Minnesota political candidates face hostility, hopefulness while campaigning

ST. CLOUD — As the 2024 election cycle ramps up, the St. Cloud Times spoke with candidates from around the state, including one candidate from the St. Cloud area, about their experiences on the campaign trail. What we discovered was a mixed bag of surprise pleasantries and fiery interactions.

All three candidates voiced worries about how voters interact with potential public servants, saying there are times when voter reactions go to extremes. The candidates — one Democrat, one Republican and one independent — all said these experiences are most prevalent when door-knocking.

“I just want them to vote, and it’s hard to be screamed at by someone that you don't know, and you don't know their story,” Minnesota House Rep. Danny Nadeau, R-Rogers, said while discussing his 2024 reelection efforts.

He said this behavior is exhibited by both Republican and Democrat voters, and said it extends beyond the initial interaction. Nadeau said he was scolded for leaving a flier at someone’s house after not meeting them at the door.

“When I came back, this guy came up to me and was really angry that I knocked on his door and left campaign materials, and he screamed at me to get rid of it,” Nadeau said. “I said, ‘Hey, I'm not trying to bother anybody. I represent this district, and I'm just trying to communicate.’ He just proceeded to scream at me for the next five minutes about how I’m wasting everyone's time and wasting everyone's money.”

Nadeau said the number of bad experiences is the same as two years ago; however, the extremes on both sides have grown in intensity.

Up north in Aitkin, DFL House District 10A candidate Julia Samsal Hipp said she’s having similar experiences. However, she said today’s divisive politics makes it hard to reach voters, and sometimes she’s left with a cold shoulder, making for an awkward situation.

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These awkward situations are amplified when children are present, Hipp said. The DFL candidate said she likes to give kids stickers and sometimes parents get in the way, stopping their children from taking the handout.

“I'm passing out what I call ‘Kindness Daisy’ stickers to kids, and I've had some parents yell, ‘That's garbage, throw that away. Go away, get out of here,’” Hipp said. “The fearful, hurtful, confusing message that the parent is sending to that child is heartbreaking to me, and that expression of fear from the parent just gets passed on to the child, and they're raised like that.”

On the other hand, St. Cloud mayoral candidate Anne Buckvold, an independent, said she’s having a good experience campaigning in St. Cloud this year compared to her 2016 Minnesota House District 13A run. She also brought up the impact parent reactions to political candidates have on their children.

The therapist and mayoral hopeful said it sends a message to kids about how to interact with local leaders, and the youth should be taught to interact with public servants, or hopeful public servants, with credibility, respect and integrity. Buckvold gave a similar sentiment to Hipp, saying these interactions with by-standing children may also influence the next generation’s trust toward elected officials and future civic engagement.

“If we're going to show (kids) the path forward with anything, whether it's their schooling, academics, after-school activities or just how to engage with the community — and if we want kids to integrate and become functioning adults — we have to serve as an example of what functioning adults are,” Buckvold, who initially voiced frustrations on X , said.

All three candidates said their struggles were amplified in rural communities.

“That was a more rural district I was door-knocking in back then,” Buckvold said, when speaking of her prior campaign. “It's quite possible that in a lot of rural districts, where people are more disconnected from issues in a day-to-day way, it's easier to stoke people's fears."

Hipp said these interactions bleed into her personal life, citing times she’s been excluded from events due to her running as a DFL candidate. She said that, combined with unpleasantries when campaigning, made her feel as if she was doing something wrong.

“I was feeling like I did something wrong for them to yell at me,” Hipp said. “That's an old recording in my head that I have, and it took a lot of encouragement saying, ‘You did nothing wrong, you're a grown woman, you're loving, you're kind, you're this and that,’ and lifting me up. That helped shake that feeling of being a bad girl.”

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It’s not all yelling and screaming

The three candidates told the St. Cloud Times these negative experiences are often more memorable than the positive ones, but there’s plenty of good out there.

Hipp said her relationship with her opponent Rep. Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls, is a prime example. The two got off on the wrong foot, Hipp said, after Kresha made a joke about the DFL party to her in passing. Afterward, Hipp took her frustrations out online, telling her Facebook followers she could do better than the Republican incumbent.

Eventually, Hipp approached Kresha to apologize, and her opponent returned with an apology of his own. From there, a peaceful relationship bloomed.

“I just have to say he's a nice guy, and his wife is lovely. I even met her,” Hipp said. “I'm surprised I haven't met the kids yet.”

Buckvold is also relieved to see local issues are staying local this election cycle. The mayoral candidate said she’s often asked at doors how she swings politically, and when she tells voters she’s an independent focused on community issues rather than party politics, it’s met with positivity.

“The majority of people are generally pretty good at asking, ‘Which way do you lean? What party are you? ‘“ Buckvold said. “As soon as I say, ‘Well, it's a nonpartisan office. I'm running as an independent,’ they're like, ‘Good. That's great.’”

This highlights a similar sentiment to what Mayor Dave Kleis said in April when he proposed moving elections to odd years to avoid national election influences. He said party politics don’t have a strong role in municipal operations.

“It's not political. There is no Republican or Democrat way to plow a street or fill a pothole in Minnesota,” Kleis said in April. “It does not help in any way to be part of partisan politics at a local level.”

Corey Schmidt covers local government for the St. Cloud Times. He can be reached at cschmidt@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Minnesota political candidates face hostility, hopefulness while campaigning