MANKATO — Amidst a tour of the district, hosting town halls in each county, Jake Johnson stopped into Mankato for a more intimate discussion.
Johnson, the Democratic challenger to Rep. Brad Finstad in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, hosted a roundtable on Wednesday with various healthcare professionals and city and county leaders to discuss the impacts of H.R. 1 — most commonly known as the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act — on healthcare and other areas.
“It’s been really eye-opening just to see the struggles that they’re facing and the cliff that a lot of folks are facing if we don’t make some serious changes in early 2027. It was, for me at least, very eye-opening about what the needs are,” Johnson said.
The roundtable, attended by groups from Blue Earth County and hosted in part with Greater Mankato Growth, was closed to the press, but Johnson made himself available to the media afterwards, along with Rep. Lauren Underwood, a representative for Illinois’ 14th district.
“The timeline for legislative action is not enough to just get it out of the House. We need to get the president to agree with us to reverse these cuts as quickly as possible in the first quarter of 2027,” Underwood said. “I think the average American doesn’t know that this type of crisis is looming.”
Some of the changes include cuts to Medicare funding and a shift in how the SNAP program is being financed. Those impacts are going to hit residents of Blue Earth County quicker than they might suspect, County Administrator Josh Milow says.
“Just from those that are sitting in attendance, I had several people come up to me (saying), ‘I didn’t know this is what was happening.’ So I think anytime (you can) tell the story of anywhere in the public is a good thing,” Milow said. “We really start seeing some of the impacts and shifts coming Oct. 1 when it comes to SNAP, and then next year is when we see the more significant increases. We know in 2027 we’re expecting about a $640,000 shift to Blue Earth County for SNAP, and then the next year we’re looking at $1.1 million.”
Milow says that he’s had conversations with both Finstad and Johnson on the issue, and noted that both seemed open and understanding to the challenges.
“I think there’s a lot of empathy (with) what we’re seeing, and whether that’s from Congressman Finstad or from Candidate Johnson or Rep. Underwood, that they see that something needs to happen,” he said.