Update from Wadena, MN (6/23/25)
- knyreen
- Jun 23
- 3 min read
turning tragedy & turmoil into triumph
by Erik Osberg on 6/23/25
This is our task at hand. Figuring out a way to navigate tragedies & turmoil while balancing the need to grieve and do the work which must continue. Over the weekend, storms ravaged portions of Minnesota & North Dakota. Lives were lost. Property, businesses & crops were destroyed. Landscapes were changed forever. The community of Bemidji was hit hard. While not in our Congressional District, Bemidji is a regional hub in northern Minnesota. Our hearts go out to them.
On Saturday evening, the U.S. launched an attack on Iran. Drawing the country deeper into another conflict in the Middle East. The results remain to be seen. Stack these events on top of last week’s political violence and you’ve got plenty of reasons for despair.
We are faced with a choice. Do we curse the darkness? Or light a candle? Do we find reasons for hope and hold onto them? Or throw our hands up? While each of us works at our own pace, this campaign believes we must keep taking actions each & every day to ensure our democracy does not drown in the despair.
Action can & must be taken now. We are less than 500 days from the midterm elections. We are encouraging folks to keep showing up and keep showing out. “Showing up” could mean many things. Could be as simple as forwarding this email to someone you know and asking them to learn more. You could go to a local DFL unit meeting. You could attend a demonstration. You could reach out to your local elected officials. You could start a committee in your community to search for candidates to run in your local elections. Or you could call a long lost friend to connect.
We showed up at a few places last week. We were in Little Falls, MN on back-to-back evenings. We sat in on the Morrison County DFL Unit meeting Wednesday night & participated in another private party fundraiser Thursday. Super grateful for our hosts at each location and for the robust discussion about the state of affairs and a new path forward. If you would like to host a private party fundraiser, click here: https://secure.ngpvan.com/SKQtMANaY0W8nGqHcpukXA2
We also participated in our 1st two parades. The 1st one was in Willmar, MN as part of their Willmar Fests celebrations. Huge thanks to Al Boyce for coming out to be our driver & huge thanks to the Kandiyohi County DFL for their help too. Thanks to Lauren Tonn for capturing some pics of us in the parade. After the parade we had a great meet-n-greet at Intuition Brewing (they do NOT endorse any political candidate or party). Huge thanks to those who came out for that as well and offered their support. We then headed to Atwater for their parade. Another great experience in a great community. It was a hot day, but we managed to keep our cool.
We’ve got 2 official stops on this week’s calendar and are working on more.
Upcoming schedule:
June 25th - Coffee Talk Tour (tentative)- locations & time TBD
June 27th - Hubbard County Walleye & Wild Rice Dinner 4pm-7pm American Legion
June 28th - Meeker/McLeod County Town Hall
Thank you for all the support & keep up the good work!
Our campaign relies on donations from folks like you. If you have already donated, THANK YOU! If you have set up a recurring donation, even better. If you haven't donated, please share our announcement video.
