CATCH UP QUICK: What to Know About the MN-01 Race Between Jake Johnson and Brad Finstad

What Minnesotans have learned about Finstad’s toxic record:

• Finstad rubber-stamped the D.C. policies raising costs on Southern Minnesotans. Finstad backs the tariffs and voted eight times to keep the tariffs in place, even though they are costing the average family in southern Minnesota $4,500 per year. And he voted six times to continue the Iran War, which has cost taxpayers over $40 billion and sent gas over $4.40 a gallon and diesel to $6.26.
• Finstad voted for the largest Medicaid cuts in history, even after  twenty seven Republican legislators – seven who represented parts of MN-01 – wrote to Finstad and warned him against cutting Medicaid. And he voted NO on the bill to extend health care tax credits, spiking health insurance premiums.
• Finstad takes the money, then sides with his special interest donors. Finstad took thousands from Big Ag companies accused of increasing Minnesota farmers’ costs – including a Chinese company.
• Finstad took tens of thousands of dollars in campaign cash from corporations and the utility industries building and profiting from data centers, then voted to make it easier to build data centers in Southern Minnesota and to give them billions in tax breaks.
• Last year, Finstad voted twice to roll back Medicare’s ability to negotiate lower drug prices, raising drug costs by over $8 billion – and within two weeks of each vote, he took $2,000 from drug company lobbyists. In 2023, Finstad “accepted $1,500 from a lobbyist representing pharmacy benefit managers before voting against a bill that would impose price transparency reforms on the industry.”
• Finstad has never held a public, in-person town hall in more than four years in Congress. He accused Minnesotans of throwing a “hissy fit” for wanting to ask him questions and has been called out for being “notably absent.”

Key reads in the MN-01 race:

• Washington Sun: How Big a Wave? This Minnesota Math Teacher Could Be the Democrats’ High-Water Mark.
• HuffPost: GOP Rep. Brad Finstad Runs Attack Ad That Erases Critical Voter From Photo
• American Journal: Finstad voted against lower drug costs on first day in Congress
• Minnesota Reformer: Jake Johnson is collecting receipts — can he collect enough votes against Rep. Brad Finstad?
• Post Bulletin: Jake Johnson, seeking to unseat Rep. Brad Finstad, releases taxpayer protection pledge
• The Guardian: High school math teacher seeks to win US House seat in Minnesota by emphasizing affordability
• American Journal: Finstad backed Trump tariffs as Minnesota farmers paid the price

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