Joe Radinovich, Pete Stauber face off in lively debate over northeastern Minnesota seat in Congress

Joe Radinovich and Pete Stauber faced off in a lively, and at times combative, debate Friday at MPR's UBS Forum in St. Paul as the two men vie for the northeastern Minnesota congressional seat.

The two candidates often talked over each other, disputed assertions and lobbed character attacks as the race for the Eighth Congressional District seat intensified before the Nov. 6 election. They also sparred about tax cuts and the future of safety net programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Stauber, 52, of Hermantown, a St. Louis County commissioner and former Duluth police officer, at one point called a Radinovich response "cheap talking points," prompting the MPR News moderator to call for civility from the two candidates.

Radinovich, 32, of Crosby, a former state representative, Democratic strategist and union organizer, repeatedly brought up Stauber's refusal to release e-mails he wrote from his county address to operatives at a Washington group, the National Republican Congressional Committee.

"The public has a right to know what's going on with their money and their resources," Radinovich said. "Most of us are wondering what's in those e-mails that's so bad."

Stauber called it a "purely political" move from Radinovich and his allies because he's in a "floundering campaign." When asked if there's something "super secret" in the e-mails, Stauber said he supports the county's response. The county has refused to release the e-mails against a state agency's recommendation. A judge is likely to decide Monday or Tuesday on the DFL Party's request for the e-mails to be disclosed.

Stauber brought up Radinovich's past fines from parking and speeding tickets and repeatedly said Radinovich had "zero credibility" because of votes he cast when he was in the Legislature, like the vote to create MNsure, the state's health insurance exchange. Stauber called that effort, which was Minnesota's vehicle for implementing the Affordable Care Act, "an unmitigated disaster."

Jim Oberstar, a Democrat, held the U.S. House seat for 36 years until 2011, when voters replaced him with Republican Chip Cravaack. That lasted two years and in 2012, voters swung back to the DFL, electing Nolan. In 2016, Nolan was re-elected by 2,009 votes and President Donald Trump won the district by 16 percentage points in 2016. Now polls say Stauber has the lead in the race.

The Eighth is the oldest congressional district in Minnesota, with the highest number of adults who are 65 years old and older. That means that Social Security and Medicare are among the top issues for voters; both Stauber and Radinovich pledged to not cut either program if elected to the two-year term to Congress.

While Radinovich said federal tax cuts have ballooned the deficit and not benefited the middle class, Stauber disagreed, saying the tax cuts have "reinvigorated this economy." Radinovich mentioned that Republican leaders have said they would look at Medicare and Social Security cuts to address the deficit.

Instead, Stauber said, "there's areas we can cut," saying he would use a "scalpel" to cut spending such as in "fraudulent use of food stamps," or SNAP benefits.

"We need to make sure that we're protecting the people on Main Street, not the big banks, not the millionaires and billionaires, not the 1 percent," Radinovich said. "This is about an economy where everybody benefits and that's the fundamental difference between Pete Stauber and I."

The race has drawn national interest, with both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence visiting to support Stauber. Outside groups have spent $7.3 million in the district, much of it on ads critical of Radinovich. On Wednesday, Trump's PAC, America First Action, said it's spending more than $1 million on Stauber in addition to the $1.9 million it's already spent.

Radinovich has slightly outraised Stauber, with $1.5 million to Stauber's $1.4 million — part of a total of $23 million that candidates are spending in four competitive congressional district races in Minnesota. Former White House chief of staff and Minnesota native Denis McDonough recently joined Radinovich on the campaign trail. And Radinovich responded to attack ads with a personal online video this week, talking about a family member's attempted suicide and his mother's death in a murder-suicide.

"I have dealt with a great deal of adversity in my life," Radinovich said at Friday's debate.

A final debate between the two candidates is scheduled for Tuesday in Chisholm.