Candidates

Tom Kuster (DFL)

https://www.tomforhouse.com/ 

Paul Torkelson (R) (Incumbent)

https://ptorkelson.com/ 

Background

• Married for 57 years
• Nine children, seven adopted
• Ordained Lutheran minister who promises to keep religion out of politics, and vice versa
• Residents of New Ulm since 1971
•  Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin
• 45-year career in college teaching including courses in critical thinking, problem analysis and solving, conflict management, intercultural communication, leadership.
• Former president of the Communication and Theatre Association of Minnesota
• Former president of the National Parliamentary Debate Association
• Has presented in Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, Israel, and Peru.
• Led student debate teams to Romania, Serbia, and North Macedonia
• Fulbright scholar in China and South Korea
• Served two years as Chapter Chair and 10 years as Disaster Chair for the Brown-West Nicollet Chapter of the American Red Cross
• Brown County chair for Dave Durenberger for the US Senate (R)
• Planned publicity for Terry Dempsey’s run for the Minnesota House (R)
• Served 3 yrs on New Ulm Human Rights Commission
• Certified conflict mediator Minnesota Department of Human Rights

• Married 42 years
• Two adult daughters and one grandchild
• Actively in the operation of his family farm where he raises corn, soybeans and hogs on the farm established by his great-grandfather in 1878.
• Life-long resident of Minnesota
• Graduate of St. James High School and Gustavus Adolphus College.
• Active member of East Sveadahl Lutheran Church

Citizenship and Voting

• Defends the right to vote
• Willing to challenge citizens to to use their vote thoughtfully, and maybe “re-think” their votes base them on well-informed and sound judgment
• every individual deserves respect, equal treatment, and equal opportunity
• Address people by the name they choose for themselves
• Oppose voter-suppression, gerrymandering, and other undemocratic strategies, including violence to gain power and maintain minority rule

Faith

• Though a person of faith, will not impose my religious views on you nor seek to write them into legislation
• Guided by the First Amendment which prohibits the intermingling of religion and government, and prevents our government from favoring or dis-favoring any religion or religious belief
• a deeply religious person, and there I am conservative. For me that is important. But I have promised not to bring my religious beliefs into politics and vice versa, so I won’t talk about that

Reproductive Freedom

• Fully pro-life meaning …

• Legally banning abortions will not stop all abortions
• tending legal “personhood” to the earliest moment of fertilization is an imposition of a religious view which violates the First Amendment
• Making abortion illegal in every situation will lead to some intolerable consequences

• Fully pro-life meaning …

• Paid family leave for mother and father
• minimum wage to support single-parent families
• Education and job training that is accessible and affordable
• Universal medical care, pre- and post-natal
• Programs to deal with maternal morbidity, infant mortality, premature birth, birth weight
• Readily available family planning
• Extending the child tax credit to pregnant women
• Strong anti-poverty programs like food stamps, affordable housing and others
• Affordable and available child-care for the working mom or single dad
• Universal prekindergarten
• If needed, legal help to assure the father fulfills his responsibilities
• A robust and efficient foster care system

• Supports the pro-life agenda and legislation to strengthen protection of the unborn and other vulnerable members of our society

January 6

• Any politician who does not roundly condemn the attack on our national Capitol and the conspiracy to overthrow the free and fair election of 2020 is a danger to our democracy and is unworthy of your vote

Economy

• The state’s role in regulation should focus on helping our job-providers thrive while operating within environmental and economic regulations

Taxes

• Minnesotans should keep more of what they earn
• Prioritize Social Security tax relief for all senior citizens

Agriculture

• A strong ag economy is critical in supporting our state and local economy
• Agriculture is important to Greater Minnesota
• Actively engaged in policies that will support producers large and small

Public Safety

• Supports law enforcement and opposes efforts to defund it
•  Supports efforts to strengthen the emergency response network throughout Greater Minnesota

Education

• What is best for students should be our priority and local control is important.
• Overloading schools with excessive mandates takes resources away from students.

Note: This information has been compiled from campaign websites by volunteers from Indivisible St. Peter/Greater Mankato. These comparisons are not officially endorsed by any candidate. Where there is no information for a particular category, this does not mean that the candidate does not care about or has not spoken about the issue - it just may not appear on the website.  Voters are encouraged to visit candidates’ websites and reach out to campaigns for more information.