Brown Co. DFL encouraged to reach out ‘to young people’

Minnesota’s 1st congressional district candidate Rachel Bohman (right) attended the Brown County DFL picnic at Shirley's Park Tuesday night. Bohman said the best way for DFL members to help her in this campaign is to talk with neighbors and friends. “TV ads don’t always persuade, but conversations do,” she said.
NEW ULM – Shirley’s Park hosted the Brown County DFL picnic Tuesday night. The gathering was a chance for area DFL candidates to speak to party members on the 2024 election.
One of the first speakers was Tom Kuster, who is running for Minnesota House District 15B seat. He is challenging Republican incumbent Paul Torkelson. Kuster challenged Torkelson for the seat two years ago.
Kuster opened by encouraging the party to get younger people involved in voting.
He explained that if elected to the House he would be 86 years old by the time his first term was over.
“I am an embodiment of our need as a party to do a better job of reaching out to younger people,” he said.
Kuster warned that eventually, all DFL candidates would need to be replaced by a younger candidate. He asked who would replace Amy Klobuchar as Senator if she were elected president. He believed it was possible the next Klobuchar was currently a senior in high school and challenged his fellow DFLers to find her.
“She’s out there and we need to find her, encourage her and people like her,” he said. “We need to reach out to young people.”
Kuster also encouraged the DFL members to reach out to Republicans. He acknowledged that many voted Republican because that’s the way they always vote, but he was confident some were willing to make the change, because some had already reached out to him.
Kuster said “There is no Republican Party anymore. It’s a MAGA party.”
His message to Republicans is their party is gone and the only way to save it is to vote against MAGA.
Kuster listed the difference between past Republican Presidents compared to Trump. He said Ronald Reagan oversaw the collapse of the Soviet Union, but now MAGA wants to allow Putin to rebuild that empire by taking over Ukraine.
“That’s not Republican,” Kuster said.
He said 50 years ago, it was the Republican leaders that forced President Richard Nixon to resign once his involvement with Watergate was revealed.
“We’re not imagining anyone doing that in today’s so-called Republican party, even though it has been proven their leader is a crook,” he said.
Kuster closed by listing Minnesota DFL’s accomplishments in the last term which included free school lunch and paid family leave.
Minnesota 1st Congressional District candidate Rachel Bohman also attended the picnic. Bohman said she was inspired to run after seeing Congressman Brad Finstad’s voting record.
“We don’t have a farm bill,” Bohman said. He voted against the reauthorization bill and she described the 2024 farm bill proposal as a partisan mess.
“It took out SNAP funding, it took out climate change policy for farmers,” she said. “It did not reimburse corn and soybean crops as much as it did for southern crops. He is not representing people in this district.”
Bohman said after she decided to run, Finstad voted no on the infrastructure bill that funded improvements to New Ulm’s Airport and voted no to funding Ukraine.
“I get angry when I hear how he likes to portray himself as a moderate,” she said. “He is not a moderate person. He has voted MAGA all the way.”
Bohman said the best way for DFL members to help her in this campaign is to talk with neighbors and friends who can make a difference.
“TV ads don’t always persuade, but conversations do,” she said.
The Brown County picnic was also attended by DFL members from neighboring districts including State Rep. Luke Frederick. Frederick was first elected in 2020. He said the second term since the DFL took control of the State House and Senate was much different, with the party passing important legislation.
“It is a perfect example of what can happen when DFLers come together,” Frederick said.
He listed off the accomplishments which included expanding mental health access, driver’s licenses for all and making elections easier to participate in.
He warned that with this election cycle, Republicans would be focusing their attention on state house races. Frederick said it was important to maintain DFL control this year.
“We know the stakes at a national level,” he said. “If things don’t go well on a national level, we are going to need that blue wall again going into 2025.”
The last speaker was Sleepy Eye resident Jackie Hutchins, who presented information on Project 2025.
Project 2025 is a proposed presidential transition overseen by the Heritage Foundation. The project is a blueprint for the next Republican president to overhaul the executive branch.
Hutchins described Project 2025 is described as a road map for a “post-constitutional” America. The plan would centralize power behind the president, giving the presidency control of the Department of Justice. It removes civil servants who are not loyal to Trump, repeals all climate safety regulations and allows Trump to retaliate against reporters, judges and Democrats.
Hutchins said Trump and other Republicans are reluctant to openly speak about Project 2025 because they want it kept under the radar.
Hutchins encouraged DFL members to bring it out in the open and make it an issue in this election.