Lisa Demuth Takes The Lead In Republican Straw Poll

COLD SPRING (WJON News) -- On Tuesday night, at the precinct caucuses, Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring was the winner of the Republican straw poll for governor over Kendall Qualls, Mike Lindell, and several others.

Demuth received nearly 32 percent of the votes, Kendall Qualls got just over 25 percent, Mike Lindell had more than 17 percent, and Scott Jensen was a distant fourth with 6.4 percent. Nearly six percent of Republican caucus goers were undecided about a candidate for governor. Kristin Robbins had 4.2 percent support and Phil Parish got almost four percent of the votes.

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Speaking to WJON News, Demuth addressed Operation Metro Surge, which has been happening in our state for the past few months. She says, if she were governor right now, she'd work more with the federal government to make things as seamless as possible. She says she's always supported local law enforcement, but they haven't always been able to work with federal ICE agents and Border Patrol agents.

Nobody is asking them to do the job of federal law enforcement agents and immigration control, but the law enforcement agents that are on the ground need to be able to just do the basic job that they always do so well.

Demuth says there has been an encouraging change after Governor Tim Walz and President Donald Trump had a phone conversation. One example is when a protest in Maple Grove turned violent, local police and state patrol troopers were called in, and 26 people were arrested. Demuth says, with Border Czar Tom Homan's announcement of 700 federal agents leaving the state, things are moving in the right direction.

Demuth says her campaign's fraud prevention plan includes establishing an independent Office of Inspector General. Something that the Minnesota House could not get done during last year's legislative session.

The Senate here in Minnesota last year passed that overwhelmingly.  When it got to the House, we could not get that through; it fell on a partisan vote.

Demuth says two measures that helped fight fraud and were passed in the last legislative session were whistleblower protections and the hiring of two new full-time equivalent employees to work in the office of the legislative auditor.

She says, despite 14 people quitting the U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota in recent weeks, the work to prosecute fraud cases is still going on.

To become the first Republican to win a statewide race in Minnesota in over 20 years, she needs to attract moderates, independents, and possibly even some Democrats.  Demuth says the areas she's focused on are common sense and widely supported, including lowering the tax rates, ending the tax on social security, improving education, stopping fraud, and getting rid of the waste within government.

Those are widely supported.  Many of those things are not partisan at all.  I am looking at being able to draw voters from across the state and making sure voter turnout is high.

When Demuth announced her bid for governor, she said she would seek President Donald Trump's endorsement. She says she has not heard from the President yet, but would welcome his support.