Senate District 15 candidates Tiffany Lesmeister-Knott, Braxton Seifert and Brian Mock took part in the forum, organized by the Redwood County Republicans, Monday night at the Wabasso Community Center.

Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, the current senator in SD 15, has announced he will retire at the end of his term.

Lesmeister-Knott, Seifert and Mock each outlined a couple of their top priorities if they were elected to the state Senate. High on the list for candidates was addressing fraud and waste in Minnesota.

“We need to take care of the waste, fraud and abuse. Not only that, but we need to hold people accountable,” Lesmeister-Knott said.

Coraline Mathiowetz and her rabbit, Cece, won the 2025 Fan Favorite for the Brown County 4 – H Funny Bunny Games.

She said other priorities for her would be “dialing back” abortion access in Minnesota, and increased penalties for coercion crimes.

“It relates to our kids being under attack from social media, from adults, and when they have harm or commit suicide because of bullying through social media,” Lesmeister-Knott said of coercion crimes. “There needs to be tougher sentences for people that do this to our kids.”

Mock also said stopping fraud, waste and abuse was a priority for him. He said some of his other priorities included election integrity, and giving more of the government’s power back to the people.

“Look at the 10th Amendment . . . There are very specific rights that are given to the federal government. The rest of that is given to the states or the people,” Mock said. “We follow the Constitution and the rest takes care of itself. We put the power back into your hands.”

Seifert said that reducing taxes and regulations was high on his list of priorities. “We need to right-size our government that we have in Minnesota,” he said. “The regulations on our businesses and on our farmers are hurting them in terms of growth and in terms of opportunity available in the state of Minnesota.”

Funny Bunny Games, Costume Contest—(left to right) Kelly Hollingsworth with Vamp in Slumber party theme, Nora Bailey with Coconut, dressed as a coconut, Rhett Jensen and Lavender as a football player, Coraline Mathiowetz and Cece dressed as a grandma, Eliza Bkanek and Jamal as a space ballerina, and Lillian Brandes with Thorn dressed in Surfing theme.

Seifert said Minnesota’s paid family and medical leave laws also needed to be right-sized.

“I’m not saying that we can get rid of it, because it’s a big hurdle to get rid of, but we at least need to exempt some of the smaller employers,” Seifert said. “I know many businesses can’t afford it.”

The three candidates had slightly different approaches to how they would balance future state budgets. Seifert said he would focus on cutting waste and ballooning funding in state programs.

“We’ve got major funding programs like the housing stabilization program right now in the state of Minnesota, that was projected to spend $40 million when it was created, and it ballooned over $100 million since then,” Seifert said. “If we look at programs like that and cut them to begin with, and don’t fund them to begin with, that’s an easy way to balance the budget.”

Lesmeister-Knott said she would also focus on Minnesota’s Health and Human Services department.

“I believe that’s where a lot of this waste, fraud and abuse is taking place,” she said.

Mock said his approach to reducing wasteful spending would focus on the Constitution.

“Every single bill that was passed by an omnibus bill was illegal. It’s in our Constitution, we can’t have an omnibus bill,” Mock said. “So you start repealing those, OK? And then what you do is you start firing people . . . It’s probably not at a local level here, but up in St. Paul and Minneapolis and a few other spots, there’s a whole bunch of people that work for the government that need to go away.”

The three candidates had similar positions on a few different topics, including the need to reduce taxes, support for Second Amendment rights, and school choice, with education dollars following students instead of going to school districts.

The Senate candidates were also asked whether they had signed an endorsement pledge, saying they would abide by the SD 15 endorsement to be decided Saturday.

“I have not signed anything. We were asked about it,” Mock said. “I said yes, I will abide by it as long as everything is above-board.” However, Mock added that he had issues with the process of party delegates endorsing candidates.

“Does that represent the people? Does it? Because I’m out here talking to people who aren’t delegates, and they absolutely love the fact that there’s someone running who isn’t a politician,” he said.

Both Seifert and Lesmeister-Knott said they had signed the endorsement pledge, and would abide by it.

Monday’s forum also included some brief speeches from Republican candidates in Minnesota House District 15B. Candidates Geri Theis and Tammy Houle are running for the House seat currently represented by Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska. Torkelson has also said he is not running for House again.

Theis, a Belview resident, said she was running for Minnesota House to advocate for rural Minnesota.

“I truly understand the priorities and the challenges we face, and I believe we need a strong, practical voice at the Capitol,” Theis said. “This journey is about listening to you, our neighbors, and ensuring that your concerns and aspirations are represented.”

Theis said she was pro-life, and supported upholding Second Amendment rights. She said she would also fight for small businesses and farmers.

“One of my main focuses as your representative will be to provide both accountability in state government and affordability for our residents,” she said.

Tammy Houle, of Redwood Falls, began her remarks by talking about the importance of self-imposed term limits.

“I pledge to you that if I should be elected to this seat in the Minnesota House, and might, by God’s grace, keep winning more terms, I will serve at most eight years, or four terms,” Houle said. Houle said she would fight fraud, gun control, excessive taxes, government spending and paid family in Minnesota.

“We need more fighters at the Capitol . . . ones who will not back down, and stand their ground for the Constitution and the principles of our GOP platform,” Houle said.

Republican delegates from seven counties will meet to endorse House and Senate candidates this weekend, during the Senate District 15 endorsing convention. The convention, which will be held Saturday in Belview, will bring together about 300 delegates, said SD 15 Republican Chairman David Sturrock.