MANKATO — DFL 1st Congressional District candidate Jake Johnson was sure to mention the scoreboard when it came to town halls between him and incumbent Republican Rep. Brad Finstad: literally.
A make-shift scoreboard sitting on the Lincoln Community Theater stage read “Town Halls: Johnson-10 Finstad-0” as Johnson addressed the crowd of nearly 200 in Mankato on Saturday.
“This is town hall number 10, we have 11 still to go. We’re doing one in every single county, purposefully,” Johnson said. “We’re hosting a town hall in every single county between now and election day and then my pledge to you, my promise to you is, if I’m elected in November, we are going to host a town hall meeting in every county, every term until you kick me out of office.”
Johnson’s appearance in Mankato wasn’t just in front of a crowd of supporters with softball questions. Instead, several in the crowd pushed back on topics Johnson has been quiet about, including one claim — notably leveled by primary challenger Alex Eaton — that Johnson has “flip-flopped” on his position on healthcare.
“When I spoke with you very early in your campaign, you seemed pretty enthusiastic for Medicare for all, and when I look at your position now, it’s not quite so clear,” one attendee said. “What is your position on Medicare for all? Are you going to fight for Medicare?”
The solution seemed not so simple to Johnson.
“I’ve learned a lot about healthcare and how broken the system is. The way I look at Medicare for all right now is, in a district like ours where one in four homes are employed within Health & Human Services, to simply take the system we have now, rip it out and try to replace it would cost a lot of jobs,” Johnson said.
Instead, he said he’s proposing what he calls an “Anaconda Death Squeeze” on healthcare. That’s done, in his eyes, by creating a “robust public option” which would compete with the established, private healthcare industry.
“What’s going to happen is they’re going to have to bring down the cost, which we desperately need, or they’re going to have to provide better care, which we desperately need, and maybe they’ll have to do both, because they’re going to be looking at shrinking profit margins as people leave that healthcare system and join up into this public option. So that’s how I think we just slowly crush them and get them out of the system without massive amounts of disruption to the system that we already have,” Johnson said, acknowledging that some people “like their healthcare.”
Johnson was also asked about the Iran War, and how he would help “claw back Congress’ power to declare a war.”
“Our founders envisioned a Congress that was one of the most powerful branches of government,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, we have seen congresses where Democrats and Republicans were in charge where they couldn’t get things done right. And so what happens is, they abdicate their responsibility to the executive branch, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger, while the Congress just keeps shrinking and shrinking and shrinking. … We need Congress folks who actually sit down together, Republicans and Democrats, God willing, Republicans and Democrats sit down together and say, ‘Where can we get things done and stop living in fear of a president who says you’re either with me, or you’re against me.'”
The Democratic hopeful also talked about what it would take to win the CD-1 seat from a Republican in a district that’s only seen one Democratic representative in the last century.
“We need to come together to solve the problems that we face, and so I look forward to everyone, whether they’re the most conservative or the most liberal person on the spectrum, giving our campaign a look,” Johnson said. “If you want a pragmatic problem solver, who’s going to go to the matt for the people of southern Minnesota, that’s exactly who I am, and so I hope that appeals to Republicans, independents (and) Democrats alike, that’s the hope that’s what we’re trying to do.”