Tag: Star Tribune

Third District’s Dean Phillips deserves another term in Congress

He’s taken a refreshingly bipartisan approach to Washington. 

Opinion editor’s note: The Star Tribune Editorial Board operates separately from the newsroom, and no news editors or reporters were involved in the endorsement process.

Minnesota’s Third Congressional District, long in Republican hands, swung to a Democrat in the last election, businessman Dean Phillips. Voters liked his message of innovation, pragmatism and a commitment to working across the aisle.

Phillips, 51, has delivered on those ideals in his first term and deserves to continue his work in a second term. He is part of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, where some 50 lawmakers from both parties sit down to figure out where they can find common ground.

Their most recent work centered on breaking the impasse on COVID relief, with Phillips and South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson laboring to craft a well-balanced framework that was larger than the Senate’s “skinny stimulus” but smaller than the House’s $2 trillion package. Continue reading.

Poll Showing MN Supports Governor Walz’s Safety Measures

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – On Saturday, the Star Tribune, MPR, and KARE 11 released a poll finding extremely widespread support for the public safety measures enacted by the Walz administration to protect Minnesotans from the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak.

The poll found that a sizable majority of Minnesotans, 57%, supported the Stay at Home Order enacted by Governor Walz while another 9% expressed support for further safety measures. Only 32% expressed their opposition to these public safety precautions.

Taken together, 66% of Minnesotans support a response to COVID-19 that centers the health and well-being of the people of Minnesota. Additionally, roughly 74% of Minnesotans have personally worn masks when leaving their homes in the past week, a safety precaution that Republican elected officials have largely spurned.   Continue reading “Poll Showing MN Supports Governor Walz’s Safety Measures”

Dean Phillips is a fresh voice for the Third District

He would help move Congress back toward more civil, fact-based representation.

Dean Phillips is a fresh, positive voice on Minnesota’s political scene who could be part of a new generation in Congress that moves this country back to a more civil, fact-based, grass-roots representation. Despite the Editorial Board’s past support for Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen — and respect for his bipartisan accomplishments in Congress — Phillips earned our endorsement in the Third Congressional District.

Phillips, 49, has described himself as fiscally responsible, socially inclusive and independent-minded. That’s a plus in a Congress filled with those taking marching orders from their caucus. A driving motivation behind Phillips’ campaign has been, as he calls it, “reducing the influence of affluence” in politics. He takes no corporate or PAC money, relying instead on individual contributions. That stance goes a long way to ensuring a level of independence for a new legislator.

In contrast to Paulsen, 53, who has stubbornly stuck mostly to screened telephone forums and other controlled settings, Phillips has been more than willing to engage with voters, stopping his campaign truck for spontaneous interactions. He’s held educational forums on issues — a practice he says he would maintain if elected. Continue reading “Dean Phillips is a fresh voice for the Third District”