REGIONAL — A website sharply critical of congressional candidate Luke Gulbranson appeared shortly after his campaign announcement and was taken offline almost as quickly, leaving behind questions about its origins and intent.
A WHOIS search shows the domain notourluke.com was registered April 18 through Namecheap, with ownership masked by a privacy service. However, Google search results indicated the content may have been online as early as April 15, suggesting it may have first been published at another web address before the domain was registered. After it was taken offline, the site returned a GitHub Pages error message, indicating it had likely been hosted through a service that allows users to quickly publish and remove websites.
The site described itself as “a nonpartisan research project” and urged readers to “judge the evidence for themselves.” It also included a direct appeal to party insiders, stating that “DFL delegates, primary voters, and general-election voters in MN-08 deserve a candidate whose record was built in the district – not on Peacock. Share this page with someone who needs to see it.”
Organized as a “research brief,” the site grouped its criticism into broad categories, including Gulbranson’s campaign launch, residency, business ventures, public conduct, sources of support, and policy positions.
As of Tuesday morning, the site returned a GitHub Pages error message and was no longer accessible. It had also disappeared from Google search results after being indexed for roughly six days. No explanation for its removal has been found, and the Timberjay has not identified any individual or group responsible for creating the site.
The Timberjay reached out to the Gulbranson campaign for reaction and received this response from senior advisor Tracy Mayfield:
“Luke’s not a politician who is going to engage in political games. He continues to focus on the issues making life harder for people doing their best to get by -- like lowering gas prices, restoring health care coverage to Northern Minnesotans and reversing the tax breaks handed out to billionaires and corporations that don’t need them.”