ST. PETER, MINN. – Moments before Erica Schwartz approached a house on a door-knocking campaign in this key swing district, a campaign staffer read from an app on his phone that provided the political loyalties of the people inside. In this home lived two soft Democrats in their 50s, the app said. In the next, a soft Republican in her 80s. In several homes, Republicans and Democrats lived under the same roof.
Schwartz, a Republican from Nicollet, is running for the purple District 18A in the Minnesota House of Representatives against DFLer Rep. Jeff Brand of St. Peter.
Brand won the district in 2018 before losing to Republican Susan Akland in 2020, and then winning again in 2022. Control over the seat could determine the fate of the Democratic trifecta — the governor’s office, Senate and House — that since 2023 has allowed the party to pass a raft of bills, including for free school lunches and paid family and medical leave.
Both candidates said they believe they have the secret to talking to voters in this purple district, which includes North Mankato and St. Peter, Gustavus Adolphus College and numerous rural townships.
Brand said he started knocking on doors in January. The Democrat from St. Peter said he emphasizes his experience when talking to voters. He’s served two terms in the House, where he’s passed 40 bills, after seven years on the St. Peter City Council. People aren’t as tribal about their political affiliations in 18A as they might be elsewhere, he said.
“There’s a lot less conversation about the political culture war stuff, and more conversation about, ‘What are you going to do for us?’ ” Brand said in a recent interview.
Schwartz, too, said knocking on doors has been a focus of her campaign. The Republican from Nicollet said that many of the people who talk to her already know how they’re going to vote in the presidential contest.

But while door-knocking, Schwartz said she tries to talk less about national politics and more about kitchen-table issues such as inflation. She and her husband run the Nicollet Mart, a gas station and convenience store, and she said people have been struggling to pay for food. “What they’re concerned about is cost, the increase of gas prices, groceries and taxes,” Schwartz said in a short interview in early September.