2018 Election – Hughes praises Trump, pushes states’ rights in visit

Sept. 21--Republican Dave Hughes, challenging for the second time in as many elections longtime incumbent Collin Peterson in Minnesota's 7th District of the U.S. House, said during a visit to Crookston that he was "very grateful" to President Donald Trump for tweeting an endorsement of Hughes in the race. Speaking to around 10 people during a meet-and-greet at RBJ's Restaurant, Hughes said Trump's endorsement via Twitter is "very exciting" and has generated some national interest in his attempt to unseat Peterson.

Hughes, of Karlstad, is married with seven kids, spent 22 years in the U.S. Air Force, and now is a civilian contractor for the U.S. Border Patrol, with his specific expertise in drone usage at the borders. He said he is running again in the Seventh District for three primary reasons:

? He says the federal government is getting too large, at the expense of state's having the ability to govern themselves. "(The federal government) is touching our lives much different today than the founders envisioned," Hughes said.

? Minnesota's Seventh District is conservative, Hughes said, so he wants to bring a conservative voice to the U.S. House and "move the needle more to the right."

? Hughes says he wants to "partner with Trump" on the president's "America First" agenda. Hughes said Trump has "fantastic policies" but added that he won't be a "rubber stamp" for the president and will speak up when he disagrees with Trump.

Hughes spent much of his Crookston stop discussing agriculture, a subject that he said he is not an expert on but is willing to learn as much as he can about. Mentioning his military background, Hughes said that even though he's not an ag expert yet, he "fully appreciates" how important agriculture is to the Seventh District and that district residents can "trust" him to make the right decisions when it comes to farming. Hughes said the tariffs put in place by Trump are painful in the short term for farmers, but most people he has spoken with on the campaign trail say they're willing to endure the pain now if it brings long-term gain.

During the 2016 campaign, it's been said that Hughes said some negative things about the sugar program in the farm bill, and he ran into some resistance during his Crookston visit from people who said Peterson has long been a "champion of sugar" and that Hughes was trying to distance himself from what he reportedly said in 2016.

"This thing is going around, that I'm against the sugar program, but it's not true," Hughes said.

Curt Knutson, chair of the American Crystal Sugar Board of Directors, responded to Hughes' assertion that Peterson is "holding up" passage of the new farm bill because of work requirements for SNAP benefits proposed by House Republicans by saying Peterson supports the Senate version of the farm bill over the House's version because Peterson is a "champion of sugar."

"We have a champion for us in Congress," Knutson said. "If we lost the sugar program, we wouldn't be here."

Hughes acknowledged that he hears from people in the Seventh District who simply say, "We like Collin." But, he said, Peterson "doesn't have much of a relationship" with the geographically vast and "very conservative" district. "I will be responsive, I will be accessible," Hughes said. "There are 38 counties in the district and I pledge to visit every one of them every year. Collin doesn't do that."

Hughes, during his talk at RBJ's, also got into a spirited exchange with Crookston resident Peter Rimar, who challenged Hughes on his pledge to, if elected, continue to work toward a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which Hughes called a "gigantic mess." Asked by Rimar to detail his plans to put something in place better than the ACA that protects people with pre-existing conditions, Hughes said he'd want the "free market to be more able to do its thing" in the health insurance industry, and he added that the states, private charities and churches "will get it done."

Hughes said more people appear to be grudgingly accepting that the ACA will continue, but he said that mindset needs to change. "It's a failure," he said. "You hear anecdotes here and there about this family or that family saying it's great, but more families are hurting. Obamacare is absolutely crushing the American farmer."

Asked by Rimar to detail his positions on Social Security and Medicare, Hughes said that, long-term, they aren't sustainable. While not touching current Social Security benefits, Hughes said he'd explore a "very long-term phase-out" of Social Security that would involve Americans being placed into three age groups, with the youngest age group getting benefits in the future through something different than the current Social Security mechanism. As for Medicare, Hughes said he'd "move it to the states."

"I'm not proposing the federal government go away, I'm just saying I'm philosophically opposed to national programs; but it's nothing to be afraid of," he said.

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