Update from Wadena, MN
believe in miracles
Campaign stats through Feb. 2nd
Believe in miracles
“Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” – Al Michaels
I believe our nation could use another miracle moment right about now. Perhaps this campaign can be it?
I was 8 years old when the United States Men’s Hockey Team beat the Soviet Union in the medal round at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. They later beat Finland to win the Gold Medal. I have memories of those games. I wanted to be a goalie, just like Jim Craig. As an adult, what I admire most about this accomplishment is the hard work & preparation these amateurs put into their mission. The fact that they were able to come together as a team, rather than remain individuals was critical to their success.
I’m proud & grateful for the sacrifices people are making right now. On this campaign team dozens of individuals, who were mostly strangers 11 months ago, are dedicating huge chunks of their lives to put us in position to pull off the upset. 100s of volunteers are doing what they can to help spread our message and engage with voters. 1,000s of people have shown up since we announced in March to share what is on their hearts & minds and show their support. We have connected the dots. We have brought new energy & new blood into the arena. We have started a movement that goes beyond any individual. As a TEAM we have raised the bar for what is possible in rural politics.
I had to work last weekend & next weekend so I won’t be able to be on the road much, but we are gearing up to be out on the road for the county conventions starting on Feb. 14. Keep up the good work everyone. Stay focused on the tasks at hand and remember that nothing is impossible. We can flip Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District.
Caucus Day is almost here!
Caucus Day, the first step in getting this campaign on the ballot come November, is only 1 day away. We’ve sent out over 5000 postcards & we’ve made over 3000 phone calls to encourage people to attend caucuses on Feb. 3rd from 6:30pm – 8:00pm. The final part of our caucus push is asking you – our strongest supporters – to pretty please with sugar on top, print out 5, 10, 15, or more copies of the attached PDF handout to take to your caucus and share with your neighbors who may not be as familiar with this campaign.
As a reminder, if you want this campaign to be on the ballot come Nov. 3rd, we would be super grateful if you would do these four things:
#1. Go to https://caucusfinder.sos.mn.gov/ to find your precinct caucus location.
#2. Mark your calendar for Feb. 3rd from 6:30 – 8:00pm and show up at your precinct caucus location.
#3. Raise your hand or sign up to be a delegate to your county convention which is the second step in getting this campaign on the ballot.
#4. If you have more questions about what caucusing means, go to www.erikosberg.com and check out our caucus page.
We are humbled by the support this campaign has received over the past 327 days & are ever more convinced that together, we can do BETTER.
Week in Review
I was back in Pope County last Monday night, Jan. 26th, this time in Glenwood at the monthly DFL meeting. We began with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Saying the Pledge of Allegiance to start the Pope County DFL meeting.
I sat next to a farmer. He told me he bought a farm back in 1973. “Corn was 3 bucks a bushel back then.” The current cash bid for a bushel of corn in western Minnesota is hovering around $3.75. Think about that – over 50 years and the price of this global commodity hasn’t improved that much. During my time in the financial services sector, a bushel ranged from approximately $2, to a peak of roughly $7, then back down.
Agriculture is woven into the fabric of our communities. Our farmers deserve stable, predictable, dare I say boring policy. We need to incentivize demand drivers. I believe year-round E-15 would be a good place to start.
This campaign is on a quest to restore Minnesota’s 7th Congressional representation on the House Committee on Agriculture. I believe we can do that. We hope you believe that too.
Had a great turnout for our CommUNITY Fish Fry in Crookston.
Our commUNITY fish fry in Crookston on Thursday, Jan. 29th, was significant for a number of reasons. We had roughly 50 show up & many of them were young. I gave the latest version of my stump speech. If you’ve heard me present, you know I usually start with gratitude. I then offered our vision for the campaign and shared what I believe it will take to win. We talked about restoring checks & balances and defending the Constitution among other things. I also shared my belief that we need to be mentally prepared for things to get worse before they get better. The Q & A portion of the evening was robust, with healthy feedback for the campaign. I did my best to answer concerns as authentically as I could. Whether my responses were effective remains to be seen.
It was a college student who brought the conversation full circle. After about an hour long discussion, they raised their hand, I walked the microphone over, they stood up and offered gratitude for everyone there. That hit me. I called the student on my way home to thank them. They said thanks for giving them hope.
Thanks to the Crookston Eagles Club for their hospitality and yummy fish!
Huge thanks to the Crookston Eagles Club for the great hospitality & fish! Huge thanks to Tom & Kim & the other volunteers who helped make the memorable evening happen.
Emotions are running high right now. There is a lot of frustration & anger, understandably so. However you naturally react is for you to decide. I hope you find moments of peace & joy in the coming days. My hope is that this campaign can figure out a way to unite all 38 counties in Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District and bring common sense leadership back to Washington D.C.
Fireside Chat
We are gonna try something new next week & we’ll see how it goes. We are inviting folks to gather ’round and join us for a fireside chat on Wednesday, Feb. 4th at 7:07pm, live on Facebook. You can join us by registering on Mobilize here.
What this is: a chance for us to connect as community in a familiar fashion around a campfire in Erik’s backyard. An opportunity for you to learn more about Erik the person & candidate and get answers to some of the questions we’ve gotten in the past couple weeks.
What this isn’t: a time to call people names, or belittle, or “troll.”
Risky? Perhaps. Therapeutic? We hope so. If it is at all remotely useful, we will do something similar & more often. Hope you can join us.
Join team Erik for a fireside chat Wednesday, Feb. 4th, live on Facebook
WE > ME #6 – Dan Peterson
So far we’ve introduced you to 5 of our team members. This week we’re introducing two more: Dan Peterson & Todd Prieb.
First up is Dan Peterson, our Field Team – Southern Region Lead. As we’ve said before, this campaign believes in leaning into our strengths. Dan’s top 5 strengths from the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment are: Discipline, Learner, Responsibility, Achiever, Consistency.
Team Erik’s Field Team – Southern Region Lead, Dan Peterson.
Dan grew up and still lives in Walnut Grove (Redwood County). He’s a retired teacher & coach as well as a historian & author, and has had 13 books/booklets published. He’s held leadership positions within both County and Senate District DFL units and has previously volunteered in parades & pop-up events for DFL candidates.
Dan is what Erik likes to call an “early adapter.” Dan first met Erik at the SD15 Convention/Luncheon in Wood Lake waaaaaaaaaaay back on March 22, 2025, just 11 days after this campaign launched, and Dan has been involved with the campaign pretty much ever since. When the campaign team re-organized in November 2025, Dan was the natural choice to take on the role of Southern Region Lead on our Field Team. His experience and connections in the southern part of CD7 have been invaluable as we travel the district. When planning a swing through the southwestern corner of the district back in December, someone mentioned having Erik stop at a coffee shop for a meet-n-greet. Dan said, “Oh. I know the owners. I’ll give them a call,” and just like that, the visit was set up & confirmed. That’s what we call efficiency & leaning into strengths.
With his experience in DFL politics, Dan has seen his fair share of candidates. From the get go, he was impressed by Erik’s positive attitude as well as the fact that Erik is not a professional politician, which he believes is an asset in this district. After volunteering with the campaign for almost a year and getting to know Erik better & seeing all of the hard work Erik – and this team – put in day in and day out to build the kind of grassroots organization it will take to flip this district in November, he’s even more proud to be part of this team and convinced we can do better!
Team Erik’s ace in the hole, Political Director Todd Prieb.
Next up is our Political Director, Todd Prieb. Todd’s top 5 strengths from the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment are: Woo, Competition, Strategic, Ideation, and Input.
Todd is a native of St. Cloud (Sherburne County) and currently lives in Shoreline, WA. He is a self described political hack and has worked on over a dozen campaigns, including congressional races in MN CD6 and Iowa as well as Aric Putnam’s MN State Senate campaign in 2020 & 2022. The campaign job he’s been most proud of – so far – was serving as Pramila Jayapal’s Communications Director in Seattle when she was first elected to Congress in 2016. In addition to political jobs, Todd worked for his favorite NFL team – and this year’s NFC Champion, the Seattle Seahawks – for 5 years, but his favorite job ever was being a stay at home dad for a few years.
Todd joined Team Erik at the beginning of November. Even though Todd was born and raised in St. Cloud, he had recently moved back to Washington State and thought he was pretty much done with politics in Minnesota. However, when he heard about Erik from a mutual friend, Todd said he would at least check Erik out. The first thing he saw was that Erik had a 15 minute kickoff video. Todd remembers thinking, “No one wants to watch a 15 minute long video,” but he watched it anyway. As soon as it was over, he ran upstairs to show it to his 23 year-old son and watched it again with him. His son’s reaction to the video was the same as Todd’s: “This guy oozes authenticity.”
As much as Todd didn’t want to be, he was hooked. In Todd’s words, “Far too few people running for office actually do it because they truly want to make a difference. I immediately knew that Erik is one of those people.” Todd called the mutual friend who put Todd in touch with Erik right away, and the rest, as they say, is history. Todd is incredibly proud to be a part of this movement and like Erik, he’s just crazy enough to believe we really can flip a 70/30 district. Grateful to have you on the team, Todd, and looking forward to flipping CD7 with your help in November!
Got more ink!
The most recent edition of the McLeod County Chronicle featured an article about our Community Fish Fry near Glencoe on their front page. Check it out here.
This week’s edition of the McLeod County Chronicle featured an article about our community fish fry.
THANK YOU!!!
We are humbled by the response to this campaign and we are proud to say 100% of our donations are from individuals who have decided to invest in the change they want to see in CD7. We are almost at $175k total raised, working our way to $200k. Forever grateful for all the support.
This campaign has raised $172k through Jan. 30th, on our way to 200k. THANK YOU!
If you have already donated – or even better, set up a recurring donation – THANK YOU! If you haven’t, please consider 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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