We urge the 1st Congressional District of Minnesota to handily re-elect incumbent Tim Walz of Mankato.

Walz represents the same qualities that can be found in the people of southern Minnesota: He is pragmatic, moderate and concerned. He doesn’t participate in the District of Columbia’s political style of dropping firebombs on opposing viewpoints. He is willing to compromise, and he fights hard for veterans, farmers and growing the Midwest economy.

What’s more, Walz understands what’s causing the gridlock in Washington: gerrymandering and unregulated campaign financing.

Many congressional leaders are concerned about the campaign finance issue, and so is Walz, but he wants to look deeper into the problem gerrymandering — drawing districts to favor one political party or another, rather than creating a common sense region. It’s the real reason why polls show Americans hate Congress but love their congressional representative.

Walz notes in the U.S. House of Representatives there are 375 almost-always-safe seats out of 435. The reason many of those seats are always safe is they come from gerrymandered districts. This and campaign financing difficulties discourage challengers and limits the pool of candidates to seek the office.

Walz said in the next term he wants to take up the issue of gerrymandering and get more district drawing into the hands of the judiciary, much like what already happens in Minnesota, or else a neutral entity.

Can he do it? His push to outlaw congressional insider trading was real change for a lawmaking body that rarely likes to make laws about itself. Perhaps he can do it again.

The congressman is on top of issues such as transportation and agriculture. He pushed hard as ever for the current farm bill and calls for a robust federal transportation bill.

He is a Democrat who welcomes tax reform, disliking when multibillion-dollar corporations pay zero taxes. He wants to restructure the entire code and simplify it and make it more progressive, not regressive.

He recognizes the problems with the Affordable Care Act but calls on Republicans to push for laws that improves it. Going back to the unsustainable system beforehand is out of the question and irresponsible. We agree. Too often the reason the federal government doesn’t work is because the Republicans in Congress are working hard at making it fail. Don’t repeal Obamacare. Fix it.

He faces Republican Jim Hagedorn in the Nov. 4 election. Hagedorn is a businessman from Blue Earth. While Hagedorn is a likeable fellow, he was a Washington insider for much of his career and moved back to Blue Earth for what appears to be the sake of running for office. While it was impressive that Hagedorn dropped out of the race at the district convention, then got back in and surprisingly defeated the nominated candidate, who had Rochester-area backing, that whole succession of events seemed to be a lesson for the Republicans — candidates should be nominated on electability rather than geography.

The problem with Hagedorn is the same as some of the past candidates the Republicans have sent into battle against Walz: They don’t win over the middle. The 1st District isn’t not a land of extreme right Republicans or extreme left Democrats. It has them, to be sure, but most folks are moderates. Hagedorn appeals to his base, but the moderate middle voters once again are going to find their ally in Walz, a moderate Democrat if there ever was one.

Vote for Tim Walz on Nov. 4. He’s the best choice for southern Minnesota.