebraska’s 1st district special election is that we can compete in these districts. The last two races were close, and I have a hunch that this one will be too.
Political Tour of the District
This district contains many more rural areas than big suburban areas, which is why it has become enamored of the current Republican Party. There are a few big blue areas in the district, and a few swingy areas. Much of the district is now painted bright red, and cannot be counted on.
Here’s where this race will be won in the 1st district.
- Rochester: This is the primary Democratic anchor of the district, and it is home to the Mayo Clinic. Abortion is likely at the top of the issues list here, meaning that Ettinger needs gangbusters turnout from this city in order to eke out a narrow win.
- Mankato: This is the another Democratic anchor (and college town) in the district, albeit a much smaller sized one than Rochester. It is important that every blue voter in this area is found and turns out if Ettinger is to have a chance at winning. Failure to do so means Finstad wins easily.
- Winona: This college town is big enough to warrant a mention in terms of importance. Ettinger needs to find every college student and professor possible in this city and turn them out to have a chance. While southeastern Minnesota has trended red, this city has stayed loyal.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.
- Farm Country: The rest of the district is near inhospitable to Democratic candidates now. While the small cities are still open to the right Democratic candidate, even they have been trending in the wrong direction recently. Ettinger has the right profile as a Big Ag CEO to woo these voters, but can he get the margins from the small cities he needs to win? The more rural areas are hopeless.
Activism — Help How You Can!
While it is late to send donations for the special election on Tuesday, it is quite likely that these candidates win the primary also scheduled for that day and face off again in the fall. That makes reporting their financials worth it still. Jeff Ettinger raised $253k and self funded $400k in Quarter 2 for a grand total of $653k. That puts him in a competitive place for the special election. State Rep. Brad Finstad raised $451k for Quarter 2, which puts him at a disadvantage money wise.
When we look at cash on hand totals, do realize that both candidates will likely be broke after Tuesday, as they would have spent much of their money contesting this special election. Depending upon how it goes, it could energize the campaign of the winner and even the person with a narrow loss. Ettinger has $250k to spend, while Finstad has $267k to spend.
DONATE TO JEFF ETTINGER HERE
What is more important right this second is Ettinger getting an army of volunteers to make those last second texts and calls to go vote. Postcards to Voters has wrapped up for this district, but texting and phone banking is still fair game. You can volunteer for the Ettinger campaign here. Hopefully your time and effort will be worth it despite the last second warning!
Ettinger has a small following on Twitter, which is surprising for a former CEO. He obviously has divorced his personal account from his campaign account, because it was created in March 2022. He has less than 1000 followers on Twitter, which means his message hasn’t been getting out very well. To further aggravate thing, Ettinger cannot campaign right now due to him contracting COVID.
He also has a Facebook account at SouthernMN4Jeff. It also was obviously created recently for campaigning and has a limited following. Hopefully he can grow and build off of a win or even a narrow loss on Tuesday!
After the surprising result in Nebraska, I decided to highlight any special election that could be competitive. This race has a definite possibility of surprising people on Tuesday, just like Nebraska was a surprise and the margin in Kansas was a surprise. Majority Savers is happy to introduce Jeff Ettinger to DailyKos, and even if he loses he will face the voters again in November.
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Jeff Ettinger for Minnesota-1
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