In the 15th month of his campaign to represent Minnesota’s 8th District in Congress, Peter Stauber said his message continues to resonate, and people are seeing the fundamental difference between he and his opponents.

Stauber, the Republican-endorsed candidate, knocked on doors and attended a meet and greet Tuesday in International Falls.

He said he’s seeking election to the seat for three reasons: “I love this country, I love our freedoms, and I love our constitution.”

Asked about his feelings at this point in the campaign, he said it’s exciting to be nearing the end.

“We’ll be going hard in the couple weeks left,” he said. “We’re not stopping until 8:05 Central Standard Time election night.”

Is it hard? “What’s hard is missing my family, missing my daughter’s volleyball game and my sons’ hockey,” he said. “I’ve put my kids to bed and wife to bed over the cell too many times.”

Stauber will face DFLer Joe Radinovich and Independence Party Ray Skip Sandman for the seat in the Nov. 6 election.

The message

“I am living my message and it resonates with people,” he told The Journal Wednesday.

“My life experiences; my resume and what I’ve done in my 52 years of life; I’ve faced adversity and the blue-collar job I’ve held; my business experiences; I’ve been married 22 years, have four teenage children, a wife in the military who served in Iraq. I have the ability to be blessed with a special needs child. It’s a part of the equation and it’s the fundamental difference between me and my opponent: My opponent has little life experience outside the political arena.”

As he travels the state campaigning, he said locally he’s hearing people are excited about the upward economic trend and historically low unemployment.

He points to small businesses hiring people and investing in their communities, manufacture hiring is good, and the mining industry and secondary manufacturing are doing well.

“The economy is really good and consumer confidence is through the roof,” he said. “People are feeling that.”

Stauber said President Donald Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 has helped propel the economy. “I really believe it’s just starting to turn and we’re moving forward because of the policies the president has put forth,” he said.

But what would he do specifically to turn the economy around in International Falls, which hasn’t experienced the same positive results?

“We have to look at the job-killing regulations,” he said. “We need to remove them not only in Minnesota, but throughout the country.”

Trump has reduced those regulations with every policy he’s put forward, said Stauber, adding 22 have been removed by the president’s actions.

Stauber pointed to the Boise Paper mill, owned by Packaging Corporation of America, which he has toured and called an important foundation for the community.

“For example,” he said, “we need to allow in our federal forest the maximum allowable sale harvest. Now, we’re not even close to that. The margin to keep the door open at PCA is slim and competitive.”

He said there’s a need to fight for the maximum harvest from federal forests to allow PCA to keep the local mill operating.

“I will do that,” he said.

He reiterated that Borderland would benefit by removing “job-killing regulations... and let that entrepreneurial spirit flourish, let Americans dream their version of the American dream.”

I Falls voters

Falls voters at a meet and greet Tuesday talked with him about health care, specifically seniors voiced grave concern about a Democrat “Medicare for all” plan, which Stauber said would be a “$33 trillion take over.”

“They know it will end Medicare as we know it and we’re put in a very difficult position. They don’t want 200 million Americans on the system they earned and were promised their whole life.”

In addition, Stauber said he’s hearing support for a market driven health care system that is competitive. “When there’s competition, it’s good for the consumer,” he said, noting that’s true in every other part of the economy.

Stauber said all agree health care should be affordable and accessible. “I believe it should be patient driven, physician guided,” he said. “But a bureaucrat gets in the space between the patient and doctor.”

His opponent’s health care plan would: delay care and access; abolish employer paid health insurance, and kick seniors and veterans off their current health care, he said.

“We must strengthen Social Security and Medicare, and I will do that,” he said.

Stauber said Borderland residents also discussed a need for a strong border, and an immigration policy that uses 21st Century technology.

“We still need official ports of entry, so we know who is coming and going,” he said. “I support legal immigration, immigrants that want to come and live their version of the American dream and contribute. This nation was built on immigrants, who still enrich the nation.”

At the same time, he said the U.S. is a nation of law and order, something he knows well serving 23 years as a police officer, and since supporting police and order.

“Again, I am living that message,” he said.

He also pointed to the opioid crisis, noting the Trump administration has provided nearly $700 billion for groups and county public health officials to combat it. “We need to prevent and treat, and to prosecute those selling drugs to our children,” he said.

Stauber said he knows the divisiveness in the nation is palpable, “but when I look at my opponent, he’s my opponent, not my enemy. I respect my opponent; I’m not sure how he feels about me.”

And he said he remains optimistic about the future.

“Every generation has a challenge and so has ours, but I believe the best days are to come,” he said. “I believe in the American people.”