Update from Wadena, MN
dare & endure
Super grateful for everyone who showed up to the events we attended this week – you give me hope we will endure.
“It is time to dare and endure.” – Winston Churchill
I wish I could tell you the suffering will stop soon. I wish I could tell you today will be a “normal” day. I wish I could tell you the current administration’s campaign of chaos, fear & intimidation is over. But I can’t. What I can tell you is each day is a day to dare & endure.
To endure means to remain in existence despite pain, despite suffering. The past 10 days have been especially trying here in Minnesota. The callousness and lack of humanity on display can be enough to drive us to the brink. We must endure.
I know there are a ton of insane issues going on right now, and one of our team members spoke recently about the idea of feeling existentially exhausted. That feeling of existential exhaustion hit me on Tuesday and my Team was there to lean on during our weekly meeting. I reminded them that as individuals, we can only accomplish so much and doing so can be exhausting, but as a united force, we can do the impossible. We NEED to stick together. We need to gather. It matters.
Shifted gears to spend some time in the great outdoors at the Tiny Cabin this past weekend.
But it’s also important to take care of yourself & take a digital detox if need be. So this past weekend I took some time out and shifted gears to focus on some quality time in the great outdoors at the Tiny Cabin with my son – made some campfires, split some wood, and dropped some lines to sight fishing for rainbow trout to celebrate the Inland Winter Trout Opener.
Quote from John Buchan describing the charm of fishing.
“…it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.” That is John Buchan describing what he believes is the “charm of fishing.” This quote kept running through my mind as Saturday unfolded. Ice fishing is hard. And cutting a big hole in the ice with a handsaw and removing blocks of ice doesn’t make it any easier. Throw in some flooding, frigid temps and a big hill to haul gear up & down & you’ve got yourself just as much work as you do fun. But we enjoyed the work. The work was part of the reward.
I believe the quote above can be applied to this campaign as well. We are on a quest for something elusive, but possible. Every event, stop, interaction and/or connection is an opportunity to create hope. We talk a lot on our team about focusing on the process, rather than the result, and the same could be said for fishing.
We didn’t catch anything, but there were moments where our pulse raced. The biggest pike my boy & I have ever seen showed up to look at our lures 4 times throughout the day. If you’ve ever been spearing, you know the adrenaline rush that can cause. As the daylight was waning, we talked about how at any moment, that fish could come back and we could catch it. After all that work, we still had hope. And it is that feeling, that emotion that keeps me coming back, both to fishing & this campaign.
Made a fire, chopped some wood, roasted some hot dogs, and did some fishing at the Tiny Cabin.
I know the last couple of weeks have been exhausting. My team is feeling it too, and as I told them this week when a few of them were also feeling existentially exhausted – don’t be afraid to log off the internet & do a digital detox of your own – pretty sure all these problems will still be here when you reconnect, and there are plenty of us to keep doing the work while you refresh. Remember: this is a marathon, not a sprint, and you gotta take time to refill your tank to endure & make it to the finish line.
Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today we honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. The work for justice. The promotion of non-violent resistance. The work for those who have been left out.
Quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We have quoted MLK often over the last 10 months. I believe this moment in time might resemble the civil rights movement of the late 50’s & early 60’s. Today’s quote hits a little harder given the federal deportation industrial complex’s presence in my home state of Minnesota. As I’ve said before, this act of aggression & retribution isn’t just directed at immigrants, it is also directed at those who stand up for them. I believe we must endure the suffering, be prepared for it to get worse before it gets better, and dare greatly to protect civil liberties for everyone.
Week in Review
We had a busy week. 6 events in the book & roughly 170 in-person connections between 3 regular meetings. (Redwood Co. DFL, Sibley Co. DFL, & MN DFL Senate District 9).
Had a great gathering in Redwood County last Monday. 50ish folks came out for a Greet, Eat & Meet. I gave my stump speech and answered questions for an hour straight. Lots of common concerns about the current state of affairs. As I wrapped up, I encouraged everyone to cling to the things that give them hope and believe. Huge thanks to the organizers and people who showed up.
Redwood County Greet, Eat & Meet on Jan 12th.
Last Tuesday, Jan 13, is another evening this campaign will remember. 35-40 folks showed up for the Sibley County monthly DFL meeting in Gaylord. The organizers did a great job despite a water main break which caused a series of relocations, ultimately ending up at one of the churches in town.
Grateful to the Sibley County DFL for giving me a chance to speak at their meeting on Jan. 13th.
I kinda lost track of time, but we chatted for well over an hour and a half, and there were both new & old friends in the crowd. We even sang Happy Birthday to 1 attendee who I had met earlier in the day. The Constitution, Rule of Law, Accountability, Affordability, Agriculture, Public Libraries, Messaging, Department of Homeland Security, ICE, National Debt, Healthcare, Liberty & Justice For ALL, & our game plan were just some of the topics. When I pulled into Gaylord, there was a small demonstration happening on a street corner. I got out, shook their hands, listened to their concerns & even gave out a couple free hugs. Honks of support outweighed loud mufflers of disapproval. On a personal note, I’m just so grateful for all the folks showing courage & community in these difficult times. It gives me hope that we will endure.
SD9 Hotdish Potluck on Jan. 15th in Elbow Lake.
The SD9 Hotdish Potluck on Thursday night in Elbow Lake was also good for the soul. It was great to reconnect with folks I’ve gotten to know pretty well. The SD9 crew impressed once again. Cornell Walker knows how to run a meeting, and the spread was amazing. We’d like to introduce you to a great candidate for MN House 9A. His name is Nick Hanson and we’ve known him since May. He’s a fellow Constitutionalist. We’ll tell you more about him soon. MN State Auditor Candidates, Zack Filipovich & Ben Scheier were on hand as well.
The spread at the SD9 Hotdish Potluck on Jan. 15th in Elbow Lake.
In addition to those 3 meetings, we also stopped at an ethanol plant for a sit-down convo & facility tour on Tuesday, hosted a virtual meeting about Precinct Caucuses, and presented at a Congressional Candidate on-line forum with the DFL Senior Caucus. We have a busy schedule again this week as we continue traveling the district to meet folks in the run up to the February 3rd caucuses.
While chaos & retribution reign supreme, let us not forget about the monstrosity of legislation passed this summer by our Federal Government that led us here.
The 2025 Budget Reconciliation Act (H.R. 1), which adds $3.4 TRILLION to the federal deficit over the 2025-2034 decade according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), allocates $170 billion over four years to border & interior enforcement (immigration). This $170 billion can be broken down into 11 categories.
The top 3 in terms of spending are:
- Construction & maintenance of border wall, (CBP): $51.6 billion
- Detention capacity expansion: $45 billion
- Enforcement & removal: (ICE) $29.9 billion
I don’t want to spread doom & gloom, but we need to be mentally prepared for things to get worse before they get better. They plan on spending every dime of this money. ICE’s budget is almost TRIPLE in 2026. Perhaps most alarming is that for-profit corporations & private contractors will play a major role in the detention capacity expansion. This will make oversight more difficult and make it extremely hard to roll back.
I believe what we are witnessing isn’t just cruel & unjust, it is the birth of what Margy O’Herron of the Brennan Center for Justice calls a “Deportation- Industrial Complex.”
I believe we need to repeal the 2025 Budget Reconciliation Act (H.R. 1) and rebuild in the aggregate. Many will call this impossible. We need to believe otherwise. We can do BETTER.
WE > ME part 3 – Aaron Voyles
Last week we introduced you to our Campaign Manager, Andy Evenson, and our Caucus Lead, Pia Lopez. This week we’re introducing you to two more team members: Aaron Voyles & Chris Radel.
Meet our Data Lead, Aaron Voyles – or as the team calls him, Voyles.
As we’ve said before, this campaign believes in leaning into our strengths. Voyles’s top 5 strengths from the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment are: Strategic, Futuristic, Ideation, Context, & Input.
Team Erik’s Data Lead, Aaron Voyles, with Erik at the Gopher/Badger football game in November.
Voyles has been on this team from the beginning. Voyles & Erik lived together for a time during college & that history provides a grounding force to this campaign. Erik likes to call him “Super V,” a play on his nickname of “V” and an homage to a Halloween costume Voyles wore back in the day. “Never fear, Super V is here.”
Recently, someone on our Leadership Team asked Erik & Voyles if they’d be surprised if we could go back in time to their college days to tell them they’d be working on Erik’s congressional campaign, and they both said “nah, that would probably make a lot of sense to be honest.” Beyond being one of Erik’s oldest friends on the team, Voyles sees working on this campaign as his opportunity to serve his country.
Voyles is a native of Royalton, in Morrison County, and currently lives in Bloomington. He currently works as a Data Analyst (we mean it when we say we believe in leaning into strengths) and has been working in the field since 2013 – and he’s pretty darn good at it in our experience. If there’s one word that Aaron would use to describe himself, it would be “motivated” – and that checks out for a guy who has never missed a chance to vote, even in off year elections, and enjoys doing home improvement projects and playing really complicated games in his spare time.
We will forgive his love for the Chicago Cubs and da Bears (c’mon, man!) because we know his loyalty to the Gophers runs deep. A true child of the ‘80s, he’s sending it way back for his walk-up song, choosing Money for Nothing by Dire Straits, as well as his favorite movie, The Empire Strikes Back. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Wise words to live by.
Grateful to have you on the team Super V, and proud to serve our country together.
WE > ME part 4 – Chris Radel
Next, meet the person Erik likes to call CD7’s #1 hype guy, our Field Lead, Chris Radel. Chris’s top 5 strengths from the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment are: Strategic, Individualization, Self-assurance, Arranger & Communication.
CD7’s #1 hype guy, our Field Lead, Chris Radel.
Chris grew up and still lives in Willmar (Kandiyohi County). He first met Erik at the WillmarFest parade in June 2025. Chris says he knew immediately this was the right candidate for CD7 when he watched Erik interact with the crowd, shaking hands and asking questions about the fishing on the lakes around the area. Perhaps this is how the supporter driving the vehicle pulling Erik’s boat in that parade started referring to him as “the fishin’ politician” – an accurate nickname if we’ve ever heard one.
After that first meeting, Chris organized a meet & greet for Erik in Willmar, assisted with planning for another event in Atwater, and planned one of the best organized & best attended events this campaign has been to so far in November in New London. Chris joined the team immediately following the event in November and one of the first things he did was create an organizational chart to help us better visualize where we needed more volunteers and what additional roles we needed to fill to make this campaign bigger, faster, & stronger.
With his combination of organizational skills and event planning, Chris is the perfect person to fill the role of Field Lead. It’s a big job, with the responsibility for planning & coordinating campaign events, organizing volunteers, and working with county parties, but Chris is more than up to the task. As Erik likes to tell the team, he can’t promise us good times, he can only promise us hard work. For Chris, that hard work is worth it to support a candidate that will refuse to neglect their duties in Congress & will remember their oath to the Constitution – something far too many representatives seem to have forgotten. If you’ve seen Chris speak at an event, you’ve heard him say he believes this may be the most important thing he ever does in service to his country.
Chris is also a bit of a Renaissance man – he’s a data analyst by day, and when he’s not busy working on the campaign (which lately isn’t often), he enjoys curling, bee keeping, and making mead – in fact, he’s an award-winning MeadMaster. He’s been to 6 continents & speaks 3 languages – English, Spanish, and Mandarin. If he could meet anyone, living or dead, he’d want to meet Fred Rogers to ask for advice on ways to make his community a stronger, more vibrant place. His favorite movie is The Shawshank Redemption & his favorite musician is John Prine. Those last 3 fun facts should give you a pretty good idea of the kind of guy Chris is – you really couldn’t ask for better role models than Fred Rogers, Andy Dufresne, and John Prine.
Grateful to have you on the team, Chris. We’ll do all we can to make your hard work worth it.
Upcoming Visits
Hittin’ the road again this week. Here’s a preview of where we’re headed. Looking forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting some new ones. The best place to find info about each of these events is to go to our website and click the events tab or follow the links below for each event.
Gonna be puttin’ some miles on the campaign car this week. Come & join us if you’re nearby!Jan. 19th – MLK Day
Jan. 19th – La Qui Parle County DFL Meeting – Madison
Jan. 23rd – Sibley County Community Fish Fry – rural Glencoe
Jan. 24th – Stevens County DFL Chili Chowdown – Morris
Jan. 25th – Morrison County DFL meet & greet – Royalton
Feb. 3rd – Caucus for Erik – District wide
Actions You Can Take
Caucuses are coming!
If you missed our Caucus Talk this past Wednesday, you still have one more opportunity to get answers to all of your caucus-related questions with Team Erik. We’ll host an encore of Team Erik’s Caucus Talk on January 28th from 7:00pm – 8:00pm. 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. If you have questions about precinct caucuses or need a refresher on the information after you attend our Caucus Talk sessions, you can check out our website’s NEW caucus page! You’ll also find links to caucus-related forms & the Secretary of State’s caucus finder website.
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. 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
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