Meet Brad Finstad, candidate for U.S. House in Minnesota's 1st District | WCCO Election Guide
Rep. Brad Finstad, the Republican incumbent in Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, first won the seat in a 2022 special election and was re-elected in 2024. The district covers southern Minnesota.
We have yet to receive a 60-second video pitch from Brad Finstad, but you can read below how he'd tackle Minnesota's top issues, from the national debt and health care to immigration, the economy and fraud.
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The federal government is running significant annual deficits. What specific federal spending would you cut or protect, and what tax changes, if any, would you support to address the national debt?
According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, up to $521 billion is lost annually across all federal programs and operations due to fraud. In Minnesota, we've seen $9 billion stolen from hard working taxpayers. Eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse is the first step. Moving forward, fiscal sanity is restored by pro-growth policies, fiscal responsibility, and limited government, while rejecting the excessive government spending and regulatory overreach that characterized the Biden and Walz administrations' approach to government and maintaining our commitments to our most vulnerable citizens. Through the Working Families Tax Cut, Republicans achieved unprecedented tax relief for working families and a $1.9 trillion reduction in federal spending through the elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse.
What changes would you support to federal health care policy, including the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid?
Through the Working Families Tax Cuts, I supported a $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Fund, directing additional funding toward rural hospitals, EMS, mental-health treatment, and other rural providers. In Congress, I will continue working to lower private insurance costs and expand choices. I will also continue working to protect Medicare while combating fraud and strengthening Medicaid eligibility and program integrity requirements while maintaining protections for traditional eligible populations.
What immigration policies would you support at the federal level, including border security measures and any pathway to legal status for people currently in the country without authorization?
President Biden's open border policies allowed criminals, drug traffickers, and known terrorists to funnel into our homeland. We must have a secure border and deport criminal illegal immigrants who endanger our communities. I will continue to work with any of my colleagues on commonsense immigration reforms that protect our homeland.
What would you do in Congress to support jobs and economic growth in Minnesota, including your position on tariffs and international trade agreements?
We must continue to lower taxes and reduce regulatory burdens on our Minnesota businesses while expanding domestic energy production and infrastructure and strengthening rural and small business investments. The Biden Administration left Minnesota farmers with a $50 billion ag trade deficit and no new trade deals, President Trump has nearly cut the ag trade deficit in half while opening new domestic and international markets for our producers.
Minnesota has been at the center of some of the largest public-program fraud cases in the country in recent years. What would you do in Congress to strengthen oversight and prevent this kind of fraud in the future?
Earlier this year, I led the National Fraud Enforcement Division Act through the U.S. House of Representatives to codify a permanent office within the Department of Justice to investigate, prosecute, and prevent fraud within federally funded programs. If reelected, eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse will remain a top priority. I also introduced the SNAP Data Transparency and Oversight Act, requiring states to provide beneficiary-level SNAP data to USDA when requested, and the Fraud Accountability and Recovery Act, aimed at recovering taxpayer dollars transferred overseas and increasing cooperation from foreign governments.