A return to decency is possible, but it will take a new generation of independent-minded leaders in Congress — from both parties.
When I entered the race for Congress 18 months ago, I was fulfilling a promise I made to my teenage daughters after the 2016 election to do something to help repair our politics — and our government.
I believe our Constitution anticipated a president like Donald Trump, but it surely did not anticipate a Congress filled with so many career politicians who lack courage, who place party before principle, and who favor special interests that finance their campaigns over the common interests they’re elected to serve.
Unfortunately, among the worst practitioners of such misrepresentation is Erik Paulsen, the current congressman from Minnesota’s Third District.
Despite representing a district in which only 41 percent voted for Donald Trump, Paulsen votes with the president’s agenda 98 percent of the time. Despite taking an oath to represent his constituents, he went almost seven years before holding an in-person town hall meeting. And despite once sponsoring a bill to ban special-interest PAC money from elections, he is now the fourth biggest taker of special interest money in the entire 435-member House of Representatives. Continue reading “Dean Phillips: In U.S. House race, Paulsen’s negative campaign puts party over voters’ interests”