Minnesota governor candidates spar over fraud and immigration at Farmfest forum

Redwood County, Minn. (FOX 9) - The top candidates running for Minnesota governor faced off at a forum at Farmfest in Redwood County, Minn. on Wednesday. Here's a look at some of the biggest topics discussed on Wednesday.

Governor's candidates at Farmfest

What we know:

Wednesday's forum featured both DFL and Republican candidates polling at a certain threshold. The panel included Sen. Amy Klobuchar, now-former MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, and businessman and veteran Kendall Qualls.

What they're saying:

Here's a look at some of the major topics discussed on Wednesday. As it was Farmfest, much of the discussion focused on agriculture, but candidates also ventured into mainstream issues, like fraud, immigration, and healthcare.

Recruiting rural doctors

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DFL candidate): "This is huge. This is why I actually put on my plan for 10,000 more apprenticeships in our state. I use one example. U of M in Rochester has a three-year degree right now instead of four to get your four-year degree and then they partner with the area hospitals and Mayo to be able to have the kids do their training there at the same time. That's one idea and we need to spread statewide so we get more, we build our health care workforce. Not just doctors, nurses, med techs, you name it, because we're sorely in trouble in rural Minnesota right now. The second thing, immigration reform. A lot of my opponents up here may not want to talk about it, but we need immigration reform for greater Minnesota, and that of course includes H-2A visas. Third thing, when you look at what's happening, these Trump cuts when it comes to Medicaid, what happened with the Affordable Care Act tax credits. So many of our farmers and ranchers and people in rural Minnesota are on the individual marketplace. I will, if they do not, extend that tax credit on those individual marketplace plans to help you bring down your insurance premiums, I will do it on the state level as your governor."

House Speaker Lisa Demuth (Republican candidate): "Health care costs in Minnesota have exploded, and you're going to hear a theme in almost all of the questions that are posed: what's driving up the cost? It is unfunded mandates, or it is business mandates. Again, paid family leave, the other pressures that are put on all of our businesses, including health care. Those are Democrat-created issues here at the state level that need to be changed. When you think of what has driven up our healthcare costs in a way that made it unaffordable, that was Obamacare. Passed at the federal level and it has made our health insurance, our health coverage, very unaffordable in the state. What I will tell you though, this is what we have the absolute opportunity to do. I was proud to be at the ribbon cutting for the University of Minnesota rural medical school in St. Cloud, Minnesota. A partnership with CentraCare to bring rural health care across the state. We know when Minnesotans can access that health care earlier on, it gives us better outcomes, not just medical but also dental, something that I've supported the entire time in my legislative career."

Mike Lindell (Republican candidate): "This is actually the biggest part of my budget that you can see tomorrow at LindellGov.com. We're bringing in a plan that was done and developed by actually a guy that I worked with for years in Michigan and it was put in direct primary care. This plan will be all – health care affects every one of us and also our corporations. I ran the plan through my company that I just stepped down from, MyPillow, yesterday everyone at MyPillow would save about 50 percent on their health care, what they have right now. My corporation would save above 30 percent. It's billions and billions of dollars across our state. This is our biggest expense and it affects everything. When you talk about government's expenditures, it's health care. Healthcare is a big expenditure. You're giving everyone the healthcare in our government. So this direct primary care is amazing, especially for rural Minnesota and especially for the inner city, both of them, because people are going to get direct care from their physicians that they didn't have before because of their deductibles that they don't want to go take. By the way, Governor Walz just approved this, that we could use this as deductibles, this primary care thing that I've developed. He approved it three months ago."

Kendall Qualls (Republican candidate): "We are in this situation in health care because of what politicians have done and what politicians haven't done. We've been around long enough to always hear what we're going to do, what we are going do, but here's the reality. We are forced into Obamacare where it was passed by one vote when Norman Coleman lost his seat And Al Franken got the Senate seat and he cast a deciding vote for Obamacare. When President Trump won in 2016, the key was: We're going to repeal and replace. We had the trifecta at the federal government to do that. And he got betrayed by our own party. Right now, we have the SAVE Act. We have a trifecta. We're struggling to get that through. My friends, this is why the delegates in the Republican Party wanted an outside candidate to get things done. My running mate and I have never been in public office. It's going to be record setting when we pass this. In his role as a serial entrepreneur, he's been dealing with these health care costs for a long time; so have I. It is going to be a waiver that we're going to have, and we're going to get back to our MNSure program that we used to have that was working. Thank you."

How do you respond to another federal surge?

Lisa Demuth: "As your next governor, the way that I look at the federal immigration laws is, first of all, I believe at a federal level, they desperately need changes. There needs to be updating to our federal immigration law. But as your governor, I commit that I will support our federal immigration laws, regardless of who is in charge. That is what I will be doing, is supporting the federal immigration laws and expecting those in Washington to finally do their jobs. And make the meaningful changes that will make people safer, that will allow legal immigration. You know, it could be something as far as instead of seasonal workers, expanding that, looking at things, but protecting our borders is what was desperately needed after the failed Biden administration. We need to make sure that our borders of the United States and our state of Minnesota on the Northern side are safe. So I will support federal immigration and expect those in Washington to do their job and update our immigration laws."

Mike Lindell: "First of all you need to prevent this and on day one as governor. We're housing 1,400 felons that are illegals that have committed felonies in our prisons at the cost of $110 million a year. You cooperate with the federal government and you say pick these guys up. I am also am going to enforce employers that are employing the illegals in around the cities that are they're employing them and they're cheating us out of billions or $1.5 billion in tax a year. These jobs are for our legal citizens. And then if you cooperate with ICE and with our government, like other cities have, you're turning them in as you get them and they don't have to go door to door. But if they did, there's another thing in Minneapolis. Minneapolis has some of the strictest protest laws in the nation. I will enforce them. You don't get to commit crimes through protesting, period."

Kendall Qualls: "Number one thing, this whole idea of a sanctuary city, sanctuary state, would be eliminated. That's number one. We have one constitution, one rule of law. We are a nation of laws, or we are not a nation at all. It starts right here with a new leadership. Second is, we wouldn't have to deal with a Metro Surge because, at the state level, we manage our own business, we manage our own affairs. And we make sure that those issues will not even rise to the surface of having us becoming a national embarrassment anymore. So I'm not concerned about that. But here's what I can tell you what's happening in our state with the illegal immigrants right now. They get better healthcare than the people that pay the premiums. Therefore, they're actually [audience boos] – you can boo all you want because, look, you pay a co-pay, they do not. It is true. I got 15 seconds, listen, a pharmacist told me that a Medicare patient didn't get her inhaler because she couldn't afford the copay, but the person that came back right in front of her was an illegal immigrant or an immigrant that came in, got a refill, no copay and wanted the rest of it shipped to Somalia."

Amy Klobuchar: "I've long believed in and supported funding for order at the border, and I have worked well with law enforcement in Minnesota for years. [Audience jeers] Wow. I ran the largest prosecutor's office in the state and was endorsed by police many, many times. So don't. Number two, none of my opponents on this stage condemned what ICE did. Not a word. Not a word. Two innocent people were killed, shot in the back. We had many people arrested when they weren't supposed to be arrested, and we all know that. And we need reform to ICE. We must have reform. And if anyone wants to see what happens – $70 billion into ICE, it's bigger than the FBI now, it's bigger than the Marines. I did not support that. I think that $70 billion extra dollars should go to you for your health care. That money should go to you, for your housing, and it should go to you for your child care."

Addressing Medicaid fraud in Minnesota

Mike Lindell: "Fraud is the biggest blessing our state's ever had because it's opened our eyes to get rid of the current government we have. Start with Keith Ellison, start with our governor, start with Ilhan Omar, start with all this fraud, and get rid of it. That's the number one thing. My lieutenant governor, Phillip Parrish, he was a Navy intelligence officer, and we're doing a deep dive. Call it Minnesota DOGE, okay? We are going. We're going to dig into every single program. There's over 24 welfare programs and over 400 NGOs in this state. We're going to go in and look at each one to see if there was fraud there. They asked the other day when I was doing an interview, is Governor Walz doing enough? And I said, isn't he in on it? So we're going to dig, We're going to dig deep but also we're going to look at those programs and we're going to look at them and make them just like you would look at any are we getting a good return on our investment? We have that means helping people that need the help."

Kendall Qualls: "This fraud issue is a leadership problem issue. In the private sector, we call it embezzlement. We know what's happening every quarter because of our financials, where the money's coming in, where it's going out. We know there's a discrepancy, an unusual discrepancy, the first quarter, the second quarter, but in third quarter there's an investigation, someone's fired, and they're either locked away in prison or they're doing some other type of correctional time. That happens on less than a year, not eight to 10 years. We don't need a 23-year-old YouTuber to tell us there's something wrong going on. So what would I do differently? Number one, you hold people responsible that should've been responsible. This is a dereliction of duty in the Army. Okay, the guy at the top, all the way down to the person who did it. There needs to be accountability. It's been eight to ten years that this has been going on. The biggest issue is this. We have mega-spending bills that funded the fraud programs. No more mega spending bills. One single bill item at a time vote up and down on those so we can have clear accountability because we have Republicans that have co-signed on these bills that have started these fraud programs."

Amy Klobuchar: "The people of Minnesota were ripped off. This was wrong and it should have been caught earlier. When I found out, I put more resources into the U.S. Attorney's office and I was the one that recommended Andrew Luger, who is a prosecutor, who exposed the fraud and was the one that brought 70 of these cases. My plan as governor will be to do this. One, the minute I get in there, I will launch a top to bottom audit of state government. I will root out the fraud. I'm going to make sure that we're vetting all the contracts, that there are surprise inspections. You can't do inspections by Zoom. And I will use my experience of running the biggest prosecutor's office in the state and in the private sector for over ten years to get this done. People who commit fraud should go to jail. And while the criminal penalties were changed at the state legislature, we need to do more. And that includes extending the statute of limitations beyond Medicaid to other programs that were victims of fraud. People were victims of this fraud. The taxpayers were victims of fraud, and I will make sure that people go to jail."

Lisa Demuth: "The explosive fraud in Minnesota is a direct result of incompetent Democrat control in this state for more than 16 years. When I came into the legislature in 2019, fraud was something that didn't want to be talked about. I carried a bill that would have said you had to have internal controls on child care centers that had CCAP dollars flowing to them. I was told eventually that that was racist. That is not racist, that is fraud. Let's make sure kids are actually there before people get the money. As Speaker of the House, I established the Fraud Prevention and Agency Oversight Committee because no longer did I want Democrats in the state of Minnesota to be able to say that there was no fraud. From there, we added whistleblower protections, the Office of Inspector General, and let me tell you one thing. $10 billion of fraud in the State of Minnesota, $250 million in Feeding Our Future, yet the state general fund account for agriculture here in the state of Minnesota is only a $165 million. We are out of balance. I need a different direction at the top of our state."

Closing statements

Amy Klobuchar: "It is great to be back here at Farmfest. As I noted, I visit all 87 counties every single year. I think some of the counties, I've literally met every person in them. And that is when I hear about the challenges, and that is when I come back and work on solutions. As one farmer said to me, soybean farmer, it's like a perfect storm of ugly what they've been facing with the war, with the tariffs that I strongly disapprove of. We know there are headwinds, but they cannot be an excuse. I am going to transform this state government, and I am someone that I think you know, when you put your trust in me, I'm going to go ahead and do the work for you, because I've been there with you through good times and bad. I have put out a rural plan that's real. It starts with expanding domestic and international markets. It goes into the needs that we have in rural that are so unique when it comes to health care and making sure our rural hospitals stay strong, when it comes to having an actual commitment to housing and to making sure we have the workforce that we need. Not one of my opponents on this stage has objected to those tariffs. They've embraced them. Not one of them has objected to the war in Iran. Not one of them have objected to the big, beautiful bill and all the rural cuts. We do not need a governor who is a rubber stamp of Donald Trump. We need a governor who is going to put you first, who is going to put Minnesota first. And with my experience that I bring to this job, that is what I will bring to our state. I see new opportunities and markets everywhere. I don't just go where it's comfortable. I go where it's uncomfortable. I like having debates with people about what's the best place to get solutions and get there. That's why I've been able to get things done. But when I see these markets, I believe we're only going to seize them if we get to a higher place, if we build trust. That's why taking on this fraud, reforming our government is so important. And I ask for your support and I am so excited to get to work. So please join me."

Lisa Demuth: "As a lifelong Minnesotan, a business owner, I'm married, my husband Nick is someplace in the crowd. We have four adult kids and seven grandkids who are all here in the state. And I want to make sure that Minnesota remains strong and can actually have a comeback and become stronger and better than where we find ourselves today. It is important to me that everyone in Minnesota, all parts of our state, has the opportunity to succeed. And what will make that happen is an absolute culture change from how we have been led over the last 16 years. That means a change from the top, and accountability within every part of the government, a right sizing of our government. Of our government spending and the taxes that hit all of us. My vision for Minnesota is once and for all ending fraud that has become what we are known for and it is embarrassing. It is lowering taxes, definitely improving our ag economy as I mentioned earlier, we're only spending $165 million of a nearly $70 billion budget here in the state of Minnesota. We can invest more in our ag economy and support our communities across the state. I want to make sure our kids receive that education that prepares them f\or whatever is next, whether they take over the family farm, they go forward to become large animal veterinarians that we are so short of. If we have those that are in manufacturing, our restaurants downtown, whatever it is, that they have that absolute opportunity. How that will be done is certainty across the state that leadership at the top is for you, not working against you. I'm a leader that has proven that I listen and learn from the experts that know what needs to be done. It is my honor to be with you. Thank you very much."

Mike Lindell: "You know, I've grown up in Minnesota. When I was a teenager, I looked forward to every summer going down and farming with my cousin on my uncle's farm, walking beans, going to church every Sunday. That's where I got my work ethic and my seeds of faith. And as I lived to Minnesota here, I lived the American dream on steriods, going from an attic, coming out of that. To be able to fulfill the American dream, build one of the biggest companies this country's seen direct sales. But I was at the Rose Garden and I've seen what happens to our state. This was right before the pandemic. And the president let me get up and speak and I said something off the cuff. I said, a nation had turned its back on God. We had taken God out of our schools. I said, we need to pray for God's grace and get back in the word and spend time with our families. I could have just well been talking about Minnesota. This is a spiritual battle of evil and good of biblical proportions. We have a governor that put a satanic statue in the capitol, put a satanic statue in there, all the evil and the horrific things that we've seen happen as we watch our state just crumble. And I will tell you this. Is Amy on this stage, we agreed in 2020. We came into a historical agreement on the election fraud. She went after the machines. She named them in the movie Kill Chain. She named him and she went after this fraud but then she stopped after the 2020 election. What did Mike Lindell do since then? I spent $80 million trying to secure our elections to this country. What did Amy do since then? Amy went to Washington, brings back $20 billion to our state, only to have it shipped off to Somalia. That's not a good steward of our money."

Kendall Qualls: "I am honored to be here. This has been the most humbling and honoring time of my life to represent the Republican Party here in the state of Minnesota. Let me give you an idea. Over the last 10 to 11 months, we've had 19 different forums, just like this. A crowded field of candidates met all over the state. And after each one of those, the participants in the audience got a chance to vote. Who would you vote for governor? Who would you want to represent us, and that could win? I won 17 out of 19 of those, and the 20th was at the convention in Duluth. At the end of that convention, as the reporters and everyone was feeding out, this one guy was standing there by himself, along with his grandson, 92-year-old, sixth-generation farmer. He wanted to get a picture with me. I said, sir, no. The honor is mine. I'm getting a picture with you. What I am doing is helping to preserve the legacy of this great state and preparing it for future generations to stay here, live here, and invest here, and thrive here. We've been hearing from politicians on both sides for 20 years what they're going to do. The reality is we've become an anti-business state. The Democrat Socialist Party is growing strong. And unfortunately, in the Republican Party, when people leave the state? That's a decision based on what the Democrats have done and what the Republicans haven't done. It's time to bring outsiders. When I was on active duty as an artillery officer, when the conventional forces couldn't get it done, we brought in the special forces. We brought in something different. This is why we need different leadership in a state today."