Jake Johnson is challenging Republican Rep. Brad Finstad (MN-1), and he’s running a competitive race in a district that Trump won by 12 points in 2024. Recent polling puts Johnson ahead of Finstad.
Finstad has shown voters who he is: He’s voted in support of that ongoing war in Iran, even though the cost to taxpayers is now more than $43 billion. In 2025, Finstad also voted in support of an additional $70 million in funding for ICE, and then, this year, after ICE agents shot and killed Minnesotans Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Finstad voted to increase ICE’s funding by another $38.5 million. He also voted to help his Republican colleagues gut healthcare, give billionaires and corporations major tax breaks, and increase the national deficit.
I had the chance to talk with his challenger, Johnson, a math teacher and father, about why he’s doing something he never thought he’d do: run for Congress.
Democracy News: Why are you running for Congress?
Johnson: For me, it’s rooted in my story and my upbringing. I grew up in our district. I had a dad who was a garbage man, a mom who was a meter reader, and 10 siblings. So, we certainly were hardworking people, but we also needed a lot of local community support. We needed a school, a church community, family, and neighbors. A whole lot of people wrapped their arms around us. And even with that support, we were also a SNAP family and a Medicaid family. I wouldn’t have gone to college if it wasn’t for Pell grants and subsidized Stafford loans.
I got my teaching degree, married my wife, who also grew up in our district, just south of Rochester, and we moved back to southern Minnesota, where we now have four boys. I’ve been a public-school teacher for 20 years. My wife is a paraprofessional in the middle school in town. I really felt like I got to live an American dream.
I thought that the best of this country was that everybody should have a chance, even if your parents don’t have a lot of money. I was still worth investing in and believing in, and I got to climb into the middle class because my government and society believed in me.
But I’ve been watching our congressman just be so proud of cutting SNAP and cutting Medicaid, trying to get rid of the Department of Education, just being a rubber stamp. I thought: This isn’t a time to sit on the sidelines.
I jumped into the race with a pretty simple idea in mind. We need somebody who is independent-minded, who can think for themselves and who’ll work tirelessly for the people of southern Minnesota. That’s the energy and spirit of public service we’re bringing to this race.
Democracy News: What are you hearing from people in your district about money in politics?
Johnson: We’re hosting town halls open to everyone, and what’s come up consistently is that people are losing faith in their government because of corruption. You don’t have to look too far. My Republican opponent takes money from state-owned Chinese corporations and then votes to make it easier for them to buy up our farmland. It’s pretty clear who he’s working for when he takes money from data center corporations buying up farmland and then votes to give them tax breaks. These are huge issues, and if you’re in the pocket of Big Tech and other industries, the votes follow.
Here’s another way to look at it: Why would our congressman vote for policies that he knows are bad for the people in his district? Why would he vote to continue an Iran war that continues to jack up prices? Why would he vote to gut healthcare? Why would he vote for tariffs?
Because he chooses his corporate donors who fund his campaign over the people of Southern Minnesota. He’s made his calculation. He’s made his choice. People see it and are really fired up about it. That’s what I hear more than anything else.
One of the myths that corporations and billionaires have pushed is this scarcity mindset that we, especially in rural areas, need to live with less. I’ve heard from county administrators you are making the choice between a water treatment plant, a school, and flood mitigation. They’re looking at the bottom line, and they might be able to afford one of those things. That’s not good enough.
If you don’t have a school and you don’t have access to clean water, and your town is going to flood every 10 years, you don’t really have a small town anymore, right? You are just waiting to die on the vine, and that is really, really unpalatable for people who live in small towns and are very, very proud of their big parades, as they should be. But their kids can’t afford to stay there, and so future generations leave because there’s no opportunity.
The federal government continues to defund education. And meanwhile, we see ICE funded at record levels. If ICE were a standalone military, it would be the seventh largest military in the world. We’ve seen ICE in Minnesota. We’ve seen it across the country. And Congress also found $30 billion for a war in Iran that nobody wanted and nobody understands.
If we really do value people all across our country who’re working incredibly hard to make ends meet, we should want to start investing in them again, and that’s where we need a Congress that actually works for people and not corporations. That’s why we’re very proud to take no corporate money.
Democracy News: When in Congress, what will you prioritize to help working people?
Johnson: The Republican’s “Big Beautiful Bill” really has done damage in places like southern Minnesota. The reality is we saw the largest transfer of wealth from the working class to the billionaire class in our nation’s history in a single bill. It drove up the national debt by $4 trillion. It made life worse here. Cuts to SNAP, cuts to Medicaid, and those cuts are only going to get worse if a new Congress doesn’t act immediately. So, the first and most prudent thing that a new Congress should do is undo that damage.
I would also fight tirelessly to end the war in Iran. Unfortunately, as we all know, it’s jacked up prices at the pump, especially for diesel, which in a district like mine, where harvest season is upon us now, it’s just untenable for farmers to pay $6.50 a gallon for diesel. People are already scraping by. We need to bring down the cost of living. There are a lot of ways to do that, starting with ending the war.
Democracy News: What actions would you take to fight corruption in Washington?
People see politicians of both parties lining their own pockets at the public’s expense, while the American people are working harder and harder and falling further behind. The toxic influence of money in politics is very evident to people in southern Minnesota.
People in my district want a true ban on stock buying and insider trading for members of Congress and their families. I would be a proud champion for making that happen and ending Citizens United. I also advocate for ending the lobbyist to legislator pipeline. I’m willing to work with anyone to make that happen.
Democracy News: Given how tough things are right now in the country, how are you coping?
Johnson: I’ll be candid with you. There are good days and bad days. When you see this administration put out another harmful policy, unwilling to put up any guardrails, it can feel really tough.
We’ve got a citizenry right now who’re viscerally aware in every fiber of their being that the government’s not working. We’ve got people knocking on doors and writing their neighbors postcards by the hundreds to try to take our government back from hostile forces. And that gives me hope. You just have to believe that our best days are ahead of us. It’s going to be hard, with all the damage that has been done, but it’s the best of us who show up in times like these. We have to repair this. We have to start somewhere, and we have to start now. What gives me the determination to keep going is that people deserve better.