Allen Quist announces run for Congress
Former state Republican Rep. Allen Quist announced this morning that he is running for the 1st District Congressional seat held by DFL Rep. Tim Walz.
The retired professor and farmer said he decided to get back into politics because he is concerned about the direction the country is headed.
“My analysis is that the American dream of liberty and opportunity to improve our position in life has been seriously compromised,” he said.
Quist, 65, made the announcement this morning in Mankato, the first stop on a four-city tour of the district. He was expected to hold a news conference at 11 a.m. in Austin and at 1 p.m. in Rochester.It has been more than a decade since Quist left the statewide political scene. The conservative Republican served three terms in the Minnesota House from 1983 to 1988. He also ran for governor twice. He won the GOP endorsement in 1994, but went on to lose to Republican Gov. Arne Carlson. Four years later he withdrew in favor of GOP candidate Norm Coleman.
He also opposes the cap and trade proposal aimed at cutting greenhouse gases, saying it will lead to higher energy costs. He said he also opposed the $787 billion stimulus. If elected, he said he would focus on balancing the federal budget.“We are not going to do that overnight, but we have to balance the budget because the continued deficit spending is a huge drag on our economy and that means high unemployment,” he said.

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