REGIONAL- Harry Welty, a former member of the Duluth School Board, a longtime Republican who calls himself a “Lincoln Democrat” has announced he will challenge Pete Stauber in the Aug. 13 Republican primary for the state’s Eighth District congressional seat. Welty filed papers with the Secretary of State on May 30.
Welty, who has challenged Stauber previously, said he is motivated this time by the congressman’s continued support for Donald Trump, despite his actions that led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the nation’s capital.
“Unlike Pete Stauber who twice broke his oath to God to defend our democracy, Harry Welty never thought treason was ‘our way of life,’” stated Welty in a release announcing his candidacy. Welty has recently published a new book “Not your usual Republican,” subtitled “Pro-Trump = Anti-Lincoln,” sales of which will be used to finance the Welty campaign. The first page of Welty’s book notes that polls show that 65 percent of Americans fear for the nation’s democracy, which is an issue Welty plans to raise throughout the campaign.
Welty is a household name in Duluth, a city that accounts for one third of the vast Eighth District’s electorate. He has served on the Duluth School board for three terms and brought a lawsuit against the school district when it denied voters a chance to vote on a half-billion-dollar school building plan in 2008. A locally celebrated snow sculptor, Welty is also a writer and active blogger at lincolndemocrat.com.
Minnesota has an open primary and Welty said if enough DFLers, independents, and Trump-weary Republicans vote for him on Aug. 13, he could knock Stauber out of the race.
Currently, the DFL candidate, Jen Schultz, has no opposition for the party’s nomination for the seat.