Vying for the Minnesota House seat for District 41B are Tina Folch (Democrat Farm Labor) and Shane Hudella (Republican).

The two, incidentally, attended Hastings High School together. At a forum organized by the Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce and Hastings Community TV Thursday night, each worked to convince voters why they are the best candidate for the job, which will be on the ballot Nov. 8.

District 41B encompasses Hastings, Cottage Grove, Denmark Township and Nininger Township.

Folch gave her opening statement first, saying “leaders should bring people together rather than driving them apart.”

“For many of us, we feel it’s time to put aside our differences and work to lift up all Minnesotans,” she said.

Folch has served on the Hastings City Council since 2016. She has served on the Dakota Broadband Board, the Governor’s Taskforce on Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, the Hastings Arts Task Force and the ISD 200 Community Engagement Committee. Folch is employed as contracts manager in the City of Red Wing Public Works Department. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and history from St. Catherine University and a master’s degree in public administration and management from the Hamline University School of Business.

“We need someone such as myself with experience as an elected official and bringing diverse people together from our communities to find common ground solutions. As an expert in state and local government issues, I will hit the ground running,” she said.

Hudella said he is running because he couldn’t sit back and watch what’s happening in government any longer.

“Like a lot of folks from both sides of the aisle the last couple years, I’ve just had this knot in my stomach. It’s that feeling you get when something just doesn’t seem right,” he said.

Hudella served in the Minnesota Army National Guard from 1988-2012, retiring at the rank of First Sergeant. In 2009, he started the nonprofit that is now the United Heroes League to help military families with the high cost of youth sports. The program has grown nationally and boasts more than $20 million in charitable giving to more than 100,000 families. The UHL built a facility in Hastings where it has developed a confidence course to build team cohesion. A veteran’s memorial was dedicated at the site this year, and there are plans for an outdoor hockey rink and an indoor athletic facility on the property.

“For me, that knot has come from every social and economic factor that has been declining lately – the fentanyl crisis, out of control crime that has now officially turned our beloved Minnesota into a high crime state where violence is skyrocketing. Inflation is at a 40-year high and climbing gas and groceries continue to go up week after week after week,” Hudella said. “Something has to give. We have to stop screaming at each other, and we need to start working together to solve our problems. We’re still the greatest state, and I’m here to start delivering solutions.”

Hudella took the first question on Minnesota’s economy and business competitiveness.

“We’ve got to stop out of control spending. That’s put us in this position,” he said. “I’ll fight to return the estimated $12 billion surplus that we’re going to have at the start of this session to try and put that money back in the pockets of working families.”

Folch answered, “I agree with Shane about inflation. It’s out of control, but it’s actually happening throughout the globe, not just here in Minnesota. It’s the result of labor shortages that have been caused by the pandemic. Here in Minnesota, although we’ve experienced a job boom in the last two years and we have the lowest level of unemployment recorded, we have about 70,000 people who haven’t returned back to the workforce.”

She said a big reason for that is because of lack of childcare. “If parents can’t work, we will continue to have a labor shortage,” she said, calling for further investment in Minnesota Childcare Assistance Program, which has a six-month wait list.

She said she would “fight like hell against candidates like my opponent who want to force women to bring to term pregnancies regardless of their ability to financially or physically take care of those children. A surge of unplanned pregnancies will only further worker shortages.”

The candidates were asked how they would “get things done at the Capitol.”

Folch said her experience on the Hastings City Council will help.

“I’ve learned that to get things done for our community, it means really participating among a wide variety of groups in different roles, such as our local nonprofits and our business groups. My experience in governing has taught me that to be effective, you need the ability to collaborate with all sides.”

Hudella said he has an open mind to all views. “Personal relationships and being willing to listen are a key example of what I’ve done. My campaign Facebook page has always had the comments turned on. We’ve never blocked anyone. My opponent can’t say that. She’s had eight posts in October already where comments are restricted,” said Hudella. “Now I don’t always agree with the folks from the other side of the aisle when they come on and we have dialog. There’s room to find common ground. There really is, and that’s an approach we need to take.”

He said in one such online conversation, he and a commenter came to the conclusion that there’s a mental health crisis in local communities.

“We agreed that mental health is a crisis right now in our state, and it needs to be addressed. You can’t turn the comments off when you’re going to the state capitol,” he said.

On the topic of the budget surplus, Hudella said, “We have an over taxation problem in Minnesota as evidenced by this massive surplus that we have. I’ll fight for significant tax relief for Minnesotans so they can keep more of their hard-earned money. I will be part of a team that repeals the income tax or repeals the tax on Social Security and provides across the board tax cuts in 2023.”

Folch credited the surplus to a strong economy under the administration of Gov. Tim Walz. She said one area that needs help is school funding.

“The legislature needs to stop underfunding our schools and forcing area school board to figure out gap funding through the passage of local school referendums,” she said, pointing out that Hudella favors mandating private school vouchers.

She also said there are a lot of infrastructure projects that need funding.

“We need to invest in the backlog of infrastructure projects that plague Minnesota – our aging roadways, outdated water treatment system and our looming PFAS issues are before us,” she said. She said that some of the excess budget surplus should also be refunded to working families to help tackle inflationary problems.

The candidates were asked about the possibility of a bonding bill to pay for infrastructure projects like Hwy. 61 through Hastings which will be rebuilt in 2026 or 2027.

“Investments in Minnesota's transportation and water systems are vitally important for commerce to thrive, with the Metro area projecting to expand by an additional 700,000 people in the next 20 years,” said Folch. “We need to be proactive in building our infrastructure. Unlike my opponent who wants to eliminate the gas tax, which would be devastating for the quality of our roads, I believe we need to completely re-examine road infrastructure funding. In the next decade, electric cars will supplant and pass traditional vehicles in sales. Furthermore, the gas tax hasn't been adjusted for inflation the last 14 years, so we need to devise a long-range statewide transportation funding plan. In the near term. I support dedicating all sales tax on auto repair parts to transportation. Secondly, the state will need to bond to assist our cities to upgrade water treatment facilities to filter out the PFAS forever chemicals as the federal government is in the process of updating acceptable levels of it within our drinking water.”

Hudella said the roadway would be fully state funded. “Absolutely, we’d fund it,” he said. “We have a state budget of $50 billion. We have more than enough resources to prioritize these projects without raising taxes for roads, bridges and other infrastructure. That’s the core function of government. We need to get Hwy. 61 done. We need to get the Keats Avenue for Cottage Grove done, and we have the money to do it. Gov. Walz and the Democrats are still fighting for a 20 percent increase on our gas tax when we don’t need the money, and I can’t imagine with the prices at the pump right now that my opponent would advocate for raising a gas tax.”

In his closing statement, Hudella reiterated that it was time for him to get involved.

“I’m not a career political. I never had any intentions of getting involved in politics in my life,” he said. “I felt like I had to get involved. I had to get involved because in 1988, I raised my right hand and swore an oath to the American people that I would defend our freedom, our values and our way of life. I’ve had the privilege to travel the world and serve for 24 years with all walks of life where I got to use my leadership skills and live by values such as honor, duty, respect and integrity. I look forward to bringing those same skills and those same values to the state capitol.”

Folch said she is running to represent the area “on the issues that matter most to us – health care, education, supporting reproductive rights.”

“Now more than ever, our legislature needs to step up and work together to find common sense solutions,” she said. “It starts with setting aside rhetoric and fearmongering and focusing on our common values where we can work together because these should be non-partisan issues with a record $98 billion surplus from last year that went largely untapped. We have the opportunity to shift the state budget to fully fund public education and stop local school referendums. We can also further pilot programs that support our First Responders and drive down costs for daycare and create a family medical leave program for small businesses to be competitive. I want to bring your voice to St. Paul, and I’ll be tenacious doing what’s right.”