Lisa Demuth joins other GOP candidates breaking from Trump in call to end Iran war
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Lisa Demuth, the Minnesota Republican nominee for governor, joined a growing parade of GOP candidates to call for a swift end to the war in Iran in a break Thursday from the president as his approval rating slips.
Asked about the war and its effect on gas, diesel and fertilizer prices, Demuth said it’s time for President Donald Trump’s administration to wrap it up.
“When it comes to the war and the increased prices that are a result of that, it is hurting Minnesotans, and I absolutely acknowledge that,” she said. “President Trump and I are different people. I was not his pick to endorse for governor here in the state of Minnesota, but I think as we’ve watched things go forward, it is time to put an end to that war.”
She added, “I really believe that we know that it is causing more expenses, as I’ve mentioned, groceries and fertilizer in our ag community.”
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A campaign spokesperson for DFL U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Demuth’s opponent, responded to Demuth’s break with Trump.
“For 7 months, Lisa Demuth has refused to oppose Donald Trump’s war in Iran, staying silent as Minnesotans face crushing gas prices and rising costs thanks to the President’s war,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Today, while Lisa Demuth for the first time uttered any concern about this war, Amy Klobuchar was in the Senate taking another vote to actually end this war, which she opposed from the start. Minnesotans need a Governor who is going to stand up to Donald Trump when Minnesotans are hurting – not offer half-hearted responses because she’s under attack for not standing up to Trump.”
Demuth has made other subtle shifts away from Trump as the midterm election nears, noting that he sided with another candidate in the primary race she won in August.
During that primary run, Demuth declined to criticize Trump or his policies.
Speaking in June to MPR News All Things Considered host Clay Masters asked if there are things Trump has done that she’s disagreed with.
“Everybody can look at something a little bit different, but I don’t have anything,” she said, before shifting her answer back to Minnesota. That comment has since appeared in ads run by Democratic nominee Amy Klobuchar and the DFL Party.
Last December, she sidestepped multiple questions on whether she agreed with Trump’s comments that Somali immigrants were “garbage,”
“We have a wonderful state with people that are actively a part of making Minnesota even better than what we know,” she said. “What I will say, though, is there is not an entire community that is bad and there’s not an entire community that is good.”
Demuth said she’d work with the federal administration if elected, adding, “where I agree, you will hear that. Where I see it different, you're going to hear that too.”
During an interview with WCCO TV At the Minnesota State Fair, Demuth called Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods “damaging.”
Demuth isn’t the only Republican looking to create a little distance from the president.
In Florida, a Republican congressional incumbent, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, is airing a direct-to-the-camera campaign ad of her criticizing the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics. A Colorado Rep. Jeff Hurd is touting his disagreements with Trump on the campaign trail. GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers, in Michigan, put up a TV ad pushing for the war with Iran to end. The Iowa Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Ashley Hinson, has made a similar call this week.
