As Election Day nears, the competitive race for the Third Congressional District seat is becoming increasingly contentious.
U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen faced fresh criticism Friday for a TV ad critical of Democratic opponent Dean Phillips, while Phillips threw in $1.3 million of his own money as he tries unseat Paulsen.
As the Nov. 6 election nears, the competitive race for the Third Congressional District seat is becoming increasingly contentious as Paulsen, a five-term congressman from Eden Prairie, fights for re-election. Phillips, a distillery heir and businessman from Deephaven, is trying to become the first Democrat to hold the seat since 1961.
On Friday, Paulsen was criticized again for making a sexual harassment case part of his campaign. Lori Peterson, a lawyer who represented seven women who sued Allina Health in 2007 over sexual harassment, sent a note Friday to Paulsen’s campaign manager demanding the team stop using the women’s story in the TV ads, which call Phillips “shady” and charge that he “did nothing” to combat the harassment when he was on Allina’s board of directors from 2005 to 2011.
View the complete October 26 article by Kelly Smith on the Star Tribune website here.