Minnesota House Candidates Madia and Paulsen Run Away From National Parties

By Marie Horrigan
CQ Staff

The race for the battleground seat of retiring GOP Rep. Jim Ramstad in Minnesota’s 3rd District sounds familiar: like the presidential race, the contest is about change vs. experience. And both candidates are struggling to find a way to claim that they are the best moderate to fill Ramstad’s centrist shoes.

The race pits newcomer Ashwin Madia, a 30-year-old lawyer and Iraq War veteran, against Ramstad ally Erik Paulsen, a member of the state House.

The district has a nominal Republican lean. President Bush won the district, which covers the Twin Cities’ suburbs, in 2000 and 2004, but Democrats argue they have made gains in the state legislature in recent years that indicate a growing Democratic presence in the district.

CQ Politics rates the race as No Clear Favorite, our most competitive category.

Both candidates face the same dilemma — figuring out how to move to the center of their own party to appeal to the greatest number of voters. Ramstad, who has served in the House since 1991, used a centrist approach to bridge the gap in a potential swing district, and both Madia and Paulsen invoke the principle frequently.

Madia describes himself as a fiscal conservative and social moderate who wants to balance the national budget, develop a comprehensive energy policy to get the country off its dependence on foreign oil, and find a responsible way to end the war in Iraq. Paulsen says he wanted to fix the “broken Congress” and find long-term solutions for issues currently being addressed on a short-term basis, including energy policy, tax policy, and the war in Iraq.

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