MINNEAPOLIS -- DFL newcomer Dean Phillips is vying to unseat Republican Congressman Erik Paulsen in one the most closely watched and expensive races in the nation.
Rep. Paulsen's 3rd District seat has been in the hands of Republicans since 1961, but voters in that suburban west metro district have gone with Democrats in the past three presidential elections.
The five-term incumbent asserts he's earned a return trip to Washington because of his hard work and results-oriented approach on a wide variety of issues, such as human trafficking, opioid addiction and the medical device tax.
Paulsen's tried to distance himself from President Trump, skipping both of the president's Minnesota rallies. His first campaign ad highlighted the fact that he opposed the president's decision to clear the way for copper-nickel near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
He has voted with fellow Republicans on most issues, including multiple votes to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Paulsen also supported the federal tax overhaul.
Phillips said he decided to run the morning after the 2016 election, after seeing how his teenage daughters reacted to Donald Trump's victory.
He swore off PAC money from the outset, and has received campaign contributions from more than 64,000 individual donors. As of mid-October Phillips hadn't been forced to self-fund the campaign beyond the maximum individual contribution of $2,700.
Phillips has much more name recognition than any of Congressman Erik Paulsen’s previous oppoinents, due in large part to the fact he's been on the receiving end of a withering attack ad blitz looking to smear his name before voters got a chance to meet him.
The ads, which are filled with mostly misleading claims, attack the companies he led, Phillips Distilling and Talenti Gelato. They also go after Phillips for not offering health coverage to his part-time employees when he started the Penny's Coffee in Minneapolis in 2017.
He began offering coverage when he hired his first full-time employee, but the ad campaigns still accuse hm of hypocrisy on the issue of universal coverage. Phillips has also been assailed for his personal wealth.
Phillips was six months old when his biological father was killed fighting in Vietnam. A few years later his mother married Eddie Phillips, part of the Phillips Distilling family. The candidate's adopted grandmother, Pauline Phillips, was known by her pen name Abigail van Buren, aka Dear Abby.