Lisa Demuth responds to Annunciation parents' gun control allegations
Lisa Demuth on Minnesota fraud and gun control
As part of FOX 9's "Candidate Conversations" series ahead of Election Day, Minnesota House Speaker and Republican gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth joins All Day to her plans if elected governor.
(FOX 9) - Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, the Republican candidate for Minnesota governor, discussed her plans to combat fraud, her response to criticism from the parents of an Annunciation school shooting victim and her priorities for Minnesota during an appearance on FOX 9 All Day.
Demuth on her plan to combat fraud in Minnesota
"I think it's really important to look at the fact that fraud here in Minnesota has gone unchecked for too long. And when we look at the expense of things and knowing that we've had an estimated $9 billion of taxpayer dollars go out, that is just unbelievable to most people, a number that people can't wrap their heads around.
"As speaker of the House in 2025 and 2026, I established the Fraud Prevention and Agency Oversight Committee to purposely look at how much fraud was here in the state of Minnesota and put safeguards. So we've already passed the Office of Inspector General and Independent Office, additional whistleblower protections.
"But under my plan as governor, we will be holding fraudsters accountable. When they are caught, convicted, they will go to jail, where we've seen even with some of the prosecutions and the convictions, there's not a lot of jail time.
"The other thing that's very important to Minnesotans is we will seize those assets, fraudsters, when convicted, they will be prevented from any other social programs here in the state of Minnesota going forward.
"And so that level of accountability, but it starts at the top within the governor or the CEO of the state of Minnesota. I'm a small business owner. So anytime there's either a lack of internal controls in a business or fraud, changes have to be made, starting with change in the culture.
"One of the biggest things I'll be doing is replacing all of the commissioners in every agency to change that culture of waste and fraud here in the state."
Demuth on what she has accomplished as House speaker to prevent fraud
"I established the Fraud Prevention and Agency Oversight Committee. That meant that met weekly throughout the entire legislative session. So in all of '25, all of '26, while we were in the legislature, to hold hearings. We put additional whistleblower protections in to protect whistleblowers in state government that were seeing something and had been treated unfairly if they had reported things before.
"We added two new full-time equivalent employees to the Office of Legislative Auditor, which is an independent office within the state government. Nearly 40 years that they've been doing that work, we added additional FTEs.
"And so there are things that I've already done without relating to any other person in state government, things that I could do, finally, with having a little bit of ability to do those things as speaker of the House."
Demuth on Trump's comments about Somali Americans
"Clearly, the president and I have very different ways of communicating that I would never vilify an entire community.
"What we need to look at here in the state of Minnesota is how do we best protect the people of Minnesota, meaning the taxpayers of Minnesota, meaning those that need child care assistance and they're on waiting lists. They can't get what they need or those in the disability community.
"Anytime there are dollars that are put out in fraud, it means those dollars aren't going to the people that need it the most.
"And so that my approach really encompasses all of Minnesota. Let's protect taxpayer dollars from fraud. Let's right size our budget and get those dollars out to those that depend on it the most."
Demuth on whether she would stand up to Trump
"The president and I have very, very different ways of communicating. Clearly, I was not his choice for governor here in the state of Minnesota. He did not endorse me. I will protect all Minnesotans as we go forward."
Demuth responds to accusations from Annunciation shooting victim's parents
Speaker Demuth also addressed allegations made by the parents of Harper Moyski, who was killed in the Annunciation school shooting.
During a news conference with Sen. Amy Klobuchar last week, the Moyskis accused Demuth of promising them a vote on gun control legislation that did not happen.
When asked if she lied to the parents, Demuth said:
"I did not lie to them.
"When we look at the tragedy at Annunciation, that is the worst tragedy that any parent and any school community could face. And I'm a mom of four kids that were at a school during a school shooting. My kids came home, but forever changed.
"When I look back at what happened to my community at the ROCORI community, the conversation was, how do we best provide the help that is needed? In that case, it was bullying, now it's mental health.
"What I did when I had a chance to meet with not just Harper's parents, and they were kind enough to invite me in and have a conversation. They did that with other legislators, and I think that's an important piece of going forward.
"I also met with other parents from Annunciation, and the things that I said is, as speaker of the House, bills would be introduced, they would go through the process, votes would be taken. That's the legislative process that we have.
"That's exactly what happened. We took the very first vote in a committee on February of 26th, February 24th, to be exact, five times bills were heard, different bills and the committees voted on. They did not have the votes to move forward, but they were voted on three times on the House floor, fully vetted, fully discussed. Votes were taken. They did not have passing votes to move forward."
Demuth on what she would do to make Minnesota better
"I've been speaker of the House for two years. I've been in the legislature for four terms. And when I do talk about those that have been in control of state government, Democrats specifically in the state for almost 20 years, you have to ask yourself, are things better than they were even eight years ago under the Walz administration, or do we have record fraud? Do we have exploding taxes, lower test scores, and unsafe communities?
"I think people can look at what is being reported to make that decision.
"Going forward though, I'm born and raised in Minnesota. I've got kids and grandkids here. I want this state to be a state that moves forward. So making it a business-friendly community rather than an anti-business where we just lost from the Iron Range the production of the steel.
"We have the natural resources. We just lost the steel production from Mesabi Metallics to Iowa. That was 6,000 jobs, a $15 billion investment, and [1,700] ongoing jobs.
"And so I'm looking at making Minnesota a great place where we can afford our lives, where car tabs are $99 instead of hundreds and hundreds of dollars, where our roads and our bridges are growing, where our kids can succeed. All of our kids here in the state.
"Because right now, only half of our fourth graders can even read at grade level. And we used to be known for our educational outcomes.
"So when I look at our state, it's ending fraud, holding people accountable, right-sizing government, lowering taxes, improving test scores, improving public safety, and allowing businesses to start and grow and thrive here.
"I think that's something that's not Democrat or Republican. That is the change that is needed going forward. I'm ready to lead that change, and that is something that Minnesotans have approached me all over the state and said, we're ready for a change. Maybe we've never voted Republican, but you have my vote.
"We've proven that you work across the aisle because of the tie in the House. I led a tied House for the first time in state history. For both of the years, we only had a tie in 1979, one year. But I've been able to prove that I can bring people together and do what is important for Minnesotans."
Demuth on becoming the nation's only Black female governor
"I am looking at trying to win the votes of Minnesotans and the things that I just mentioned and the vision that I have for Minnesota going forward, that is something that transcends any type of culture or race or political side of the aisle.
"It's common sense. And that's what I've been trying to win across the state of Minnesota."