DFL party chair says ensuring successor to Dayton is a top priority in 2018

Aug. 12--BEMIDJI -- After losing its majority in the state Senate and unable to win back the House of Representatives in 2016, the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party is looking ahead to next year, where the governorship will be on the line.

At a community listening meeting held Friday, DFL State Party Chair Ken Martin said the race for governor, which already has six Democratic contenders, is a top priority for next year's election.

"We're at an existential moment in our party's history. Since 1944, there's never been a period where Republicans have had complete control with the two chambers and the governor," Martin said. "What I'm worried about is that if we lose that governor's race and give complete control of state government to the Republicans, we will be in a place where all those bad public policies we see in Wisconsin, like right-to-work, the environmental policies, attacks on teachers and attacks on reproductive rights, they will be on our doorstep overnight."

Because of the importance placed on the governorship by the DFL in 2018, Martin and those who attended the meeting agree a key to winning is how the party delivers its message to voters.

"In those final months of last year's election, we weren't talking about the economic anxieties that were on a lot of people's minds. We were talking about stopping Donald Trump," Martin said referring to this past November's General Election.

"Obviously, we wanted to stop him, but the fact for us Democrats is when we don't offer a vision of what we're going to do to improve people's lives, they end up not knowing who we are or what we're fighting for.

"We have to get back to a place where we're campaigning on what we're for, not just talking about what we're against," Martin said.

The message DFL candidates should be taking into 2018, Martin said, is that it's the party of opportunity. As an example, Martin gave three areas where the DFL stands on the issue, including better opportunity for jobs, healthcare and education.

To bring those points home, Martin said the party should be looking into ways that they can make those opportunities accessible and how they should discuss them with Minnesotans.

"We should be talking about providing a single payer system that gets the profit motive out of our healthcare," Martin said. "And we should be talking about how we can provide a free college education for every high school graduate in Minnesota so we're not giving these kids a mortgage for attending college."

And by delivering that message in 2018, Martin said the DFL has a chance to flip Minnesotans back into the Democratic column in the next election.

"The reality was that we saw a wave election last year. There are people who've voted for Democrats in the past and last year they moved away from us because a candidate at the top of the ticket didn't have a message that was resonating with voters," Martin said. "So, that's why I say we have to be focused on a message on how we can improve people's lives. When we do that, I feel strongly that we can get those people back."

DFL candidates who've declared to run for governor include:

* St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman.

* District 64A Rep. Erin Murphy, St. Paul.

* Minnesota State Auditor Rebecca Otto.

* District 1 Congressman Tim Walz.

* Former District 61B Rep. Paul Thissen, Minneapolis.

* District 26A Rep. Tina Liebling, Rochester.

On the Republican side, candidates are:

* Ramsey County Commissioner Blake Huffman

* District 38B Rep. Matt Dean, Dellwood.

* Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson.

* Former Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Keith Downey.

* St. Cloud resident Christopher William Chamberlin.

Bemidji was one of numerous stops made by Martin to connect with Greater Minnesota residents lately. On Friday, he also traveled to Park Rapids.

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