High school math teacher Jake Johnson easily recalls the role government assistance played for his family in Stewartville, Minnesota, when he was growing up.
His father was a garbage collector and his mother read meters for the local gas company. They relied on food stamps for groceries and Medicaid for healthcare. When it was time for Johnson to go to college, Pell grants and Stafford loans helped him pay the bill.
“We were broke,” Johnson said. “I got to grow up living what I thought was an American dream, where you work hard and a lot of people invest in you.”
It’s this upbringing that pushed Johnson to run for Congress, trying to take back a US House seat that hasn’t been held by a Democrat since 2018, when Tim Walz vacated it to run for governor.
The congressional district is one of 44 across the country that Democrats say are “in play” in the midterms as the party seeks to gain a majority in Congress. And Johnson is one of a handful of Democratic candidates with a background in the labor movement who are trying to connect with workers frustrated with the economy.
A former member of the bargaining team and a government relations coordinator with Education Minnesota, the state’s teacher union, Johnson said he’s advocated for increased benefits for teachers and fought to prevent school closures through his union.
“To me, a lot of the great things that happen in public schools happen because of unions. We’re the ones fighting for smaller class sizes. We’re the ones fighting for reasonable wages,” Johnson said. “That’s happening because of teachers’ unions. We’re the ones that are raising the bar as far as teacher quality.”
Johnson is running against incumbent Republican Brad Finstad, who has held the seat since 2022, and he is trying to convince voters that Finstad has supported policies that have hurt them. Trump’s tariffs have especially caused a surge in prices, Johnson said, in the predominantly rural district that he says is the ninth most agriculturally productive in the US.
“A huge piece of affordability is ending the tariffs and rebuilding our export markets and lowering input costs for our farmers, small businesses and families,” Johnson said, adding that the Iran war has also increased fertilizer costs. “We’ve already got farmers who are planning ahead for the fall going, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get my fertilizer preordered for next season.’”
He also argued healthcare cuts by the Trump administration, from cutting Medicare and Medicaid to slashing research, have greatly affected the district as it is home to the Mayo Clinic medical center.
“Healthcare cuts have been particularly pronounced here. We have felt it acutely. We’ve had to close four clinics in our district alone,” he said.
Johnson also criticized his Republican opponent for refusing to hold any in-person town halls, opting for virtual town halls. National Republicans have urged against holding in-person town halls amid protests at GOP events.
“Finstad seems to have chosen his powerful political backers, his corporate donors over the people of this district,” Johnson said. “We want to make it very clear that that is who Brad works for, and I, who take no corporate Pac money, and am funded by the people of this district, am willing to meet with everyone to hear their concerns.”
Finstad’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
A February 2026 poll conducted by a Democratic polling firm found Finstad had a 35% approval rating in the district, with 38% disapproving. In a survey on the midterm election, Finstad led Johnson 44% to 41%, with 15% of voters undecided.
According to the Cook Partisan Index, the district is a +6 in favor of Republicans. But Johnson argued that many of Trump’s policies have been deeply unpopular and provides an opening for Democrats in the district.
“Finstad continues to hitch his wagon to policies that are very, very unpopular in this district, I think gives us an opening, gives us an opportunity to speak exactly to where folks are at,” Johnson said. “They want the war to end, they want the tariffs to end, they want their schools fully funded, they want opportunity again so that they can live their American dream.”