In farm country, the fight isn't over farming.
The southern Minnesota congressional campaign between recently elected GOP incumbent Rep. Brad Finstad and DFL challenger Jeff Ettinger has churned on national debates over abortion, inflation and former President Donald Trump's legacy.
Yet both are still showcasing their rural bona fides.
"We're very excited to be part of the agriculture sector in southern Minnesota," said Finstad, 46, a former Trump USDA official, who spoke about his family farm during a recent forum at the Owatonna Country Club. Ettinger then reminded people of his roots in Austin, Minn.
"I had a 27-year career at Hormel Foods," said Ettinger, 64, "the last 11 of which as CEO, where I was responsible for 20,000 employees and an annual budget of $10 billion."
The First District spans fertile corn and soybean country from the South Dakota border to the coulees of the Mississippi River. Ethanol plants dot the district. Large dairies and hog barns saddle gravel roads. And the district's voters tend to like unstylish moderates.
At the Owatonna forum, Ettinger and Finstad spoke congenially, jointly lamenting inflation, toying with a balanced budget amendment and criticizing President Joe Biden's college debt cancellation policy.
"For those people looking for a fight," Finstad chuckled, "you're not going to get one."
But then talk turned to Jan. 6 and abortion.
Finstad said the attack on the U.S. Capitol hadn't come up on the campaign trail.
"When I've been going county to county, community to community, not once has someone raised January 6," said Finstad.
Ettinger retorted, "You must talk to a very narrow set of people if that has never come up."
On abortion, Finstad charged Ettinger with being untruthful by saying "chaos" had flowed from the U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade. Finstad later said abortion is clearly legal in Minnesota, and added that he hadn't seen details on South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's proposal to ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks.
In August, Ettinger lost by four percentage points to Finstad during a special election to replace U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died in February. The Democrat mildly upset predictions, as Trump had won the district over Biden by a 10% lead.
November's race could be different. Redistricting changed the First District map to add Red Wing and subtract Le Sueur County. College students in Mankato, Winona and St. Peter will be in session. Still, political forecasting site FiveThirtyEight calls the race "very likely" for Finstad.
Last Tuesday, Ettinger traveled to the Dry Creek Red Angus farm outside Goodhue in southeastern Minnesota to hear from farmer Jared Luhman, 29.
"Looking at the national landscape, you've got 400-plus districts, and not very many of them anymore are rural," said Ettinger, sitting in Luhman's truck, adding that he'd like to serve on the House Agriculture Committee (as Finstad does).
"If you make too many radical changes," said Ettinger, "there are too many unintended consequences."
According to the USDA's 2017 census, southern Minnesota is the nation's 10th largest district in overall production, counting 18,000 farms. The congressional seat has swung between the GOP and DFL since the early 1980s, when Blue Dog Democrat Tim Penny knocked out Hagedorn's father.
Paul Torkelson, a Republican state legislator who farms in Brown County, noted that fewer residents are working on farms.
"I do think that ag is still number one," said Torkelson, who supports Finstad. "But its number one position is occupied in a different way than it used to be."
Mankato and Rochester — formerly GOP safe havens — are now reliably blue. In the special election, Ettinger won the district's most populous counties. Finstad won the rest.
On his first day in Congress, Finstad voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, which contained nearly $40 billion in green farming programs. Finstad called his "no" a "common-sense Minnesota vote."
It's a mantra — "southern Minnesota common sense" — that Finstad tries to work into nearly every conversation, whether talking Ukraine, inflation or even abortion.
At the Owatonna forum, Finstad boasted that he and his wife helped found a center in New Ulm that offers resources to pregnant women but opposes abortion.
"Over 150 babies have been born through that center right there in New Ulm from folks that were struggling with crisis pregnancies," said Finstad.
As a state legislator in 2005, Finstad introduced legislation that would have barred money to groups that mention the word "abortion" when counseling pregnant women.
Planned Parenthood's spokeswoman at the time — now a Democratic U.S. senator — remembers the fight.
"I remember very vividly [the hearing] because [of] the animosity that Republican, anti-choice legislators brought out in the hearing," said U.S. Sen. Tina Smith in an interview. She lambasted crisis pregnancy centers for "shaming, scaring and pressuring" women away from abortions.
While Finstad's record has been questioned, Ettinger, too, has faced scrutiny about leading an ag industry giant sometimes at odds with independent producers.
"I find it a little unusual that the party who berates corporate America ... how they have thrown their arms around Ettinger," said Torkelson.
While Hormel Foods' revenue doubled to $9 billion during Ettinger's tenure, a group of caterers and restaurants sued Hormel in 2021 for an alleged price-fixing scheme. Hormel has called the lawsuit "baseless." Ettinger is not a defendant, though the lawsuit alludes to an earnings call the CEO made in 2008.
Asked by the Star Tribune about the lawsuit, Ettinger said he doesn't "have a tie directly to that case."
After touring Luhman's pasture on Tuesday, Ettinger was asked to help move some cattle. Soon, he was spooling an electric fence as cattle shuffled past to a pasture.
"Did you work at Hormel?" Luhman asked Ettinger.
"I was the CEO."
"Really?" said Luhman, awestruck. "That's news to me."
Almost as an aside, Ettinger added that he's running for Congress.
