Battling for purple-district votes in southern Minnesota, both candidates say they have the secret

ST. PETER, MINN. – Moments before Erica Schwartz approached a house on a door-knocking campaign in this key swing district, a campaign staffer read from an app on his phone that provided the political loyalties of the people inside. In this home lived two soft Democrats in their 50s, the app said. In the next, a soft Republican in her 80s. In several homes, Republicans and Democrats lived under the same roof.

Schwartz, a Republican from Nicollet, is running for the purple District 18A in the Minnesota House of Representatives against DFLer Rep. Jeff Brand of St. Peter.

Brand won the district in 2018 before losing to Republican Susan Akland in 2020, and then winning again in 2022. Control over the seat could determine the fate of the Democratic trifecta — the governor's office, Senate and House — that since 2023 has allowed the party to pass a raft of bills, including for free school lunches and paid family and medical leave.

Both candidates said they believe they have the secret to talking to voters in this purple district, which includes North Mankato and St. Peter, Gustavus Adolphus College and numerous rural townships.

Brand said he started knocking on doors in January. The Democrat from St. Peter said he emphasizes his experience when talking to voters. He's served two terms in the House, where he's passed 40 bills, after seven years on the St. Peter City Council. People aren't as tribal about their political affiliations in 18A as they might be elsewhere, he said.

"There's a lot less conversation about the political culture war stuff, and more conversation about, 'What are you going to do for us?'" Brand said in a recent interview.

Schwartz, too, said knocking on doors has been a focus of her campaign. The Republican from Nicollet said that many of the people who talk to her already know how they're going to vote in the presidential contest.

But while door-knocking, Schwartz said she tries to talk less about national politics and more about kitchen-table issues such as inflation. She and her husband run the Nicollet Mart, a gas station and convenience store, and she said people have been struggling to pay for food. "What they're concerned about is cost, the increase of gas prices, groceries and taxes," Schwartz said in a short interview in early September.

Brand, who attended a fundraiser that included a hot-dish competition in North Mankato on Tuesday, said 18A is a purple district, but he chalked up his loss in 2020 to a fluke. "I feel confident that the reason I lost in 2020 was because I didn't knock on any doors," he said.

Schwartz in September also said the district has voters who might come out of the woodwork. "I know last election, we had a lot of people who didn't vote," she said. "So we're encouraging everyone that every vote counts."

Focusing on local issues is a strategy to win over voters during a hyper-polarized election, said Joe Kunkel, an emeritus political science professor at Minnesota State Mankato. The candidates "want to be seen as more than their party," Kunkel said.

Wading into national identity politics drew Schwartz into controversy over the summer.

In a conversation at a private Mankato fundraiser, Schwartz was recorded saying that the U.S. is headed toward the conditions that led to the Holocaust due to efforts by the Democratic party, in audio obtained by the Minnesota Reformer, a nonprofit news organization. She also said Democrats were promoting transgender identities and replacing American flags with LGBT pride flags.

In a statement to the Reformer, she apologized for the Holocaust remark and said it was an inartful comparison. Schwartz has declined to speak for an interview since the release of the remarks.

In a debate hosted by the League of Woman Voters of St. Peter in September, Schwartz said she wanted educational curriculums to get back to basics and for police to have all the resources they need to maintain law and order. In an interview with the St. Peter Herald, Schwartz said she broke with her party on the topic of universal school meals, which she supports.

Brand, at the same League of Woman Voters debate, said education in Minnesota is underfunded and that the state needs to invest in child care. He said he has been able to work across the aisle during his time as a representative.

In an interview this week, Brand again touted his experience. "We need people that are willing and ready to roll up our sleeves to get things accomplished, and I have proven to be able do that," Brand said.

House 18A is an unusual district and will be competitive, said Andy Karch, political science professor at the University of Minnesota. The inclusion of Gov. Tim Walz on the Democratic ticket may influence down-ballot races in his state, Karch said.

While both candidates may say they want to separate national issues from local ones, "it is generally pretty difficult to cut through the noise of a national election campaign," he said.