Welty jumps in 8th District GOP race

Harry Welty

Former Duluth School Board member Harry Welty jumped into the Eighth District race for Congress as a Republican Monday.

Welty, who has run for office as a Republican and as an independent in the past, will compete with GOP-endorsed St. Louis County Commissioner Pete Stauber for the Republican nomination.

The Eighth District represents one of the most competitive 2018 races for Congress in the United States.

It’s hard to imagine Welty — a centrist political gadfly — overcoming the financial and political forces that have lined up behind Stauber on the GOP side. But that hardly seems his point. He’s outraged over the policies and rhetoric of President Trump.

“The public ought to care and I want to know, what St. Louis County Commissioner Pete Stauber really thinks about this, crass, cowardly, cheating, ignoramus who sullies the name of the Party of Lincoln,” writes Welty on his website. “Will Stauber go to Congress and become another toadie for such a man?”

In essence, he appears to be running to restore the legacy of Abraham Lincoln in the Republican Party. He warns about the influence of Donald Trump in Republican politics. He’s a community activist and a helluva snow sculptor.

Welty seems to know that this will be a tall order, that Trump supporters constitute a majority in the GOP. But he’s trying, despite the odds. Nevertheless, this does ensure that Stauber will have to mind his base over the summer and reduces the chances of inter-party ballot shenanigans in the Aug. 14 primary.

You can follow my coverage of the 2018 8th District race at my special coverage page.


Comments

  1. David Gray says

    I don’t think Welty expects to win anything. This is a gesture with a hope of discomforting Stauber. This pebble won’t send out too many ripples.

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