Update from Wadena, MN
believe in truth
Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny is essential reading for this moment in history. Believe in truth.
We must believe
This past week was especially trying here in Minnesota. My soul hurts. The killing of Renee Good stopped us in our tracks. While the internet jumped into justifying the shooting, it forgot to recognize a life was lost. The statements made by our current U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security were inflammatory and inaccurate to say the least. Once again, the callousness of the current administration is on full display, fanning the flames and creating chaos. I love my home state, and to see it turned into a punching bag by those that would ask us not to believe our eyes is too hard to swallow. We have responded like the hearty Minnesotans we are. Demonstrations and vigils have brought communities together to mourn and stand up for what we believe is right, and many are organizing to protect their neighbors from the chaos.
One of many demonstrations that happened across CD7 this weekend, this one in Hutchinson.
Way back in the spring of 2025, someone gave me the book On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder at an event in Park Rapids. In the book, Snyder offers “twenty lessons from the twentieth century.” I refer to it often as a way to navigate these turbulent times. Lesson #10 is: “Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.”
Stay grounded in your truth. Stay grounded in the tangible aspects of your daily life. Stay grounded in your loved ones. Stay grounded on the earth beneath your feet, the air in your lungs, light & dark. Most importantly, believe we can – and will – do better.
Week in Review
Kudos to the Pope County DFL on their successful “New Year – New Hope” event in Starbuck on Monday, Jan. 5th. There were lots of great conversations & connections and our team got to meet a lot of new people and reconnect with others. Almost 80 people showed up that night – another example of the new energy we’re seeing all over CD7. We are the change we seek and if we all take action, we can make a difference.
Great energy at the Pope County “New Year – New Hope” Fundraiser on Jan. 5th.
On Thursday, Jan. 8th, our campaign participated in the DFL Rural Caucus Annual Meeting, held virtually via Zoom. DFL candidates from all over the state participated. It was an honor to be among them and share our “mission, vision, values,” our campaign successes, our agenda & top issues, and our plan to flip the district, which starts and ends with one thing: HARD WORK.
We shared a slideshow of our campaign highlights at the DFL Rural Caucus Annual Meeting on Jan. 8th.
“Speak the truth & be a helper” – that was the theme at the Becker Co. DFL Working Families Picnic last Saturday, Jan. 10th. Huge thanks to all the organizers & volunteers for another great event. 70+ people gathered at M-State in Detroit Lakes for chili, conversation, connection, and to hear from candidates & elected officials.
Enjoyed chili & conversation in Becker County on Jan. 10th.
There were lots of “how to” chats about precinct caucuses which will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 3rd – and if you’ve been reading our newsletters recently, you already have that date memorized. Grateful for everyone who showed up & grateful for the opportunity to address the crowd.
Keep up the good work CD7! Looking forward to some great events this week too – check out our schedule for this week further down in the newsletter.
Caucus Talk with Team Erik
Speaking of caucuses, we’ve been fielding a lot of questions from supporters: What can I expect at caucus? How do I sign in? How are delegates chosen? Can I be a delegate even if I can’t attend caucuses? Here’s the good news: our team has answers!
You’re invited to join us for an online caucus talk Wednesday, January 14, from 7-8 PM. We’ll have answers to all of your caucus related questions and go over what you can expect from arrival to departure. This training will be led by our caucus guru, Pia Lopez, and other team members will be helping behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly.
You can sign up on Mobilize HERE. Or join us on Google Meet at this link: meet.google.com/kdn-xagy-tos
Hope you can join us on January 14!
Join Team Erik for our virtual Caucus Talk on Wednesday, Jan 14, from 7:00pm – 8:00pm.
WE > ME part 1
Last week we shared that we would be introducing you to our Leadership Team in the weeks to come. We have two team members to introduce you to this week.
First up, meet our Campaign Manager Andy Evenson.
This campaign believes in leaning into our strengths. Over the holiday break, each team member took the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment to better understand the talents they bring to the table. Andy’s top 5 strengths are: Learner, Consistency, Responsibility, Context & Analytical.
He might have played Center on his high school football team, but he’s the Quarterback for Team Erik. Andy grew up on a small family farm in Gibbon (Sibley County). Named after the first Democratic President, Andy was a Political Science major at Concordia College (go Cobbers!) who went on to become an ordained ELCA pastor, serving congregations in Red Hill, PA, Lebanon, PA, and Lake Elmo, MN, from 2007-2021. He moved back to the 7th Congressional District in 2021, settling with his wife and daughters in rural Hutchinson (Meeker County). His political experience includes a brief run for MN House in 2002, school board campaigns in Red Hill, PA, and Hutchinson, MN, and volunteering for a Presidential campaign in 2008 and a Governor’s race in 2018.
Meet Andy Evenson, our campaign manager.
In addition to being a stay-at-home dad/household manager since 2021, Andy has helped his dad and in-laws farm corn & soybeans. As they say, you can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm outta the boy. When he isn’t busy farming or doing campaign work, he enjoys vacationing with his family in their Class A RV, traveling the country on a mission to visit every National Park – they’ve visited 21 of 63 so far, and his favorite is North Cascades in Washington.
Andy first met Erik at a meet-n-greet in Meeker County in June. He was impressed by Erik’s ability to answer hard questions in a nuanced way, not giving the easy answer, but inviting people to grapple with the shades of gray – or the yin & yang of issues as Erik likes to say. He started volunteering with the campaign, first as the Calendar Coordinator and became Campaign Manager in early November. Together, he and Erik have built the team we’ll be introducing over the next several weeks. We’re grateful to Andy for stepping up and keeping this team on track!
WE > ME part 2
We also want you to meet our Caucus Lead, Pia Lopez. Pia’s top 5 strengths from the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment are: Learner, Achiever, Arranger, Input & Self-assurance.
Pia Lopez is a native of Washington, DC, so it’s not an exaggeration to say she’s spent her whole life around politics. Her parents worked as staffers on Capitol Hill – one for a Republican and one for a Democrat. Her father worked on the LBJ presidential campaign in 1964 and was a speechwriter & advance team worker for Minnesota’s very own Hubert Humphrey in 1968. Pia herself has managed political campaigns in Minnesota in 1992, 2014, and 2018. Her extensive political experience and ability to connect with people is what makes her invaluable in her role as Caucus Lead.
Meet Pia Lopez, our Caucus Lead.
Pia’s resume beyond politics is perhaps even more impressive. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Swaziland, Southern Africa, for 3.5 years. Before returning home to the US, she hitchhiked from South Africa to Kenya to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro! Now retired, Pia was a journalist and worked as an editorial editor & public policy writer for the St. Cloud Times, Duluth New Tribune, and Sacramento Bee. Her ability to write quickly and knowledgeably on issues and bring people together around a common goal is an invaluable asset to this campaign. For fun, Pia enjoys traveling to national lands & parks and outdoor activities – hiking, backpacking, biking, canoeing, and native plant gardening.
Pia met Erik in April 2025 at a DFL Dinner in St. Joseph (Stearns County). Her first impression on meeting and talking with Erik was that he was energetic, serious, and, above all, understood the enormity of the challenge facing him – and all of us. She appreciates Erik’s willingness to step up and face the great moral and political struggles of our day – and to bring a positive attitude to the task. We are in times that require all of us to act, however we are able, and she believes Erik is a superb candidate for bringing about change in our current politics.
Pia ran the half mile and mile events in college and enjoys attending the US Olympic Trials and other track & field events. She doesn’t compete anymore, but if she did, her walk-up song would be Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” – particularly these lines: Well, I know what’s right. I got just one life. In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around but I’ll stand my ground. And I won’t back down.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Pia. Glad to have you on the team and stand our ground together.
Last week we shared part 1 of what we believe this campaign has already done BETTER, and that was listening to the people we seek to serve. Part 2 is that we believe we have changed the tone of politics, as least in this campaign. We haven’t engaged in any name calling at any point since announcing on March 11th, 2025. You can scroll our social media feed, go back through past newsletters, or check articles covering this campaign – we challenge you to find one case where we stooped to belittling others. Our goal is to show up with positivity & purpose. We believe style makes a fight and we are gonna stick to our strengths.
We are in the 2nd Half.
This campaign has reached the 1/2 way point. We are now closer to the midterm elections than we are to our launch date of 3/11/25. You can watch a recap of the past 10 months on our Facebook feed here. We have a long way to go and a short time to get there. Keep on keepin’ on.
Less than 300 days until Election Day. Watch our recap of the first half of our campaign here.
Upcoming Visits
Gonna be puttin’ a lot of miles on in the next two weeks. Here’s a preview of where we’ll be headed between now and MLK Day. Looking forward to making more connections and hearing what’s on your mind. In times like these, I believe meeting face-to-face & building community is essential. Hope you can make it out to one of our events soon. The best place to find info about each of these events is to go to our website and click the events tab.
Hittin’ the road this week. Hope to see you soon!
Jan. 12th – Redwood County DFL Greet-Eat-Meet – Lamberton
Jan. 13th – Sibley County DFL meeting – Gaylord
Jan. 14th – Team Erik Caucus Training – Virtual
Jan. 15th – SD9 Hotdish Potluck – Elbow Lake
Jan. 19th – MLK Day
Jan. 19th – La Qui Parle County DFL Meeting – Madison
Feb. 3rd – Caucus for Erik – District wide
Actions You Can Take
Caucuses are coming!
We hope you can join us for our Caucus Talk on Wednesday, Jan 14 from 7pm – 8pm. As a reminder, you can commit to caucus for our campaign here. After the precinct caucuses will come County/Senate District Conventions. Delegates will be chosen at those conventions to attend the 7th Congressional District Convention on April 25th. Specific caucus locations should be announced in mid-January. Keep an eye out for updates to our website with more info!
Commit to Caucus for Erik here!
Invest in the change you seek
Our campaign is fueled by gratitude and grassroots organizing – and 100% of our donations are from individuals who have decided to invest in the change they want to see. With your support, our campaign exceeded our end of year fundraising goal of $150k. If you have already donated – or even better, set up a recurring donation – THANK YOU! If you haven’t, please help us start the year right by making an investment today. If you would like to host a private party fundraiser, click here: https://secure.ngpvan.com/SKQtMANaY0W8nGqHcpukXA2
Please share our Path to Victory Video
