BURNSVILLE, Minn. — It’s official. Rep. Jason Lewis, the sitting congressman for the second congressional district will be facing former journalist and executive for St. Jude’s Medical Angie Craig in a rematch for the seat.
Craig, who announced her intentions to challenge Lewis a second time in July on Facebook, kicked off her campaign with an educational town hall at the Diamondhead Education Center in Burnsville, Minnesota on Sunday.
“As Democrats, we must understand better why we have lost these past elections,” Craig wrote in her unofficial announcement in July. “As I talk with voters, already it has become clearer that we must talk more about how we are going to bring back jobs to the United States and create economic opportunity for more hard-working Americans.”
This is the second town hall Craig has held this year. In May, an Alpha News report detailed the challenger’s joint townhall with gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Tim Walz.
The race in the second congressional district, a seat vacated by former U.S. Rep. John Kline in favor of retirement, became highly competitive, with Lewis narrowly overtaking Craig in a 47 percent to 45.2 percent win during the 2016 election.
Republicans are not waiting for 2018 to counteract Craig’s campaign, with the Minnesota Republican Party issuing a statement the day of Craig’s kickoff.
“While Jason Lewis supports a flatter and fairer tax code, real health-care reform, spending and regulatory reductions, secure borders, religious freedom and energy independence, radical Angie Craig remains on the far left wing of the Democrat Party–still “gratified and humbled to earn the endorsement” of the Bernie Sanders’ socialist Progressive Caucus and his single-payer ‘Medicare For All’ government controlled health care plan.”
Unlike her 2016 matchup where Craig ran unopposed, she becomes the second DFL candidate to announce a bid against Lewis.
Rosemount High School teacher and football coach Jeff Erdmann announced his intentions to seek the Democratic endorsement in his race against Lewis in May.
Preya Samsundar
Preya Samsundar was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN. She graduated from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities this Spring with a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology, with a minor in Strategic Communications. Preya has previously worked on several State Campaign Races.
