A public servant of 25 years and a political outsider, Trina Swanson is running as the DFL-endorsed candidate for Congressional District 8 in Minnesota. Her mission? To hold the richest 1% of Americans–including President Donald Trump, Congress, and the rest of the federal government–accountable, while lifting up the working class.
Swanson grew up in Hermantown, with a mother who worked as a nurse and a father who worked in construction, then a paper mill. Her experience in government started in a US Bankruptcy Court, then the US Citizenship and immigration Services (USCIS)–which she eventually represented in Kenya and Germany–and finally as the USCIS’s Director of International Operations.
Swanson says her work across the world and the love of her home has prepared her for this fight, “because I want to give my loved ones a representative that actually shows up, and I have the experience to do so.”
Taking on Stauber
Currently, Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District is represented by Republican US Rep. Pete Stauber, who has held the seat since 2019. The district is solidly Red, as the Cook Political Report puts it, and it voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election by 14 points.
Stauber is running for reelection and continues to make no concessions about what he believes in, which often includes an apparent fixation on former President Joe Biden’s name and policies. He talks frequently on his campaign website about “recovering” from Biden’s economy, deporting the “21 million illegal aliens” that “flooded our borders during the four years of Joe Biden,” and putting “an end to Joe Biden’s war on American energy.” He also says he’s fighting against Governor Tim Walz and Biden’s “tyrannical mandates,” while championing gun rights and wanting to abolish abortion.
When asked about going up against Stauber, Swanson says she has no worries. She says she’s remedying one of the main issues she says Stauber’s constituents are frustrated with: showing up. “They’re not seeing their representative out in the community, they’re not able to engage with him. They’re not able to have in-person town halls. So I’m going to just continue doing what I’m doing and getting out to all of the communities.”
Since beginning her campaign in January, Swanson has already made some waves. In the month of April alone, she visited every one of the 21 counties in the district to talk to voters. Even with the late start, Swanson won her primary election with 76.8% of the vote, beating her nearest challenger by over 60 percentage points.
Pro-mining, just not in the Boundary Waters
One of the most divisive issues in the race is support for mining in the region. Minnesota’s Iron Range has a long history of making the state a mining powerhouse. But it’s recent news that is bringing the mining debate to the table once again.
Stauber brought forth a resolution to the US House early this year–which Trump signed into law–that overturns the 20-year mining ban in the Superior National Forest in Minnesota. He says this will bring more jobs and help the domestic mining industry. But, the truth is more complicated.
The reversal brings environmental danger to the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA), directs profits most likely to China, and would be run by a Chilean mining giant called Antofagasta. The company is known for environmental infractions and Republican political leanings. “We cannot let a foreign company headquartered in London based out of Chile led by Antofagasta, who [Andrónico Luksic, head of Antofagasta] rents his home to Ivanka Trump in Washington DC, come in and mine our critical minerals and destroy that area,” Swanson said.
Swanson says she knows Stauber will “peg me as anti-mining” because “that’s what he’s done to the last people that have run against him.” But Swanson says she’s pro-mining—and pro-environment too, which she believes can coexist. Swanson is endorsed by Save the Boundary Waters Action Fund and retiring MN Sen. Tina Smith, who has prioritized protection for the BWCA. She says that Minnesota can continue to mine, and she supports the use of the most advanced technology available to minimize environmental impact. But she draws the line at mining in the BWCA.
Prioritizing the working class
Swanson says affordability and healthcare are the top two kitchen table issues that are most urgent for working class Minnesotans. “Everywhere I go in the 21 counties, people are struggling with paying for their bills, for groceries, for their car insurance, for their health insurance premiums,” she told Courier Minnesota, “and they’re watching a Congress that continues to cut funding for the programs that they rely on.”
While we have a president who has said “the United States can’t take care” of healthcare and day care because “we’re fighting wars,” Swanson begs to differ. Minnesota pays more in federal taxes than it gets back in funding, meaning the state is already lacking the federal help promised and paid for, she noted. Swanson believes she will uphold Minnesota’s values in Congress, so the money the state sends to the feds is spent on the right things. “I think we need to prioritize our schools, our hospitals, our community programs that people need.”
Additionally for Swanson, this looks like passing antitrust laws so companies can’t monopolize prices for food, fuel, and everyday essentials. Her website adds that this also includes bringing in new investments, like clean energy, steel, and batteries to store renewable energy (which would help Minnesota reach its Clean Energy by 2040 law).
Healthcare
Similar to other Minnesotan progressive candidates like Peggy Flanagan and Matt Little, Swanson wants to fight for universal healthcare. She believes the US is “far too rich a nation to not be providing that as a right for every single person in this country.”
Swanson’s personal experience with a complicated and shoddy healthcare system is not unique. She says her mom had a stroke in 2018, and was fired from the hospital she worked at for 42 years. Swanson’s mom was the primary insurance policy holder for herself and her husband, who had to retire from the paper mill due to the hard work’s impact on his body. Just like that, both of Swanson’s parents were without medical insurance.
“To have somebody work their entire life and have one catastrophic medical event happen and lose your health insurance, then have to pay for [Continuation of Health Coverage] (COBRA) is just shameful to me, and I know we can do better as a country.”
-Trina Swanson, DFL-endorsed candidate for MN CD-8
Swanson says we the people have “been conditioned to believe” that universal healthcare isn’t the solution to many working class families’ medical plights. She says a single payer system or Medicare for All would be cheaper for the consumer, wouldn’t force people to be tied to an employer for healthcare, and would take the for-profit aspect out of our healthcare system.
Whether the environment, groceries, childcare, healthcare, or showing up for voters is most important for someone, Swanson recognizes she can’t be the perfect candidate for everyone. But, she says, “I need people to know that I’m going to go in, I’m going to have integrity, I’m going to continue to show up and engage and have conversation, and be the representative that comes out and answers for my vote, listens, and learns.”
