Schroepfer

NEW ULM — A 30-year-old licensed real estate agent and teacher with Sleepy Eye roots is seeking the First District Congressional seat.

District 88 students may be familiar with Mark Schroepfer. Trained as a social studies teacher at Minnesota State University, Mankato, he has worked as a substitute teacher at New Ulm High School.

Talking in the New Ulm Public Library basement Thursday night, Schroepfer said he lives in Minneapolis but decided to seek the First Congressional District seat several months ago.

The Constitution requires that members of the House be at least 25 years old, have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years, and live in the state they represent, though not necessarily the same district. In addition, 1,000 signatures are required for a candidate to compete for a U.S. House race.

Schroepfer said his research into the Cook Partisan Voting Index (CPVI), a measurement of how strongly a U.S. congressional district or state leans toward the Democratic or Republican party compared to the nation as a whole, rated the First District as R+5.

Only two Democratic representatives have served Minnesota’s First District in the U.S. House since 1900.

“I want to be its third,” said Schroepfer.

Running on a shoestring, he said one of his biggest challenges is getting his name known. Schroepfer recently met with the Young Democrats of Olmsted County in Rochester.

First District Democrat Dan Feehan nearly became the third Minnesota First District DFLer to get to Congress in 2016. He lost to Jim Hagedorn by a fraction of a percent. Hagedorn had 146,202 votes; Feehan 144,891.

Feehan, a former teacher and national security professional at the Pentagon who received the Army Commendation with Valor, Ranger Tab and Bronze Star for Service, announced his First District candidacy last fall.

Schroepfer said he is particularly interested in health care and how to fix it.

“I recently read ‘The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care — and How to Fix It,’ by Marty Makary, M.D.,” he said.

“Let’s crack down on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs, third-party administrators of prescription drug programs for commercial health plans, self-insured employer plans, Medicare Part D Plans, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and state government employee plans),” he said.

Schroepfer said “gag clauses” by Medicare Part D plan sponsors prevent pharmacists from telling customers about lower-cost drugs.

“Pharmacists must stay silent while a customer pays more under their insurance plan than they could pay with cash for a similar drug,” Schroepfer said. “Last year, Congress passed legislation, signed by President Trump, to eliminate gag clauses. It’s time to enforce the law and prevent PBMs from finding new ways to hike patient costs, according to Dr. Makary’s book.”

Schroepfer said he’s fascinated by healthcare and could write for a long time about it.

“I was surprised to see only two healthcare-related pieces of legislation in nearly 80 bills passed by Congress and signed by the president last year,” Schroepfer said.

He said the two root issues driving the healthcare cost crisis are appropriateness of care and pricing failures.

“Politicians typically debate how to fund healthcare, but what we need to talk about is how to fix healthcare,” said Schroepfer.

Regarding trade, he said he’d like to see open markets, dropping barriers and “doing everything we can to expand our exports around the world.”

Schroepfer said in his 20s, he learned perseverance, discipline, and focus as a marathon runner, completing seven 26.2 mile marathons.

He said he is also interested in earning a law degree.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.