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My Point of View by Robert Hoffman

Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future. This is a great derivative of the popular saying from the motivational speaker Jim Rohn’s “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” We’ve seen the My Point of View columns and letters to the editor; they’ve been interesting. As far as local politics goes, I’m proud of who I’m surrounded by. I mentioned this at our last Freeborn County Republican’s meeting when we reviewed the successful summer we just shared. Jokingly, I suggested to our team to go find more friends to even better their average. They did exactly that.

Author David Burkus says in his book, “Friend of A Friend,” that “You’re not the average of the five people you surround yourself with. It’s way bigger than that. You’re the average of all the people who surround you. So, take a look around and make sure you’re in the right surroundings.” The Freeborn County Republicans have been working very hard to add great people to our team and better our average, with the additional people we campaign for and campaign with. Reading many of the other MPV columns and letters to the editor, it’s clear why some have their wagons hooked to certain mules and just how bad of an idea it is for others to hitch their wagon to that team. Thankfully, the local Republicans are no longer facing that problem.

Peggy Bennett and Gene Dornink’s reelections to the state House of Representatives and the state Senate are well deserved. Will Peggy and Gene be greatly outspent by their opponents? Absolutely. But will Peggy and Gene be outspent by better opponents? Not even remotely. Take a look at the people surrounding each of the candidates in any given race (especially some of the people writing for them locally) and know that there is a reason Peggy and Gene are up for re-election. Peggy and Gene reflect an average of all the people surrounding them. They have the positive momentum necessary to deliver a much better Minnesota — and a great team helping them.

Brad Finstad was just elected in the recent special election in August to become our new congressman. This is a simple referendum on who the voters want to elect as our congressman in November also. With a successful summer behind us — that included hard-fought primary elections and electing Congressman Brad Finstad into office — and now with less than 45 days until the November election, we are doing a good job of choosing the best people to surround us.

Jim Schultz is running for attorney general against DFL incumbent Keith Ellison. Jim Schultz is exactly the person Minnesota needs as attorney general to make our state safer than it has become. Jim called a few weeks ago and asked if I could ask Arik and Megan Matson if they would like to attend the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association Gala with Jim and his wife on Sept. 16. Arik and Megan were Jim and his wife’s guests that evening; it only goes to show that the statewide candidates see how good we are doing in southern Minnesota also. By electing Jim Schultz as our next attorney general, we may not only lift him up as a person with the strength of southern Minnesota behind him, but with our help he will help make Minnesota safer for all of us.

Minnesota will elect its governor during this non-presidential election, which will mean more focus on our governor’s race this year. After the riots, shutdowns, crime, school closures, death of businesses and failure after failure across the state that have defined Gov. Tim Walz’s time in office, we need this governor’s race to be center stage and in the limelight. The state’s “progressives” are willing to band together and elect just anybody that will push their agendas. If bills are hard to pay and streets aren’t safe now, understand it can get worse.

But level heads are prevailing, and Minnesota’s traditional and conservative Democrats and a ton of Republicans see exactly what the entire state got by electing Tim Walz as our governor — failures. Dr Scott Jensen visits Albert Lea often; he even walked in our parade and knows our needs. Now Scott needs our help to elect him to stand up for the entire state that surrounds St. Paul. Greater Minnesota loves Scott Jensen and can get him elected.

Show me Peggy, Gene, Brad, Jim and Scott elected, and I’ll show you a bright future for Minnesota. But it is way bigger than just the five of them, and, thankfully, we are surrounded by many great people working hard to elect them — for all of us.

Robert Hoffman is chairman of the Freeborn County Republican Party.