State Representative and former Minnesota House Speaker Paul Thissen is the sixth Democrat to join the increasingly crowded race for governor. Thissen, who’s from Minneapolis, says to fix the health care system he’ll “fight for Medicare for all” — but can he do it without tax increases? He says, “There’ll be the same amount of money, or less, coming out of people’s pockets. They’re paying huge premiums right now. Some of that money would be shifted over… They’d be paying it over into a different system. But to the average person, the bottom line pocketbook issue is gonna be same, or savings.”
Thissen kicked off his campaign for governor with a few dozen supporters at the State Capitol this morning. He has stops today in Northfield (1030am), Faribault (noon), Blooming Prairie (2pm), Austin (4pm), Albert Lea (530pm) and Rochester (730pm). Tomorrow (Fri) he’ll be in Mankato, Luverne, Currie and Marshall — and on Saturday in Hanley Falls, Montevideo, Willmar, Alexandria and Wadena.
About Republicans’ lawsuit against Governor Mark Dayton, Thissen says it’s good the governor is standing up for values that matter, but “we have a symptom here of a much larger problem, which is a broken politics, a lack of trust and a process that is so controlled and so tight.” Thissen says too many decisions are being made behind closed doors and promises a much more open process.