Gentle start to governor's race shaping up as Trump proxy fight

Minnesota’s recalibrated race for governor began Wednesday with the DFL and Republican nominees sizing up one another and the shadow President Trump casts over the race.

Newly minted Republican nominee Jeff Johnson didn’t exactly come out of the gate swinging at Tim Walz, his DFL opponent for the next 12 weeks.

“I like Tim. I think people will like Tim. I think most people like me, so hopefully it won’t turn into a mudslinging contest,” said the Hennepin County commissioner, adding that voters will find enough differences in where each candidate would take the state, so the race shouldn’t become personal.

“I talk a lot about our state agencies having too much power and having an arrogance about them. I don’t hear that at all from Tim Walz. I talk about trying to give Minnesotans more choice, more freedom, more competition in their health care,” Johnson said. “He talks about single-payer health care, which means government takes over your health care. You don’t even have private health care anymore.”

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