Smith, Lewis make their case for U.S. Senator as Election Day nears

This year’s U.S. Senate race in Minnesota pits Democratic incumbent Sen. Tina Smith against Republican challenger Jason Lewis.

Smith was appointed to the position in December 2017 by former Gov. Mark Dayton when the seat was vacated by Al Franken. She later won a special election that allowed her to serve out the remainder of the term, which expires on Jan. 3.

Now that the term is up, Smith is vying to remain one of Minnesota’s leaders on Capitol Hill.

Her challenger is Jason Lewis, a former U.S. Representative who represented Minnesota’s Second Congressional District.

Lewis ran for reelection to the U.S. House in 2018, but was narrowly defeated by Angie Craig.

TS: Since I’ve been in the Senate, now for not quite three years, I’ve worked hard to move past the division in Washington and try to actually get things done in Minnesota. What I’ve learned is that if you put your mind to it and you listen and you’re willing to work with Republicans and Democrats, you can actually accomplish a fair amount.

Economic stability is on the minds of many voters this election cycle as the pandemic continues without another stimulus package. As negotiations continue, Sen. Smith says she would like to see unemployment benefits extended, more support to schools balancing hybrid and in-person learning models as well as local government support.

TS: Cities and counties and states that are working really hard right now to balance their budgets. The last thing we need to be doing is laying off public service professionals like police and fire and first responders because cities and counties are struggling to balance their budgets. We can do all of this, and we really need to come together and get it done in a bipartisan way like we did earlier this year.

The agriculture industry has also taken an economic hit this year, farmers in the United States will receive a projected record-high payment of $46 billion in federal aid in 2020. Sen. Smith says there are still needs producers have that must be met.

TS: I’m thinking particularly of independent turkey producers and pork producers who have had to euthanize their herds earlier this year when we had the crisis in the meat processing. So there’s still a lot of needs that we need to reach. What farmers in Minnesota tell me is that they want to see their trade expanded. They don’t' like to see all of this aid, what they want to do is get their businesses back on track. In the meantime, though, I think it’s important that we are helping people through what has been just a terrible crisis in farm country.

Trade with one of Minnesota’s top export partners, China, has been volatile due to back-and-forth tariff waging with the United States.

Sen. Smith says she is glad the United States is being tough with China’s “unfair trading practices,” but believes the current strategy is hurting Minnesota producers.

"I think some of these tariffs have been incredibly hard on not only agriculture but also other Minnesota manufacturers. Right now, we are seeing some encouraging uptick in purchases from China for ag products as part of the Phase One Deal that was negotiated at the end of last year and I think that is helping to boost prices and open up markets for Minnesota producers. That’s a good thing, but we need to keep on holding China accountable, they are a competitor, and we need to make sure they follow up on what their commitments have been.

The U.S. is seeing nationwide protests and debate over racial inequity and police reforms, brought even further into the consciousness of Minnesota following the death of George Floyd while he was in police custody.

Smith says, on the issue, she supports what she calls “new innovations in police reforms,” such as pairing law enforcement officers with a mental health professional for crisis situations.

”I start from the core value that everybody should feel safe in their homes and in their neighborhoods and in their communities. Too often that is not the case, if you are a person of color in this state or in this country, you are much more likely to be the victim of police brutality. We have to understand that, and we have to see it. Fundamentally, police departments are managed at the local level and that is as it should be. But I think the federal government can provide much-needed support for important reforms at the local level."

JL: You have to be bold. I went there to do something and fortunately, in the 115th Congress, we did a whole lot. Former [House] Speaker [Paul] Ryan (R-Wisc.) said it was the most productive session he’d ever seen in Washington. Tax reform, regulatory reform, career and technical education, VA reform. My bill, the Juvenile and Justice Reauthorization Act was signed into law by the president. Those are just a few things we got done in two years. Unfortunately, in the last two years, we’ve seen obstruction, investigation and, sadly, impeachment that has tied up the government in Washington.

JL: Getting the economy up and running again. The way we’ve handled the lockdown, unfortunately, was a bit mismanaged. There’s a way to do public health recommendations, a way to keep kids in school without setting them back. We used to call it the ‘summer slide,’ now it’s the ‘summer, fall and winter slide’ when they’re out of the classroom.

You have loved ones in nursing homes that weren’t able to say their last goodbyes because, unfortunately, this governor [Gov. Tim Walz], took COVID-positive patients out of hospitals and put them in nursing homes while we locked down the young and the healthy.

I certainly don’t think we should double-down on that with federal mandates, which Joe Biden is talking about, along with my opponent Tina Smith.

So, getting the economy going again, making certain the hog farmers have a market. The hog farmers were devastated, that rippled through the grain market, and we’ve got to get those folks well again. Get them whole again.

JL: Historically we’ve given public health recommendations with these sorts of things. Whether it’s the Hong Kong flu, H1N1, which had 60 million infections — not seven — or even going back to the Spanish Flu. And you get public recommendations and you treat people like adults. But you don’t tell adults they can’t have a backyard barbecue with more than 10 people, they can’t go to church, they can’t go to the gun range, but protesters can go out and do all sorts of things and they’re not prosecuted.

That was the mix up here; people saw that and they said, “wait a minute, my rodeo’s being sued, but you’ve got riots in the streets and we’re defunding the police and they’re not being held to account?” That’s why we’re going to win this race, I think there’s a real rising up of people saying “that’s not right.”

JL: Of course. We moved forward in the 115th Congress and moved forward with criminal justice reform. The First Step Act was passed and signed by the president, my criminal justice reform for juveniles was passed and signed by the president. Unfortunately, you’re not going to fix that problem with riots. You’re not going to fix one injustice by magnifying it with another. And you can’t even renounce Antifa? That has nothing to do with racial justice, these people are just rioting. They’re criminals. And that’s why people in the suburbs and people in Mankato and people in southern Minnesota are worried are about their public safety.

The other side is not doing anything about that. You have due process for everybody, including the police and then you fix these problems, but you don’t just hand over the Third Precinct or hand over the entire community to criminals.

JL: You’ve got to open up the markets, and, thankfully, recently China’s really picked up. I think beans are up to $11 now and corn purchases by China is up. But you have to get tough with China, so they come to the table and have free and fair trade, and I think that’s what’s happening.

In the 115th Congress, in which I was a part, we had the USMCA teed up, ready to go. Nancy Pelosi delayed it for two years and that was a really good bill and had some risk adjustments in there for dairy farmers — market risk management if you will — opened up Canadian markets, did a lot of good things. But why was that delayed?

And then you’ve got to undo some of the environmental regulations on farmers. There’s an EPA reporting requirement over the effect of animal waste on air emissions. We got that repealed.

You got to lower the cost of production, open the markets and make certain that, for instance, one farm family can pass their farm to their kids. We doubled the estate tax exemptions for those family farms with the Tax Cut and Jobs Act. My opponent [Tina Smith] wants to repeal that.

More information about the candidates is available on their website and social media pages, which you can navigate to by clicking the links in the table below.

KEYC News Now will be tracking election results as they come in on Election Day, both on-air and online.

Copyright 2020 KEYC. All rights reserved.