Chuck Horton, a Duluth boxing promoter and trainer, will run for mayor in 2015.
At long last, City Councilor Emily Larson has an opponent in the open 2015 Duluth mayor’s race. Chuck Horton, a boxing trainer and promotor, announced his campaign this week.
Larson, a DFLer, would still considered a favorite against the more conservative Horton in the generally liberal city of Duluth. But Horton is (pun intended) a fighter. His campaign announcement derided the city’s fiscal spat with its Annishinabe neighbors of the Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwa and its expensive investment in the seemingly cursed Norshore Theater.
We might see more candidates enter the race, but we won’t see another unopposed race like popular outgoing Mayor Don Ness had in 2011.
Having grown up with him and his brother, the few brains he had to start with certainly weren’t helped by boxing.
It’s easy to mock Chuck as an ex-boxer and essentially self-educated person, but having had many discussions/arguments with him over the years, I have to say that Chuck is smart, articulate, and very quick on his feet. In my experience he is the most able proponent of conservative political ideas in Northeastern Minnesota, and is certainly better than any other right wing candidate I have seen in the area.
When he works from areas where he has his own knowledge of facts and events, he also has good instincts and ideas on many occasions. His views on the casino controversy are a case in point, with his comments right on target. Duluth has lost on this issue, since the laws and regulations have changed since the original agreements, making them no longer legal. The time has come to seek an end to the conflict and re-develop a constructive relationship with the Band, including seeking cooperation on development that would benefit the city and the Band and negotiating a reasonable agreement for Band support for the city services the casino and any future development requires. Continuing this fight is both expensive for Duluth and very bad for relationships. The city is now, I am afraid, the victim of legal advice that makes the lawyers rich and the city poor, and ends by saying “we will fight this all the way to the Supreme Court! And by the way, send us a check for another $300,000 in retainer.”
Like many people, Chuck tends to lose his way when he gets outside his area of personal knowledge and depends on re-hashed Fox News propaganda rather than the facts.
He is always, however, more than willing to say what he thinks, right or wrong. He is also willing to listen to and try to understand alternate views and sometimes to change his mind if the facts prove to contradict his original position.
I doubt if he will win, but I think he will make the race interesting, give Emily an opponent in forums and debates who will make her use her wits, and perhaps raise some additional interesting issues that may serve the city well in the long run. He is certainly better than the Stauber of the month or another run by Becky Hall.