With limited name recognition, Kendall Qualls believes he can revitalize Minnesota
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As the state’s primary election inches closer, Tuesday, Aug. 11, Minnesota Republicans remain split over who should be on the November ticket and how the nominee could affect other Republican hopefuls on the ballot.
MPR News host Clay Masters spoke with Army veteran and business leader Kendall Qualls about his campaign to be the state’s next governor and the primary challengers he has to face before he can run on the Republican ticket.
The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity. Click the audio player above to listen to the conversation.
You’re meeting with voters within your party, asking for their support, what are you hearing from them about the state of Minnesota and their concerns?
Well, this is the last-ditch effort. Regardless of what side of the political aisle you’re on, all of us have had friends and family that have left Minnesota for various reasons, and it's not just because they're getting old and retiring.
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We have people that have left Minnesota that move five to 10 miles away to Wisconsin, to Iowa, to South Dakota, North Dakota, because of the heavy burden that the state is putting on them, and I get it.
When you're a [Democratic Socialist of America] you want a one-party system. The people that can afford to leave will leave, and those that can stay behind or can't afford to move, it becomes a one-party state. The biggest issue for a lot of people is the litany of issues that are going on in our state, from personal to business taxes, to everything else, to crime.
This is the last chance to save it, to actually move the needle back to normal. We're not trying to make it a Texas or a Florida. Let's we want to make it Minnesota again because right now it's not.
What’s kind of your go-to stump as you introduce yourself?
I'm a political outsider. I know I love the country. My father served for 25 years in the Army. I served for five years as an artillery officer. My son just got off of active duty, fourth generation. So there's an unapologetic love for the country, with all these past issues and redemption to where it is today, that we can do this. We can do this together.
It is time for us to bring things back to normal, but come together again as Americans and Minnesotans. We're the most divisive I've ever seen us in our lifetime, and nothing has changed except the leadership — and a change in leadership can reestablish that.
You describe yourself as a political outsider; why is that important for this job, and how will you work with lawmakers who have been at the Capitol for decades?
Well, first of all, why it's important. Number one, and in comparison to people that have been there for decades, take a look around. The state's not doing that great. Twin Cities are a ghost town. We have record levels of taxation. Our property taxes are going up — in some cases double-digit. Everything is going up except household income. We're number 46 out of 50 states.
If experience is what's needed, I think we need a different level of experience, and that's what a lot of the delegates and voters are asking for: experience outside of the political realm in the business world.
You say you want to cut state spending; how would you do that?
That’s simple. In the private sector, and this goes all the way back to Ronald Reagan; he did this back then in the 80s. All you have to do is cut to 12 percent across the board — because we have $9 billion that was accounted for by a U.S. Attorney appointed by Biden.
Basically, said there was a $9 billion fraud that never circulated into the state budget anyway. It was stolen out of the pockets of the state government and the pockets of Minnesotan taxpayers. It never got circulated in the state budget. They never needed it. So that 12 percent cut won't even be noticed.
You were endorsed by the Republican Party. Yet Mike Lindell, Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth, they’re still running. Have you been frustrated at this process?
Well, not really. So first of all, Mike Lindell always said from the very beginning he wasn't. Lisa Demuth said she would abide by the endorsement process and reneged on her commitment on her honor to abide by it. There were brokers that actually tried to broker a unified ticket a couple of days after the convention, to make room on my ticket for her to be the number two, and she refused.
So, from my perspective, she's not about the Republican Party or what's best for Minnesota. It's about what's best for her and her ticket.
We’ll move on past endorsements, but did it get under your skin that President Trump endorsed Lindell?
Not really, to be quite honest, I didn't feel slighted at all. Look, Mike Lindell, whether you agree with the decisions of 2020 or not, he nearly lost his business supporting President Trump. He really did. So one of the things I've noticed about the president, he's loyal to people that are loyal to him. So it's not a personal issue and didn't get under my skin at all.
Will you be loyal to Mike Lindell if he wins the primary?
It's not going to happen. That's La La Land. Okay, here's what I can tell you: I think the most important endorsement at all, of any, is really the voters. That's who I'm focused on.
Would you support Lisa Demuth if she wins the primary?
I'm going to support me because I'm going to win the primary. Look, let me just paint a picture of reality. We had a two-term governor, Tim Pawlenty, in 2018, challenge the endorsed candidate Jeff Johnson. Tim Pawlenty had much more name recognition, had much more money than Lisa Demuth. I just use a predicate for that perspective.
What do you see as setting yourself apart from Speaker Demuth and Lindell on the issues, aside from the endorsement?
This is pretty basic: political outsider, business leader, veteran, only veteran in that group, and someone has got it done. My story from poverty to prosperity-one that the American system still works, capitalism still works.
We just need to get off the backs of businesses, of taxpayers, with the heavy burden that Minnesota is putting on them right now. With the heavy taxes from the Democratic Socialists of America in this party.
I'm the nobody out here. I've got the endorsed candidate, right, but I don't have a title behind my name. Not Speaker of the House. I don't sell pillows. I'm nobody. Then why would all of these delegates from around the state vote for a guy that I call Minnesota home by choice, not by birth?
Why would they select a guy like me that don't look like the majority of the state to lead our state, to be the chief executive?
I think that's the question people need to look at: the insight because they've learned something that most Minnesotans haven't yet.
