U.S. Rep. Angie Craig said she is hosting town hall meetings in Congressional districts held by Republicans this week “to give voice to Minnesotans who want to hear what’s happening in Washington.”
At an event in St. Cloud on Wednesday, she said, “This is what democracy looks like. Everyone in Minnesota deserves to have their congressmen tell them what’s happening in Washington. I’m here because (Rep.) Tom Emmer” – the district’s current representative – “won’t show up and listen to you.”
But those gatherings might just be what many observers suspect – stump speeches in a bid for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Craig’s fellow Democrat, Sen. Tina Smith. Craig said afterward that she would make an announcement by the end of April about that race, which already includes two Democrats: Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and former state Sen. Melisa Lopez Franzen.
She’s not alone in these unusual gatherings. Gov. Tim Walz is among other Democrats who have held town-hall events in Republican districts to draw attention to the absence of GOP events after some became heated over Trump administration policies.
Republicans claim Craig’s town halls outside of her district are essentially Senate campaign stops.
Ahead of Wednesday’s gathering, Emmer and his fellow Republicans in Minnesota’s congressional delegation — Reps. Michelle Fischbach, Brad Finstad and Pete Stauber — sent letters to the House Committee on Ethics and the Committee on House Administration asking for a review of possible ethics violations by Craig, claiming misuse of taxpayer funds for campaign purposes.
In response, Craig said after the Wednesday event that all town hall expenses are being covered by campaign funds.
A weeklong tour
Craig will be hosting a town hall meeting in Willmar on Thursday, followed by one Friday evening in Mankato. The first meeting in her tour of districts outside her own took place on Monday in Grand Rapids.
About 150 people filed into the auditorium on the St. Cloud State University campus after clearing security checks similar to those at an airport.
The tight security seemed unnecessary judging from the enthusiastic responses and applause following many of Craig’s comments, often aimed at her Republican colleagues.
Craig opened her remarks telling about her own background as a child of a single mom living in a mobile home. After college she worked as a newspaper reporter before becoming an executive with St. Jude Medical. Craig said she knows what it’s like to be part of a working-class family. “I’m fighting for working class people and I won’t back down.”
She recited a litany of woes coming from Washington, D.C.: tariffs, trade war, job loss, pension fund losses, frozen grants.
“Elected leaders must stand up to what is happening now,” she said. “We have three co-equal branches of government for a reason.” Even though some complain about it in private, Republicans are letting Trump go unchecked, she said.
During the hour-plus meeting, a moderator read questions from the audience submitted in advance. While being responsive and respectful to the questions, Craig’s responses sometimes morphed into campaign speech material. She rattled off a barrage of numbers and issues from tariffs to budget cuts, grant reductions, due process, gerrymandering, and Republican lawmakers’ fear of standing up to Trump.
One question asked how to hold Trump accountable for Bill of Rights violations.
“We need only four Republican patriots,” Craig said. “I’m so sick and tired of hearing four representatives make excuses for Donald Trump.” Craig said she invited Emmer to the meeting, and if he held his own town hall meeting, she would “stay home” in her congressional district.
During the meeting, one woman shouted, “Are you going to run (for Senate)?”
One man asked, “How do Democrats move forward in the face of the Donald Trump agenda?” Craig said the statue of Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., had one fist open and the other closed, seeming to imply the need to both fight back and be welcoming.
Craig emphasized her reputation for bipartisanship, and in Congress she has not always followed the party line. “I show up everywhere. I talk to everyone,” she said. While the 2nd District is somewhat evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, Craig won the seat in 2024 with a 14% margin. “I had a guy in 2020 who had an Angie Craig sign and Donald Trump sign on his farm,” she said, adding that he now works for her.
Craig, 53, was elected in 2018, narrowly defeating Jason Lewis. In 2020 and 2022 she defeated Tyler Kistner and in 2024 defeated Joe Teirab. She is the top Democrat on the House Committee on Agriculture and also sits on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Counties in the 6th Congressional District northwest of the Twin Cities metro area include Anoka, Carver, Benton, Sherburne, eastern Stearns and Wright. In the 2024 Congressional race, Emmer defeated DFLer Jeanne Hendricks by a large margin, 62.4% to 37.4%.
While the 6th Congressional District political hue trends reliably red, the 2024 Senate race between Amy Klobuchar and Royce White saw a slight split among the six counties, with Anoka and Carver going for Klobuchar.
After fluctuating in previous general elections, DFL turnout in the 6th seems to have leveled off since 2016, to around 125,000 votes. It rose to more than 170,000 during the Obama presidency, until 2014 when it plunged to about 85,000.
On Monday, 60 to 70 people attended Craig’s town hall at Grand Rapids High School, where she was introduced by State Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown. Many questions from the audience were about Social Security, Medicare and education.
Grand Rapids is in the 8th Congressional District represented by Stauber. WDIO News of Duluth reported that Stauber had met Monday with the Carlton County Republicans in a closed meeting at the Cloquet Public Library. Outside the library a crowd with United We Stand-Cloquet Indivisible marched in protest.
“I made a comment that if my Republican colleagues weren’t going to do in person town halls themselves to come and listen to their constituents, that I would come and do it. And I also said if they’ll come do it in person, I’ll stay home in Minnesota’s second district,” Craig told WDIO.
Franzen was in Willmar on Saturday speaking at the local “hands off” rally organized by Indivisible Kandiyohi County. Franzen served for 10 years but did not run again in 2022 after redistricting. White, a Republican who ran against Klobuchar in 2024, also has announced his candidacy.
Forrest Peterson is a Greater Minnesota-based freelance writer.
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