A candidate who tweeted “ISIS isn’t necessarily evil” and dropped his bid for the Minnesota House of Representatives is quietly back in the race. Running in 56A in Burnsville, Dan Kimmel, who is competing against endorsed Democrat Jared Christiansen in a primary, posted to his website he was ending his campaign after reports of his controversial tweet went viral.
The full tweet read “ISIS isn’t necessarily evil. People doing what they think best for their community. Violence isn’t the answer, though.” The DFL party turned their backs on Kimmel after the controversial tweet. However, after several months of silence, Kimmel posted to his page in a piece titled “Time to Talk” that he “learned quite a bit from this incident” and proceeded to reopen his campaign.
When Kimmel’s tweet first hit the internet, DFL Chairman Ken Martin posted “On behalf of the Minnesota DFL, I strongly condemn his comments. I ask Dan Kimmel to apologize to all the families who have been torn apart by the terrorist organization and their senseless violence. In this time of enormous grief, we shouldn’t be making excuses for this barbaric behavior.”
Alpha News reached out to House Minority Leader Paul Thissen for comment on Kimmel’s renewed campaign bid. When asked if he supported the candidate, a representative for Thissen responded “he does not.”
After several attempts to reach Kimmel, Alpha News received the following response via email: “I haven’t responded because I haven’t come up with the simple answer I think you want.” Alpha News reached out to Kimmel a third time and did not receive another response.
The seat is currently held by Republican Drew Christensen, who is running for reelection.