My Point of View by Brian Hensley

The 2016 election season is behind us. This is an election that will be remembered for a long time. Many in the Republican Party are finally coming together to support President-elect Trump — it’s amazing how a victory will rally a political party together, and on the other side fingers are pointing and blame is being thrown.

On the national scale, President-elect Trump’s election took me by surprise. I am a strong believer in a theory called an echo-chamber. The basic explanation is that you tend to only hear from people that agree with you. You watch, read and hear stories that support your basic views, people who agree with you tell you, and those who don’t talk about another subject. I believed that my echo chamber was voting for President-elect Trump, not always the strongest and most verbal, but that was where their voted was getting recorded.

We did notice a huge surge in people who were wanting to place Trump signs in their yards.  Many voters wanted to express their support. The local county Republican Party supplied many signs that were donated by just a few donors. Yet, I can’t say that I was a believer that nationally Trump would win. Maybe I should have paid more attention to the British vote to leave the European Union as an example of poor polling techniques, a liberal media bias and the desire for political change.

In our Congressional district, there was nearly an upset that would have shocked Washington, D.C.: Jim Hagedorn. Rep. Walz had been a strong supporter of Obama’s failed policies, including Obamacare. Jim Hagedorn ran a precinct-by-precinct campaign for the past four years. Hagedorn had a huge fundraising deficit, little national support from the RNC and a limited staff. The state Republican Party put its focus on several other Congressional campaigns, and the Hagedorn campaign continued its hard work. They lost the race by less than 2,550 votes. If two voters in the 700 precincts had switched their vote from Walz to Hagedorn, he would have won and been the only Republican to beat a sitting Democrat incumbent. After every election as a volunteer, you always look back and wish you had done more. This race will bother me for a while that we didn’t do more.

At the state level, Republicans performed very well with a mix in Freeborn County. Locally, Rep. Bennett won back-to-back elections. This seat has flipped Republican to Democrat the past several elections. She won with a 4,700 vote margin and won nearly every precinct in the district. Rep. Bennett must continue her effort to reach out to voters at soup suppers, local events and continue to work hard for the voters in 27A.  She has proven she can reach across the aisle and many issues locally aren’t Republican or Democrat. Gary Schindler ran a very respectable race and worked extremely hard.  We can hope that future races have such an outstanding choice.

In the Senate 27 race, Sen. Sparks held on to his seat for another four years. At the end of this term, he will have served 18 years. The next few year won’t be nearly as enjoyable for Sen. Sparks as the Democratic Party lost control of the Senate.  Life in the minority is much less exciting and much more difficult to move your priorities through. Gene Dornink worked extremely hard in the district.  His family and his supporters knocked on nearly 80 percent of the doors in the district. 

Bennett, Dornink and Schindler represent the type of candidates that we need in the future — candidates who have been successful in their private lives and are looking to serve. They own small businesses, have worked in public education and most importantly have or had a desire to serve citizens. I don’t believe they have higher political ambitions or a desire to serve for decades. They all worked extremely hard, and did something most are not brave enough to do: They got involved with both feet.

In February, the local Republican Party will elect new leadership at all positions. We encourage you to get involved. I moved to this community less than four years ago, and I can assure you there is no “establishment.” If you have a desire to become involved and work hard, you will be respected and welcomed with open arms. I encourage you to get involved.  2018 will include important local elections for mayor, new City Council members, all statewide offices including governor and our Congressional seat. The work to improve Albert Lea, the state of Minnesota and the United States continues.

  

Brian Hensley is chairman of the Freeborn County Republican Party and local financial adviser with Intego Financial Group. Hensley also serves on the city of Albert Lea Parks and Recreation Board. All opinions are his and do not necessarily reflect those of the organizations he is associated with.