Staff photo by Fritz Busch First Congressional District candidate Jake Johnson of Rochester speaks at the Brown County DFL picnic Monday. He said public programs like SNAP, Medical Assistance kept him clothed, fed, and on track through a challenging childhood.

NEW ULM — First Congressional District Democratic candidate Jake Johnson spoke in no uncertain terms at the Brown County DFL potluck Monday about feelings on the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

The bill was recently approved by one vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Johnson said he grew up with 10 siblings, seven of them younger, in Stewartville. His father was a garbage collector. His mother went house to house reading energy meters. His parents split when he was very young.

“God bless my mother,” he said.

Johnson credited a strong community around him and public programs like food stamps and Medicaid for keeping him clothed, fed and on the right track through a challenging childhood. He said his public school teachers encouraged him to work hard. Pell Grants and Stafford loans helped him attend the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.

He talked about the need for public programs that helped his family.

“One in six people in our congressional district is on Medicaid. One in 11 is on food stamps,” said Johnson. “This bill (H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) passed (the U.S. House) by one vote, was supported by our congressman. I don’t know about you, but when I hear that, I’m furious. It’s about priorities and what we value. When we value the words of a would-be autocrat and dictator over the voices of so many citizens of our district,” he said.

Johnson said he called and emailed Brad Finstad and his staff and was “stiff-armed.”

“When our voices are not being represented by our congressman, it’s time for a change. He’s forgotten what his job really is. I’ve heard Brad Finstad and his staff say the president has a mandate. First, I disagree, but even if he did, that’s not his job. His job is to represent us. When he runs again next year, he has to come to voters and say ‘I represent you.’ That’s not what’s happening now. What’s happening now is Brad is hiding and lying,” he said.

Johnson said the first thing he will do in his campaign is have town hall meetings in the 21 counties in the 1st District and listen to people.

A Rochester Mayo math teacher for 19 years, Johnson said he got interested in running for Congress after he got calls and emails from former students asking him to do so.

Johnson said he has asked many 1st District farmers what he can do for them and how he can make it happen.

“If that’s not what we’re doing, we’re serving ourselves or some other interest,” he said.

Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River Executive Director Scott Sparlin of New Ulm told Johnson he’d like to have Gov. Walz come to New Ulm to learn about water quality and volume of the Minnesota River, which is powerful enough to break dams near Mankato.

Minneapolis Foundation Senior Director of Special Initiatives Tom Weber, the husband of Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, who is running for U.S. Senate in 2026, grew up in Chicago but said he found his true home when he moved to Minnesota a couple decades ago to work at Minnesota Public Radio.

He talks about the value of food stamps and free school lunch programs for Flanagan who was raised by a single mother, and what it means to lose them due to federal funding cuts.

“When you see the cruelty that is happening in Washington, it’s very personal. Trump Republicans are giving the biggest middle finger possible to farmers and take away healthcare to the needy, with the “Big, Beautiful Bill Act.” Peggy feels high time somebody with experience fighting through the U.S. Senate for exactly a moment like this. It’s time to come together and fight back on something or know it’s a distraction of what is really important. It’s a hard time right now,” said Weber.

He talked of supporting people and help others with a vision of how to get the country back where it should be.