The following article by Jessie Van Berkel was posted on the Star Tribune website August 21, 2018:
The debate at a St. Louis Park hotel quickly grew testy, with both candidates attacking the other almost immediately.
U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen and DFL challenger Dean Phillips clashed over health care, tax reform, immigration and other issues, trading barbs Tuesday in the first debate of their increasingly heated fight for a Minnesota House seat.
The debate at a St. Louis Park hotel quickly grew testy, with both candidates attacking the other almost immediately. Paulsen, a Republican, referenced Phillips’ personal wealth when he said that people who are not millionaires should be able to run for Congress, while Phillips pressed Paulsen to reject campaign donations from interest groups and hit him for voting for most of President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“I’ll stand up to my own party,” Paulsen said, whether that’s protecting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, opposing “misguided tariffs” or pushing for a vote on immigration legislation.