state + local

Will he be the captain of a sinking GOP ship? Or will this Kurt lead his party through the storm and into safer waters? It will be interesting to see where he steers the House GOP caucus now that they have little procedural power and their agenda has been defeated at the ballot box.

He has an interesting issue list on his campaign page. Gun rights, traditional marriage, property rights, pro-life from conception, fiscal conservative, and the end of sanctuary cities. The GOP is doubling down with a new face I guess. Still on the losing end of demographics a demographic shift. I wonder whatever happened to the Ron Paul folks?

Rep. Daudt's votes have been about what you'd expect, given the past Legislative session. He's against transit, same-sex marriage, abortion, education funding, mental health care, care for the elderly, poor and disabled, seat belts, and taxes on the wealthy. He's for scrapping teacher certification standards, guns, nuclear energy, the "Castle Doctrine," voter ID, and eliminating 15% of the state government workforce.

He's a country boy who seems to have very odd ideas about how things work on a scale any larger than a very small town.

He does a lot of charitable work, though. Doesn't seem like a bad person at all. But the Republicans need to get some people into leadership roles who don't think everything can be run like a rural library board or a family farm. There's a big urban/rural divide in Minnesota. It doesn't need to be that way. There are actually more similarities than differences. In rural MN, the weather can kill you, and if people didn't help each other out, nobody would have survived the pioneer days. For some reason, a lot of people out there seem to have forgotten how much they really rely on one another, and think they've done it all on their own.

Hopefully in his new post as Minority Leader Rep. Daudt will be able to accept that the majority is sincere, and just as concerned about America and values and making things work as he is. I'm not too optimistic, though, looking at his record. And the fact that he worked on Marty Seifert's gubernatorial campaign. Not a lot of "live and let live" or "We're all in this together" there.

Jeez, the old leadership did such a wonderful job. Do you really think a new face is going to change the reality of the increidble shrinking party?

I am a Democrat so I often disagree with Kurt Daudt but I will say that his time on a county board seems to have given him some insight into how to get things done. Let's hope so.

" In rural MN, the weather can kill you, and if people didn't help each other out, nobody would have survived the pioneer days. For some reason, a lot of people out there seem to have forgotten how much they really rely on one another" You survived with the willing help of your community, not with support that the government forcibly took from someone who did not wish to support you. Community is not government. The former helps willingly, the latter with the force of a gun.

Let's hope moderation prevails and Daudt can show he is pragmatic. I am a dem but folks forget WAY too quickly that if Marty Seifert had been his party nominee, he likely would be governor today. Extremes in the party threw him away, after years of good service, on 1st ballot to goofy Emmer and we know how that turned out. People want property tax changes reversed and school funding shortfall paid off; not bickering on social issues.

The Ron Paul folks gave us Kurt Bills-a totally unqualified candidate, totally inept. I'm glad to see the GOP in the minority after they failed the public with their stadium cave. A couple of us Republicans here locally worked hard to defeat our GOP rep because he turned his back on us. Let's see if a guy like Daudt and the GOP members can actually stand for something instead of being "DFL light" in fiscal matters.