MORGAN — The Farmfest Senate candidate forum on Wednesday took place with four candidates on the stage, debating all topics from immigration to year-round E15.
Slight problem, there are five major Senate candidates.
Adam Schwarze wasn’t on the stage, not because he couldn’t make it, but because he wasn’t invited. The Farmfest organizers say he didn’t meet the required polling numbers to make an appearance. It’s a situation Schwarze, the Republican-endorsed Senate candidate, light-heartedly refers to as “Farmfest-gate.”
“It’s unprecedented in the history of Farmfest for them to ever exclude a major party endorsed candidate. That’s never happened before, it’s unprecedented,” Schwarze said. “To be very clear, it did not come from here. Farmfest here said that the decision point came out of D.C. D.C. is trying to exclude my voice (and) getting an opportunity to finally debate Michele Tafoya.”
Schwarze also took issue with the composition of the survey, saying that it was only done by, “400 people that were not exclusively Republican primary voters.”
Organizers from Farmfest say they used a June KSTP/SurveyUSA poll for their determination. They said that candidates needed to poll at least 15% to be invited, with Schwarze only polling at 7%. The poll was conducted on a group of about 450 people however, contrary to Schwarze’s claims, all of those voters were Republican voters. The poll also surveyed Democratic voters, but those results were used for DFL polling numbers, not for Republican polling numbers. According to the poll, 513 DFL voters were surveyed.
Farmfest organizers had no comment on Schwarze’s claim that the decision “came out of D.C.” The Free Press was not able to independently verify either of Schwarze’s claims surrounding the candidate forums.
Schwarze was hoping to take the stage in Morgan on Wednesday, as he had hoped to finally come face-to-face with Tafoya who, despite not winning the party nomination, has been a considerable frontrunner in recent polling. In that June KSTP poll, Tafoya had support from 36% of respondents, with the next highest option being “Another Republican” at 27%. Royce White was able to just barely sneak onto the stage with exactly 15% support. In a July edition of the poll, that split became even more drastic, with Tafoya polling at 41%, “Undecided” at 28%, White at 10% and Schwarze at 5%, two points lower than Tom Weiler.
Still, Schwarze had hoped to debate Tafoya head on, saying that she, “does not stand for our values.”
“She is openly on the record, as the number one hill she would die on and march in D.C. (for) is to fight for abortions,” Schwarze said. “Michelle Tafoya openly supports red flag gun laws and she openly supports restricting gun access and online gun purchases, because in her own words, it scares her. So she’s scared of guns.”
In a letter posted to her campaign website, Tafoya says she is, “completely aligned with President Donald Trump on (abortion.)” and that, while she does not support an outright ban on abortion, “I believe there should be reasonable access in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.”
The Mankato Free Press could not independently verify Schwarze’s claims that Tafoya said online gun sales “scared” her.
Despite lamenting he couldn’t take the stage at the debate, Schwarze admitted to not being the most knowledgeable candidate on ag policy.
“I’m certainly more knowledgeable than Michele Tafoya (or) anybody else on the Republican ticket, but if you can’t get things right like supporting American citizens first, it doesn’t matter where your ag policy is,” Schwarze said.
And, in spite of his lackluster polling numbers, Schwarze still remains confident he can win in the Senate primary on Tuesday.
“My plan is to win the primary, because I’m the most qualified,” Schwarze said. “I’m worried about promoting my values and winning my race.”