Tolkkinen: Keith Ellison met with constituents in Trump-voting farm country. It was civil.

DONNELLY, MINN. – Keith Ellison did Tuesday what fewer and fewer politicians seem to want to do nowadays.

The Minnesota attorney general met with his constituents.

And not just any constituents. These constituents included calloused, weather-beaten farmers in deep-red western Minnesota, more accustomed to harvesting corn than mingling with Twin Cities liberals.

Ellison did not shy away from the obvious political differences between him and many of those who gathered in a chilly farm shed in Stevens County on Tuesday. His mission was to talk about how industry consolidation is hurting farmers.

“I’m not here to convince anyone how to feel about the president,” he said. “That’s your business.”

Like most of rural Minnesota, Stevens County went all out for President Trump in the 2024 election. At the local bar, I got an earful about how Democrats are supposedly leading Minnesota into ruin.

But the meeting between Ellison and the farmers was cordial. There was applause. Even laughter. Ellison brought along part of his trust-busting division. He told the crowd that he prioritizes rural Minnesota and wants to help farmers get a better shake than what corporate America offers. He mentioned how a handful of companies control the meat market, the grain markets, and seed and agriculture chemical sales. And how he’s suing John Deere for the right of farmers to repair their own tractors. He seemed to be trying to put the “F” back in the DFL.

A farmer commended Ellison for going after a Stearns County dairy farm that hadn’t provided proper housing for its workers. His office is now prosecuting the farm manager for wage theft against immigrant workers.

“You have to treat your labor force like they’re human beings,” the man said, to loud applause.

It wasn’t quite a lovefest. But blatant partisanship was absent.

To be fair, the meeting was organized by the Land Stewardship Project, which promotes sustainable agriculture and tends to draw farmers eager to minimize their impact on the environment. It’s to the left of the American Farm Bureau Federation, meaning that Ellison was less likely to face hostile questioning. Space was limited, as well, to about 45 people.

Still, local Republicans did come, and they were able to question Ellison face to face. They wanted to know what he hopes to accomplish with his right-to-repair lawsuit against John Deere. (Answer: “A vibrant repair and parts industry.”) How would it affect other tractor makers like Case and Caterpillar? (Answer: “It’ll change the industry.”)

And there were times when some farmers bristled.

They didn’t seem all that happy when Ellison said his office is looking into concerns that mega dairies are anti-competitive. Stevens County is home to several 9,000-head dairies, which buy feed from local farmers. They bristled still more when he talked about investigating water quality issues in Minnesota. As you might imagine, 9,000 cows produce a heckuva lot of manure that could jeopardize water quality if not properly handled. Two Stevens County commissioners in the audience wanted to make sure Ellison would respect local water quality ordinances.

These are the kind of quick give-and-take conversations that connect the public to the people who represent them.

During the health-care debate in the late 2000s, then-U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson held town meetings on the topic throughout his district. The one I went to in Bemidji was packed, and everybody got a chance to speak. Passions ran high, and the line to comment snaked out the door, but Peterson stayed through the entire thing. You felt heard. Like your opinion mattered.

On the other hand, Rep. Michelle Fischbach, who replaced him, rarely — if ever — holds town hall meetings. Last week, she dismissed constituent protests outside her offices in Moorhead and Willmar as “garbage.”

People in her district have been agitating for her to hold town hall meetings. They have also been demanding town hall meetings with U.S. Reps. Tom Emmer, Brad Finstad and Pete Stauber. Unlike Rep. Angie Craig, who holds virtual town halls, or Rep. Ilhan Omar, who frequently meets her constituents in person, these four seem to forget about the general public unless it’s an election year.

Why they don’t seem to want to hear from constituents is a mystery, given that they are Republicans in very conservative districts. It’s almost like they’re afraid to face the public about their vote to cut Medicaid.

They need to take a lesson in courage from Ellison, willing to leave behind the familiar skyscrapers of the Twin Cities for the flat, dormant farmland and conservative politics of western Minnesota, even on a snowy, blustery day.

As hog farmer Jim VanDerPol of Chippewa County put it, “Yeah, he’s a Twin Cities liberal but that doesn’t make him a bad person.”