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U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber urged delegates at the Republican Party of Minnesota state convention in Duluth on Friday to endorse candidates who can win statewide in November. 

“They need to get all the Republican votes. They need to get some Democrats, and the majority of independents, and we have the talent to do that,” said Stauber, who hails from nearby Hermantown. 

A Republican hasn’t won a statewide race in Minnesota since Tim Pawlenty won a second term in 2006. 

Stauber told the crowd of more than 2,200 delegates that Republicans need to break that streak in order to combat fraud in the state, and to block U.S. Sen. and leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Klobuchar from becoming a “Tim Walz 3.0.”

The former Duluth police officer and St. Louis County commissioner has won comfortably in recent elections in Minnesota’s eighth congressional district, which has grown increasingly Republican over the past decade. 

Stauber led the push for a congressional resolution that President Trump signed into law last month that reversed a ban on mining on a large swath of federal land near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The legislation paves the way for Twin Metals to resume its effort to open an underground copper-nickel mine near Ely. 

Stauber told the crowd the Iron Range has a bright future. 

“Not only are we going to continue to expand mining iron ore, but now we're going to go into critical minerals, which is going to strategically help our nation and its security,” he said. 

Election 2026 

Minnesota political conventions 2026: DFL, GOP pick candidates

Dan Kraker

Author

U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber told convention delegates that Republicans are poised to win statewide this year.

A man speaks on a stage at the convention, pointing out across the crowd.

Stauber tells convention Republicans are poised to win statewide for first time in two decades

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