Republican attorney general candidate Jim Schultz is in good spirits despite a narrow loss to Democrat incumbent Keith Ellison in the midterm elections last week.
In a new on-camera interview with Alpha News, Schultz thanked his many supporters for their hard work and votes, and answered several questions about his experience on the campaign trail as a political newcomer.
“America is the greatest country in the world for many reasons, one of which is that we are a republic in which we can participate in our own self-government, and I just want to thank people for that,” Schultz said.
“And I would say for people who are frustrated, as I was, by the outcome of this race: I think what we showed in getting the highest percentage of any candidate in 30 years is … even though we didn’t quite get there this cycle, there [were] a lot of people who said, ‘Oh, you can’t get over 47% as a Republican in Minnesota.’ Well, we got over 49.5%,” he added.
Last Tuesday Minnesota Democrats took full control of state government for the first time since 2013. Democrats took back a majority in the Senate, albeit by one seat, and retained their majority in the House.
In addition to Attorney General Ellison, who won reelection with 50.4% of the vote, Gov. Tim Walz and Secretary of State Steve Simon also fended off their respective Republican challengers, Dr. Scott Jensen and Kim Crockett.
Schultz said his close loss to Ellison shows a “real path to winning statewide in Minnesota as Republicans” and urged people to “stay involved” in the political arena.
“There’s a lot of hope there. We got to keep fighting,” the lawyer said. “We can’t just throw in the towel … what I would encourage people to do is to keep fighting for their home. Keep fighting for Minnesota, because this is a great state … that is in a tough spot right now. And we have to turn it around.”
Schultz specifically mentioned the need to keep fighting for Minnesotans living in areas suffering from high violent crime rates, “moms who are worried about being carjacked on the way to work,” citizens upset with their “out-of-touch government,” and parents concerned about their child’s ability to access fentanyl or other drugs.
“We should make sure our leaders have the toughness and vision and strength to lead,” he said.
“Every Minnesotan deserves better.”
Evan Stambaugh
Evan Stambaugh is a freelance writer who had previously been a sports blogger. He has a BA in theology and an MA in philosophy.
