ST. PAUL [09/18/20]–Today, U.S. Senator Sen. Tina Smith will face off against her Republican challenger Jason Lewis in a debate hosted by the Duluth News Tribune and the Duluth Chamber of Congress at 11 a.m. While Sen. Smith has worked with her Republican colleagues in the Senate to get over a dozen bills and provisions signed into law, Lewis has displayed that he is incapable of putting aside his own extreme views and putting Minnesotans’ interests first.
In fact, Lewis has displayed an aversion to bipartisanship:
- He’s said he “get[s] a little itchy” when he hears the term “bipartisan;”
- Lewis said “I’ve tried to tell you people, forget about compromising with the left, you must defeat the left,” and “you must obliterate the left…these people are socially, ethically, economically, and I would argue, morally bankrupt;”
- He proclaimed “now, you know, I happen to like gridlock. I get real nervous when politicians start to compromise;”
- Complained that “working together” with Democrats makes him want to “implode,” saying it’s the “most nauseating cop-out.”
The choice before Minnesotans is whether they want to be represented by someone like Lewis who whines about not having the rest of the world align to his extreme and rigid views, or being able to count on Sen. Smith to find common ground and work with Republicans and Democrats alike to get things done.