He’s taken a refreshingly bipartisan approach to Washington.
Opinion editor’s note: The Star Tribune Editorial Board operates separately from the newsroom, and no news editors or reporters were involved in the endorsement process.
Minnesota’s Third Congressional District, long in Republican hands, swung to a Democrat in the last election, businessman Dean Phillips. Voters liked his message of innovation, pragmatism and a commitment to working across the aisle.
Phillips, 51, has delivered on those ideals in his first term and deserves to continue his work in a second term. He is part of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, where some 50 lawmakers from both parties sit down to figure out where they can find common ground.
Their most recent work centered on breaking the impasse on COVID relief, with Phillips and South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson laboring to craft a well-balanced framework that was larger than the Senate’s “skinny stimulus” but smaller than the House’s $2 trillion package. Continue reading.