Opinion editor's note: Editorial endorsements represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom. The board bases its endorsement decisions on candidate interviews and other reporting.
Minnesota's Second Congressional District has changed shape since the last election. Its suburban-to-rural arrow used to point southeast from the southern metro (or vice versa, if rural-to-suburban is your preferred framing), roughly between Interstate 35 and the Mississippi River. Following redistricting, the Second District lost its southeastern chunk and added a southwestern one between I-35 and the Minnesota River.
But the district's politics — divided, but moderate on balance — are largely the same.
The candidates vying to represent the district in the U.S. House — Republican challenger Tyler Kistner, 35, and Democratic incumbent Rep. Angie Craig, 50, both of Prior Lake — are the same as well. In addition, for the second straight campaign season, the district has seen the untimely death of a third-party candidate. Paula Overby of the Legal Marijuana Now Party died in early October, and her name remains on the ballot. The death of that party's candidate Adam Weeks not long before the election in 2020 prompted a legal battle over whether the vote should be delayed. Ultimately it was not, and Weeks received nearly 6% support in a race decided by about 2 percentage points.
The Star Tribune Editorial Board recommends that voters choose this year as they did in 2020 to return Craig to Washington. It would be her third term.
We first endorsed Craig, a former health care executive, six years ago during her initial run for Congress, calling her a fiscal moderate and social progressive with an eye toward pragmatism and bipartisanship. She lost that year to radio personality Jason Lewis but beat him in a rematch in 2018, and she's performed as we hoped. The Editorial Board considers her to be one of the most effective members of the state's congressional delegation.
She's willing to push back against her party when she senses it's being counterproductive. An example she gives is her behind-the-scenes resistance to eliminating the provision of the tax code that allows for resetting the cost basis of an inheritance to its market value at the time of bequest. This limits future capital gains taxes. Removing the provision would affect the generational transfer of small farms, of which the Second District has many.
In a video interview with the Editorial Board, Craig conveyed knowledge of her district, an awareness of nuance in government work, a command of how the House functions, and an interest in taking on dry but valuable subjects — for example, health care reinsurance programs that can keep premiums more manageable. Her expertise in health care has been a particular strength and has led, among other things, to the provision of the Inflation Reduction act that caps out-of-pocket insulin costs and the patch to the Affordable Care Act that removed a coverage impediment for families.