FULL VIDEO: 2026 Minnesota Gubernatorial Debate

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: live from kttc studios in rochester gray media and fox 9 present the 2026 minnesota gubernatorial [00:00:10] Speaker 2: debate welcome to the 2026 minnesota gubernatorial debate live here at kttc in rochester the only scheduled televised debate reaching every television market in the north star state ahead of the november 3rd general election voters getting a front seat tonight to hear directly from the candidates dfl u.s senator amy klobuchar and republican minnesota house speaker lisa dameth both vying for your vote in what stands to be a historic election i'm caitlin alexander from kttc i will serve as your moderator tonight alongside panelists from our gray sister stations and fox 9 in the twin cities so let's introduce them corin hoggard from fox 9 stacy steinhagen from keyc in mankato bobby fallett from valley news live covering western minnesota and laura lee from kbjr in duluth so now to our rules tonight shortly you will each get two minutes to introduce yourself to our viewers then our panelists will begin asking for carefully our carefully selected questions we've written together and with viewer input you'll each get 90 seconds to respond we will alternate who responds first i am willing to offer you extra time for rebuttals especially listening for if your opponent invokes your name or references you specifically that merits additional time for you to respond please use them sparingly we have a lot to cover tonight additionally i or our panelists may wish to ask you a follow-up question at any point throughout the night i'll award extra time for those responses as well you'll each get one minute for closing statements both campaigns have agreed to tonight's format and rules but now time to hear from our candidates there was a coin toss tonight to determine who goes first for an opening statement the first remarks will be speaker dameth you'll also deliver your closing remarks first we'll remind you of that as we get closer speaker we begin with you [00:01:58] Speaker 3: you have two minutes good evening it is my pleasure to be with you tonight every minnesotan knows that the status quo is not working when we look around our state we see a state in crisis we see an estimated nine billion dollars in fraud we see exploding somali gang violence we see declining test scores we've seen increasing taxes and our business climate and economy here in the state is falling 20 years ago amy klobuchar said that she would bring down health care costs but those have only increased she said she would stop earmarks yet she has supported earmarks for known fraudsters and when tim walls announced his run for a third term as governor senator klobuchar said that he was an incredible governor who has delivered for the state of minnesota you can't get any more out of touch than that the question minnesotans will face with this election is who do you trust to get us out of this mess the minnesota leader who is proven and has cracked down on fraud has made sure that we are cutting taxes and we have increased penalties on violent crime or the 20-year dc politician who ignored fraud increased our health care costs and is actually tim wall's pick as candidate a vote for amy klobuchar is a vote for a tim wall's third term minnesota needs a fresh start i am the proven leader that can bring us forward with the changes that minnesota needs and that is time [00:04:05] Amy Klobuchar: thank you senator thank you and thank you for having this debate tonight i'm excited to be in rochester and i'm excited to that this debate is reaching everyone in every corner of the state given that i visit all 87 counties every year i believe you need to meet people where they are go not just where it's comfortable but sometimes where it's uncomfortable and you don't agree with everyone all the time and that's the kind of governor i'll be many of you know my story i grew up in plymouth my husband's family not far from here in mankato and my dad grew up in northern minnesota i went into the private sector for over 10 years and then i ran minnesota's biggest prosecutor's office which is going to be very helpful when it comes to having a governor who's going to be able to root out the fraud which is such an important thing right now to gain the trust of minnesota voters and to get through the red tape and make our state work again in the u.s senate i have been number one for bipartisan bills number three for passing bills into law i believe that you got to find common ground with people and while we'll debate some of the things that my opponent just raised i want you to know this i'm going to get things done i don't like the status quo i hate the status quo i'm someone that believes you need to move forward i don't want to move the state to the left or the right i want to move the state forward and to me that means cutting through the red tape rooting out the fraud with a top to bottom audit from day one to me that means making sure that we bring down costs for things like health care premiums and prescription drugs and building a hundred thousand more units of housing from apartments to single family i am committed to that with my running mate who's the former mayor of fergus falls across the state i will do my job without fear or favor and i hope to earn your support [00:06:07] Speaker 2: senator thank you now to our questions tonight from our panel you both touched on this in your opening [00:06:14] Speaker 1: statement speaker dameth you will be the first one to answer but fraud has riddled the state of minnesota for several years now our viewers ask us repeatedly about it so what is the one thing you'll do on day one in office to combat fraud that's been exposed in minnesota specifically looking for procedures that you'd put in place to impact accountability fraud has been at the top of mind for all minnesotans [00:06:45] Speaker 3: and it's important for you that are watching and listening to know that i respect taxpayer dollars the dollars that we take in as a state are meant to serve the people of minnesota that can be for our schools our roads and bridges the most vulnerable among us but fraud unchecked here in the state of minnesota has gone far too long and it has finally come to the surface the thing that i will do on day one is i am going to be firing all commissioners choosing new commissioners that are expert in their field that will carry out the accountability and transparency that is needed in our state we have to change the culture of fraud whistleblowers within state government have been shut down for far too long and i am the type of person as i've led within the house of representatives as speaker led in business to make sure that i respect the people that are working alongside me when there is a level of disrespect for the workers that are there they don't have the opportunity to expose the fraud for where it is but changing the culture of fraud and waste here in the state government and making sure government is working for the people of minnesota instead of the people of minnesota being taken advantage of and disrespected that is a change that i will be making as governor of minnesota and that is time [00:08:13] Amy Klobuchar: senator thank you the fraud is simply unacceptable and as a former prosecutor i'm going to send those fraudsters to jail tim walls should have caught the fraud earlier and he should have done more he said it himself and by the way when my opponent references tim walls i will say one thing he is not seeking a third term i am the one up here i'm the one to deal with i have a very different experience with working in the private sector for over 10 years and being a prosecutor and sending fraudsters to jail when i look at what we need to do the top to bottom audit an entirely new team that i will bring in protections to whistleblowers an issue i've worked on extensively in the united states senate but more we need to vet these contracts before they come in and there needs to be surprise audit you can't just do them by zoom people need to show up at these places and make sure that they're delivering the service so the people that need the services get them and then finally we need to have a list of the fraudsters so they never come back again and that is what i will do i am committed to this and when i heard about the fraud what did i do i called the u.s attorney and got a bunch of new prosecutors for them which they needed to complete their work and prosecute these cases speaker another 30 seconds for [00:09:35] Speaker 3: you to respond i saw your signal thank you you heard uh senator klobuchar say that uh she realizes tim walls is not on the ballot what we haven't heard from senator klobuchar is how she has separated herself from tim walls she never has once come up with a policy that she disagrees with uh tim walls on the other piece is even if she made a phone call on fraud where was she there was no press release there was nothing to say that she was protecting our federal taxpayer dollars she was silent on fraud until tim walls asked her to run for governor here in the state of minnesota all right senator i saw [00:10:13] Amy Klobuchar: your signal for a rebuttal as well thank you uh this is absurd what i have done is when this came out i called the u.s attorney andy lugar and i said what do you need and he said i need more prosecutors i called the highest level of the justice department and i got him those prosecutors and how do i different than tim walls you have not come up with one way you differ from donald trump i have been clear i wouldn't have pardoned the sex offender i would have put more of the surplus money into infrastructure and technology and yes i would have caught the fraud earlier but you when asked just a few months ago could not differentiate yourself in any way from donald trump i think that's a serious problem because we don't need a rubber stamp of donald trump in the governor's office i can't allow more rebuttals on [00:11:00] Speaker 5: this one we want to get to more topics tonight stacy we are sticking with this topic you mentioned day one what you'll do with fraud this question going to senator klobuchar first so in the wake of all of [00:11:10] Amy Klobuchar: this how do you rebuild trust in minnesota trust is earned and if we want to make sure that people trust our government again we have got to get rid of the fraud and to me getting rid of the fraud means following through on my plan from day one with the top to autumn top to bottom audit but there's more than that we need to cut through the red tape right now it takes too long for small businesses to get things approved it takes too long for people to get housing started and we can do so much more in housing it's exciting because it's going to bring down the cost of housing then we have to balance the budget and make sure we're serving people and if things don't work i'm going to get rid of them or i'm going to fix them if they work we'll keep them but that's what this top to bottom audit is about it's [00:12:02] Speaker 3: about changing the status quo speaker trust in minnesota is something that has been sorely taken advantage of by democrat leadership here in the state of minnesota i was already fighting fraud my very first term in the legislature i carried a bill in 2019 as a brand new legislature as a brand new legislator because i had been hearing that there were child care centers without any kids in them now that would have required daily attendance records democrats didn't want to talk about it as we moved forward trying to combat fraud being in the minority party at the time it was eventually called racist now fraud does not have a race it is crime and we need to protect taxpayer dollars so i wasn't just talking about fraud now as your candidate for governor i was talking about it as soon as i came into the legislature the way that we protect our taxpayer dollars is respecting people that work for us it is make sure making sure that the dollars go to those in need and having internal controls if you commit fraud in the state of minnesota under my administration and you are convicted you will go to jail and you will be prevented from any further social services program here in the state of minnesota it is fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me and minnesota has been fooled too many times by the inadequate leadership here in the state of minnesota by democrats next question [00:13:34] Speaker 6: and next topic as well we want to move on to the question of affordability residents in moorhead for example can cross the red river into fargo north dakota find a different tax environment when it comes to income taxes and the overall cost of living what specific policies would you pursue to make staying in minnesota more attractive to workers and families [00:14:02] Speaker 3: house speaker damon when i have visited both in moorhead and our other bordering communities that is a problem that we've heard where people can go over the border and the cost of living is less when it comes to housing we know that a house can be built for forty thousand dollars less in wisconsin as opposed to here in minnesota now we have great economic opportunities in the state of minnesota but because of the uncertainty and the pressures put on by democrat control here in the state we have mandates on our businesses we have increasing taxes yet you've seen an estimated nine billion dollars of taxes so making things affordable and respecting people is the start and how i will lead as governor i'm looking at a blue ribbon commission to make sure we're identifying why our property taxes are so high part of the reason our property taxes are so high is those mandates pushed by the state onto our cities counties and school districts i'll be bringing car tab fees down to 99 so minnesotans can keep more of their hard-earned money i will work with people all over our state to make our state affordable understanding how important that is for those in agriculture manufacturing health care schools our small and large businesses minnesota is open for business under my administration it will be a business friendly state not an anti-business rhetoric and decision making that you've seen under the [00:15:38] Amy Klobuchar: of the democrats senator glubachar your response thank you i'm not going to raise taxes and if i can i will lower them including on social security because i believe that with the headwinds we're seeing right now from donald trump from the tariffs that my opponent has said are effective which amount to a two thousand dollar tariff tax on every family in minnesota from the war in iran which i have voted against now 14 times which he waited months to come out against which has raised the price of gas by 500 dollars i view those things as headwinds but not excuses when i am your governor i'm going to do a comprehensive view review of all of our taxes make it fit the modern world and make it fit your lives and mostly this means bringing down your health care premiums and bringing down the cost of child care i suggest you go to my website at amyklobuchar.com and compare it to my opponents and you will see [00:16:40] Speaker 7: what a real health care plan looks like thank you you both mentioned taxes in both of your speeches and responses we know the cost of living right now for americans and minnesotans is very difficult for for folks minnesota gas tax is currently 32.6 cents per gallon about double the federal tax at 18.6 cents do you support temporarily suspending the state gas tax why or why not and do you support [00:17:09] Amy Klobuchar: year-round e15 we're going to start with you senator sure of course i support year-round e15 i'm one of the authors of that bill and biofuels is an important alternative here and it will help us bring down costs as far as our gas prices right now the gas tax is what 32 cents a gallon but the increase that you have seen since the day that donald trump has started this war is a dollar fifty so while i'll look at it i can tell you the fastest way to bring down your gas prices and that is to stop this war in iran that is it beginning middle and end and when you look at what my opponent brings up when we had a debate earlier this week she actually brought up and blamed it on the keystone pipeline then she blamed the health care costs on barack obama i don't know what will be next maybe thomas jefferson but what i know is that minnesotans understand what's happened at the pump they get that it was two dollars and 79 cents before the war started now it's over four dollars four dollars and 25 cents diesel prices are even higher at six dollars that's what they're dealing with we have got to do everything we can with biofuels and with bringing down the cost of living but the fastest way to bring these gas prices down is to end this war [00:18:31] Speaker 3: and everyone knows it speaker i do support year-round e15 when we look at gas prices and the overall cost of things here in minnesota it is because democrats in the state of minnesota have exploded our budget our budget in the state of minnesota has increased it has doubled in 10 years you have to ask yourself as you're watching tonight have you had double the benefits from the government have do we have double the roads our schools twice as good that is not the case we do not have a revenue problem here in the state of minnesota we do have a problem with spending here in the state of minnesota as far as our gas prices part of the reason that they have exploded is the fact that there's an automatic gas inflator put on that is something that i have said that i will pull down immediately and that's an important thing to look at we can talk about that keystone pipeline that my opponent has voted against that would have brought in 830 000 barrels of oil it would have helped with the supply that we have here yet she voted against it but you have to ask yourself why are things so expensive here in minnesota they were expensive because of overspending by a one-party control in 2023 and 2024 i will bring down prices i will right size our state budget and make sure that you can afford your lives that you can grow thrive and businesses will be coming to minnesota to provide the jobs that are needed it's common sense and that's the decision that you have to make as you're looking to this election this year and that is time senator 30 [00:20:12] Amy Klobuchar: seconds to respond minnesotans are well aware what's going on here with these tariffs that my opponent has said are effective for this state what we've seen a 13 decrease in exports we've seen a 20 decrease of people from canada just coming over to go to our restaurants and go to our hotels particularly in northern minnesota what have we seen with health care we've seen eight million people tossed up their health care your premiums going up something like 700 bucks a year for people that are on the individual marketplace it is very clear that we need a governor who is not a rubber stamp of donald trump and we need a governor that's going to focus on you and not just do the bidding of a billionaire from wisconsin that's wisconsin that's paid for 80 percent of her ads and that is time sticking with affordability speaker [00:21:00] Speaker 1: dameth as of 2024 roughly 56 percent of minnesotans could not afford the median home in this state new homes they're even more expensive and since then mortgage rates have gone up from 6.4 percent to 7.4 average monthly payment up more than 200 so what specific steps would your administration take to make this engine of generational wealth a lot more accessible [00:21:28] Speaker 3: speaker dameth that's for you the accessibility to home ownership is important across our state when you look at the fact that you can build a home in wisconsin for forty thousand dollars less than you can here in minnesota you have to ask the question why we have over regulation here in the state of minnesota we want safe homes and we have those our surrounding states also have them when you look at why those costs have increased uh there have been too many mandates put on how things are built here the permitting and the other regulation so bringing that into common sense is going to allow more homes to be built now when my husband and i were first married we had a home that we could afford that was only 830 square feet it was just over twenty thousand dollars now things have changed considerably but the home availability for all types whether it is multi-housing it can be mobile homes individual housing people have to be able to get in to the homes that they need bringing down the regulation is the first start but you have to look at the pressure of property taxes that have increased that actually once you're in that home can you continue we look at the pressure of taxes on our seniors i will be ending the tax on social security so seniors can afford the homes that they are in rather than being pressured with our property taxes this isn't all of the above and all in reason why we need to bring down the cost and the excessive spending that has taken place for far too long here in the state of minnesota right-sizing our budget is what i will do as governor of the state senator klobuchar [00:23:12] Amy Klobuchar: thank you you should be able to afford your life and when it comes to housing i am 100 percent committed to work with the private sector to build 100 000 new housing units by the end of my term if you give me your vote that means everything from apartment buildings to single-family homes i think that if you increase the supply like that you're going to bring down costs in addition to taking on some of these hedge funds that are buying out housing and making sure that you're helping renters there's a bill that just passed in washington that i worked on called the road to housing and it is the first housing bill in 30 years and it was actually done by a conservative republican along with elizabeth warren and i did a lot of the work on the rural pieces of it what does that mean it's going to create and usher in this new world where we're going to put bigger emphasis on modular homes like what you see the new units that have been built in grand marais or the major apartments that have been built in edina it's cheaper and it's faster manufactured homes my husband grew up in a trailer court in mankato that's what we used to call it back then and they're not your grandpa's uh trailer courts anymore with all due respect to my father-in-law they are becoming another way to expand housing in addition to single families i think this is exciting to work with cities across our state we've got a workforce we've got to bring new people into our state we want to build and we've got to cut the red tape and make it easier to build these houses and i am committed to do it this next question goes to senator klobuchar first [00:24:48] Speaker 5: minnesota cancer advocates with acs can are at a watch party in eagan and have sent this in not all minnesotans have consistent access to no cost cancer screenings including the follow-up testing required where appropriate would you support legislation to require state regulated health insurance plans to cover screenings for breast cervical lung colorectal and prostate cancer without cost sharing for the [00:25:14] Amy Klobuchar: enrollee including any needed follow-up tests well i am very eager to work with your viewers on this and do everything we can uh to make these screenings uh either very very inexpensive or free under the affordable care act i was proud to support my opponent has criticized it 44 million americans got health care sadly as i noted 8 million have been tossed off since donald trump came in but these screenings are everything both speaker dameth and i have had breast cancer and those early screenings mean that we're up here right now that meant everything the fact that they were able to catch mine when it was just 1a and then i went on to be able to have lumpectomy and get through all of it i want everyone to be able to have that kind of experience and to me that means if you want to help people who have cancer you make sure you make those screenings available my votes show where i stand on this from funding for cures with with the research both in the state and federally to the work that i've done to make sure people are covered so i'm very eager to work with you we need better coverage and more affordable coverage for people in the state of minnesota when it comes to health care speaker dameth your answer what you'll hear [00:26:35] Speaker 3: tonight even though the senator and i have different viewpoints we are both breast cancer survivors and i think that is an important people for people to realize that sometimes we can have things in common even when we differ politically when i was diagnosed i live in greater minnesota so access to quality health care and i know being here in rochester and the mayo clinic and the work that is done here both the research and the treatment can save and change lives access to screening and access to the care that you need when you're facing some of the hardest times is so very important what i will say though is we need to make sure that we have that rural health care that we have in our largest cities and when we have people on health care that's how they can access the screening you will hear my opponent talk about the fact that people are off their health care when you look at the details of that though eligibility verification matters very much if people are able-bodied and can work and have their insurance and afford it they need to but i support the screenings and i support going forward to make sure that people can live the best and healthiest lives wherever they are in the state of minnesota [00:27:55] Speaker 6: stay on the topic of health care if you've spent any time in rochester recently you know there's a lot of change happening in downtown with mayo clinic's multi-billion dollar investment however in other parts of the state many are seeing hospitals either consolidate or in rural minnesota health care facilities being shut down and services ended many say that the state has caused burdens on particular rural health systems minnesotans are counting on someone to address this what specifically would you do to fix these problems including keeping health care both accessible and affordable health [00:28:29] Speaker 3: speaker dameth you're first i had an opportunity to work on supporting our uh our critical access hospitals across the state of minnesota just this last year in the legislature i've supported the university of minnesota program that they have in saint cloud minnesota along with centric care where there is the rural medical school the purpose of that is to train doctors for the rural areas so that when they have the ability to practice medicine they can go out to different parts of the state that's a very important tool that we are supporting uh the growing of additional medical professionals right in central minnesota when we look at uh the cost though for health care and some of the challenges are faced by the critical access hospitals i was able to secure additional emergency funding for those and an increase in the reimbursement so that it would help them meet their budgets a little bit better now health care is a big topic and you will find my plan on my website but it's important to realize that we're looking at all of the inputs and all the reasons why our health care is more expensive senator klobuchar supported the affordable care act she promised that it would bring down our health care unfortunately we have seen anything but all of our health care since the affordable care act has increased the health care costs to all minnesotans so federally it needs to be more effective and more affordable but the things that we can do at the state level is making sure that we have a good private public mix in the payer mix increasing the reimbursements and pulling down the mandates that have made it harder for hospitals and clinics to both staff and do the work for the people of minnesota [00:30:15] Amy Klobuchar: senator klobuchar we're very different on this front i have worked to take on the big pharmaceutical companies number one i led the bill when it take took to negotiating and ending the sweetheart deal they had under medicare it has saved under both the biden and trump administrations now six billion dollars for taxpayers and 1.5 billion dollars for seniors i'm going to take that to the state level when it comes to bulk purchasing my opponent on the other hand opposed the 340b discounts uh 240b discounts when it came to pharmaceuticals and that is a big burden on the rural hospitals ask them instead she sided with pharma when it comes to premiums if donald trump is not going to extend the tax credits that help people on the individual marketplace like small businesses and farmers i'm going to do it in the state 10 people states have done it new mexico is the only state that's actually seen an increase in people insured that will greatly help our rural hospitals and when it comes to something that we have not discussed which is reproductive health care for women i am on their side and support their right to make a decision with their family and their doctor my opponent wrote the bill authored the bill to ban abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest and what's worse to send doctors to jail and then she said she would overturn the court case under a constitution that protects women's rights we are vastly different [00:31:49] Speaker 7: when it comes to health care this next question we're going to start with you senator klobuchar one of the biggest issues facing voters is the need for affordable child care that continues to be a crisis facing much of our state from funding cuts to staffing issues as governor [00:32:06] Amy Klobuchar: what would you do to address this crisis child care you can be the best employee in the world but you can't go to work if you don't have someone to watch your kid that you trust so i have seen the most amazing examples of this across minnesota especially in smaller towns windham that's used a elementary school and converted it into child care the work that senator smith and i to help fund the brand new child care in laverne where they have over a hundred kids already immediately enrolled the work that small business have done together to provide child care i want to create more incentives for these unique models from war road to austin to the twin cities in addition we have too many streams of money coming in when it comes to child care i want to streamline them and make sure that we have these scholarships available to kids that we do everything we can to invest in our children and i think we can just make this such a goal of my administration if you'll give me that moment because i think we can actually improve this in minnesota they've done it in other states and a far cry from my opponent who voted against the child tax credit that was put in place in the state speaker [00:33:26] Speaker 3: you've heard from my opponent that i don't support certain things in health care she's talking about issues that are already settled i think it's quite rich to hear the fact that she is the one that broke the health care system as the deciding vote on the affordable care act that has driven the cost of everything up when it comes to child care i have led on this issue i first was on the early childhood committee when i was first in the legislature looking at modernizing the family child care rules and costs and why we were losing so many family child care providers but i think it is also very interesting people want to know why is child care harder to find and more affordable child care is the area that has some of the biggest fraud here in the state of minnesota you have not heard my opponent differ from one policy bill that tim walls who she calls an incredible governor has allowed to go forward i would love to hear one bill one area child care fraudulent funding i would love to hear that if she has separated herself specifically from tim walls tim walls allowed the child care fraud and other fraud here in the state of minnesota to explode to nine billion dollars never firing any of his commissioners or agency employees but yet you have someone standing here tonight that is supporting everything from the incredible governor as she has said he is senator you requested your 30 [00:35:02] Amy Klobuchar: seconds rewind the tape on this debate please and you will see exactly how i said i differed from tim walls including i would have caught the fraud and done something about it but since my opponent has raised the issue of health care let me note something else she had the opportunity to cap insulin at 35 bucks a month for everyone that needs it in our state instead they came up with a band-aid which was an emergency amount for one month of insulin and the mother of alex smith who died trying to ration his insulin who worked at a restaurant in the suburbs of the twin cities is supporting me and has deeply criticized for her i have worked to bring down the cost of insulin we've done it for seniors i'm going to do it in minnesota so please don't talk to me about bringing down costs of health care when you in fact wouldn't even take the opportunity to bring down the cost of insulin when you could have done that is time speaker you also [00:35:59] Speaker 3: wish to respond thank you very much just to clarify a very incorrect or untruthful lie that you just heard was the fact that i did vote yes for the alex smith insulin bill back in april of 2020 the governor signed it into law the very next day the loss of life was absolutely tragic what you also heard from my opponent is her inability to differ or say anything different about tim walls as she has called him an incredible governor who has delivered for the people of minnesota not a single policy have you [00:36:34] Speaker 2: heard that there's any difference candidates i can't allow further rebuttals on this topic [00:36:38] Amy Klobuchar: made an untrue allegation that your viewers have seen for themselves i disagree with tim walls on fraud i wouldn't have pardoned the sex offender i would have put the money we are going to move on to the next question how you use your time is different from is your prerogative in the next [00:36:53] Speaker 1: response about where she differs from donald trump this question is for speaker dameth first minnesota law says home care nursing shall be covered for people with both private insurance and medical assistance some insurers have recently capped coverage for children who depend on nursing to stay alive at home would you direct the department of commerce to do anything to address their needs [00:37:15] Speaker 3: when we have uh people in our families that are struggling and need that home care nursing it is incredibly important and this is a very very difficult and tough issue i know that is top of mind for a number of families people of minnesota residents of minnesota and their children i have sat and i've been a part of meetings where the department of commerce is looking at this there's insurers that are looking at this and of course the families you know i just lost my dad earlier this year and although it's a little different it comes to that care and how desperately we need it we had hospice for my dad and how important that is but when we're looking at both the availability in the medical professional whether it's hospice or home nursing care we have to provide for patients and i'm willing to do that and we can work along with the department of commerce and the insurers to make sure that patients are getting what they need but i would never ever want to say that someone that needs the care shouldn't get it we need to find a way forward i think that's a top of mind issue as a part of the whole health care discussion discussion going forward but the compassion that i feel for families struggling with this matters very very much to me and i will continue to look for resources and solutions to make it better for our families that are struggling senator klobuchar [00:38:42] Amy Klobuchar: i always believe that the issue of long-term care and care for those with disabilities is kind of the elephant in the room that no one wants to deal with our state has done a better job than some states but there is clearly so much more work that we can do when it comes to this i think there's things we can do with red tape and making it easier to get health care coverage and making it easier to be able to build more facilities and the like you literally have to go through a whole process just to be able to get a new carpeting or a new light fixture for a care facility and that's just wrong so part of my whole top to bottom audit is going to look at how can we make things easier for people and make it easier for you to afford your lives especially those who are the most vulnerable and need it the most but i will go back to what i asked at the last question and that is while i have from the very beginning of this campaign and our race against each other made it very clear how i differ from tim walls but my opponent literally on a public radio station said that she can't think of any way that she differs from donald trump yet he has just endorsed her for this race for governor so i would like to know because i don't think we need a rubber stamp of donald trump in the governor's office i think we need someone who can get things done for you and look out for you and not him and one of his top donors who is financing her ads who is a billionaire out of wisconsin who by the way is a packers fan an important point uh speaker you [00:40:24] Speaker 3: asked for a rebuttal there absolutely um i think when we look at where our state is at and the things that matter to minnesota again it was decisions that were made here in the state that has exploded the fraud uh and driven businesses out of our state because of an uncertain uh environment in which they could start as far as the war in iran i've been very clear about talking about the that it needs to come to an end soon i have also separated when it comes to bring in uh foreign beef and some of the other tariffs our top trading partner is canada what we have not yet heard is from senator klobuchar where she differs on a policy or a bill that governor walls has put into place she still calls him an incredible governor who has delivered for the people of minnesota my question for minnesotans is your [00:41:13] Speaker 2: life better than it was eight years ago that is your time speaker senator did you wish to respond there [00:41:18] Amy Klobuchar: yeah well i guess i had to quote an old old story from walter mondale where's the beef i care about beef too but when you look at what's happening to people in minnesota with their health care when you look at what's happening to people right now with their tariffs that's the best you can come up with i literally can't believe it the war in iran you waited and waited and waited until those gas prices were up over four bucks a gallon and then you then suddenly summon the courage to be able to take on the president in one way i just don't think that's what we want in the governor's office you literally said christy gnome showed steady leadership when three thousand ice agents descended onto the streets of our state that is your time we need someone who's willing to work with people but also stand up [00:42:06] Speaker 2: when he does some really bad stuff i'd like to move now to gang violence please stacy [00:42:14] Speaker 5: thank you more than and then this question going to senator klobuchar first more than 40 local state and federal law enforcement agencies have agreed to a framework and identified resources for responding to recent gang and group violence in minnesota what is your message as governor to public safety and [00:42:32] Amy Klobuchar: addressing these ongoing concerns this is very serious and my experience as a prosecutor running the biggest prosecutor's office in the state of minnesota for eight years is going to make a big difference here we had a gang unit we went after gangsters and i know what needs to be done i put out a full plan with standing with john choi the ramsey county attorney and police chiefs and what we need to do here is make clear that gangsters have no place in minnesota that starts with working with the bureau of criminal apprehension as you just outlined using all everything they have at their power to help people and law enforcement agencies that need it that means more police officers we are literally going to be 1 000 officers we are now 1 000 officers short and that's going to double so finding pathways to policing like they've done in bloomington with chief brooker hodges where he has a full out police force because he has been able to recruit people from other lines of work which is going to be really important for them to pursue this having benefits and having salaries that respect the dignity of the work that our police officers do all of this is going to matter for bringing down gang violence for somali gangs and any gangs in our state speaker dameth i am the only candidate standing before you [00:43:58] Speaker 3: tonight that is endorsed by law enforcement the minneapolis uh uh federation of police has endorsed me i have always supported law enforcement i have never aligned myself with other representatives like my opponent has uh congresswoman ilhan omar my opponent has endorsed her attorney general ellison my opponent has endorsed him and they have been part of the defund the police movement i've always supported police officers and law enforcement across our state after the explosion of the somali gang violence that we've seen that took place outside a homecoming football game in eden prairie outside of a basketball net at our lady of grace in edina threats to the mall of america i wanted to make sure i didn't want just a campaign stop or a picture or talking about it i pulled together about 20 people for a round table no press was invited i would approach the press later but i wanted solutions there were school officials there were law enforcement there was uh community members and what we know is when law enforcement is able to do the jobs that they've been called to do and that they want to do and they're supported by prosecutors that will prosecute criminals and judges that will uphold the law our problems could be taken care of in very short order i have a gang task force that will be comprised of state local and federal officials to get a hold of this and make our state safer and that will be statewide ongoing not just a response to a current tragedy senator 30 seconds to respond my opponent's well aware that [00:45:43] Amy Klobuchar: the two major police unions fraternal order of police and the minnesota peace and police officers have stayed out of this race because presumably they have respect for both of us when in the other races they endorse the republicans the other thing she knows that i received the major sheriff's award this year the only award for my work with law enforcement to make sure they get the benefits they deserve but what she hasn't told you is that she had the families in their living room the moist keys of little harper moist key that was killed when those bullets rained through the stained glass windows at annunciation church she told them she would give a vote give a vote for the gun safety package allow for a vote no matter how she voted on it and she did not she lied to them in the center that is your time room and i think that matters [00:46:32] Speaker 3: as well when it comes to gun safe speaker you requested a quick 30 seconds to respond i did absolutely i want to correct something here and uh gang violence public safety and school safety matters very much to me i'm a mom of four kids that were in a community the recording community when we experienced a gun violence and tragedy in our own school what we were talking about then was the need for mental health supports called bullying when that happened and i have done that when i had the honor of meeting with the families that were highly impacted by the tragedy at annunciation i gave them my word i would not lie to them but i said bills will be introduced they will go through the process and they will be voted on that happened eight times speaker that is your time word to hear the bills we do need to move on to many [00:47:23] Speaker 2: farmers watching tonight an important agriculture question next farmers are facing soaring fertilizer [00:47:29] Speaker 6: fertilizer excuse me and diesel costs due to the war in iran just this week president donald trump announced a new eight billion dollar aid package for farmers it is similar to a 12 billion dollar aid package comprised of one-time payments that went out in december to help remedy expenses from tariffs what specifically would you do as governor to help minnesota farmers navigate these uncertain times and [00:47:54] Speaker 2: and candidates due to time constraints i'm going to offer you both one minute to respond here [00:47:59] Speaker 3: house speaker dame thank you uh agriculture here in the state of minnesota is so important to our entire economy it's one of the lowest areas that we invest in the state i'm looking forward to increasing that budget when it comes to agriculture so that we can support our farmers and producers across the state some of the things though that i will also do is looking for new markets so that we can expand the products that are here permitting reform has held up a lot of work in the agriculture community so bringing down the time of permitting i also want to know that we can ink approve and make it a little bit easier for the things we can control property tax uh the energy cost those are things that we can control here at the state level where things are being figured out at the federal level as the war comes to an end we know also that the death tax hurts our farmers it hurts everyone in minnesota they can't pick up their farms and move so the death tax is something that we absolutely need to make changes to supporting agriculture is something i have and always will do senator well without a check on donald trump this war [00:49:10] Amy Klobuchar: is not coming to an end soon as people go to the ballot box they better think about that when it comes to our farmers i believe that we need to find new markets for them as the speaker mentioned but to me that means things like sustainable aviation fuel bioproducts it also means international markets and since donald trump has started a trade war with practically every country in the world as governor i'm going to do sub-national agreements which we can do with provinces say in canada and open up new markets because it is so necessary right now because of this assault on agriculture i'm going to look at the tax system and how it affects our farmers and look at exemptions for things like fencing and grain bins and some smart things we can do for new and beginning farmers our farmers as they have told me are experiencing in their words a perfect storm of ugly because of donald trump's tariffs i will do everything [00:50:05] Speaker 7: to reverse them all right our next next topic in communities across minnesota including hermantown up north and locally in southeast minnesota in pine island google has proposed building data centers creating support and backlash as governor how would you address big tech proposals to build ai data centers in small municipalities across the state we're going to start with you senator klobuchar [00:50:28] Amy Klobuchar: so i believe that we need local control when it comes to data centers that is first and foremost the most important thing so local communities are the ones deciding this secondly the legislature passed a bill on a bipartisan basis with democrats and republicans that did provide some protections and that's good because people can't be hosed on their electric bill that's going to be the first thing i look at they can't have to pay for infrastructure that a company is getting the benefit of and they have to have their water protected but there is one thing and that is that these negotiations have been cloaked in secrecy and we need to not have non-disclosure agreements when it comes to them so that people actually understand what's happening before it's too late and unfortunately my opponent blocked the consideration of the non-disclosure agreement bill when it came before the legislature i have a record of being ahead of my time when it's taking on tech ted cruz and i actually passed the only ai bill so far in the congress about taking down porn and going after some of these tech companies and making them take it down or they face consequences i'm going to continue doing that work as a governor but i think the best thing we do is to pass a data privacy bill in washington and to get some things done there but i'm eager to work with the legislature on improving the law that was passed speaker your response data [00:51:51] Speaker 3: centers are something that are not new but the controversy and the discussions around them have really escalated over the last couple of years i'm proud of the work that we did in the legislature this year making sure that we were protecting consumer energy prices that means that consumer energy prices will not increase because of a data center now what the senator and i agree on is the local control issue these are issues that should be determined by local government we have to protect our environment but having that local input and transparency is very important as those decisions are being made i am proud of the work that happened in the legislature over the last two years you'll hear people talk about being bipartisan and it is uh history making in the fact that i am the most bipartisan speaker in the state of minnesota we were in the tie in the house of representatives everything that was passed this last year over two years was bipartisan and i'm very proud of that work bringing democrats and republicans [00:52:57] Speaker 7: together our next topic is copper nickel mining that is a very contentious issue both at the federal and state level do you support the executive action taken this summer by governor tim walls to ban copper nickel mining across a large area of superior national forest near the bwca how would you address it if you were to become governor we're going to start with you speaker dameth one minute for this [00:53:19] Speaker 3: question uh the executive order that was set by governor walls was something that should never have happened but he has the authority to do it interesting that ban on mining and reviewing all permitting he didn't just do it until he's out of office at the end of this year he extended it for 90 days i have said very clearly that i will rescind that executive order i believe with our regulatory environment and the regulatory stringent things that we have going forward we can look at mining and mining is not taking place in the boundary waters we can look at mining safely here in the state of minnesota safer than any place else in the country and that's what we need to do we need to allow that work to go forward it provides good jobs it's an economic boost for the iron range and as we saw the loss of steel production because of the uncertainty here in our business climate we now have steel being trucked out of minnesota into iowa to be finished into a finished product where we could have kept that here the uncertainty from the walls administration has caused us caused us to lose six thousand that is time speaker [00:54:29] Amy Klobuchar: thank you senator klobuchar i have made clear that i will protect the boundary waters and my votes in washington show that when there was an unprecedented maneuver to try to hurt not just the boundary waters but all public land i will look forward to reviewing the executive order and i'll make a decision on that after i become governor if you give me your trust when it comes to mining i have the endorsement of the steel workers i have the endorsement of the building traits and they are strongly behind me because they know i have been with the workers on the iron range through thick and thin through hard times and good times there are all kinds of potential projects including the new mine that is just opening in nashwalk that will be hundreds and hundreds of jobs then we've got other potential on the iron range and that means everything from geothermal in northern minnesota to helium to hydrogen to the work that we can do on an energy future that i'm actually really excited about is adding more energy to the grid working up in northern minnesota with the legislators on this and bringing down costs for the people up there that's where my roots are that's where my heart is one last question before closings ladies plenty [00:55:41] Speaker 1: contentious moments in this debate let's go for some kumbaya here what is one policy of your opponent that you either fully agree with or you'd be willing to work across the aisle with her as governor 20 seconds [00:55:52] Amy Klobuchar: each briefly senator thank you very good well i think that you heard that both of us are breast cancer survivors and i know that the speaker's done some work in this area and i would be very excited to work with her on everything from breast cancer screenings to making sure that we find a cure when it comes to [00:56:13] Speaker 3: cancer and i appreciate her work on it and i will also agree so you do see a little bit of agreement here that working on cancer screenings and uh the research that is needed to finally end cancer is something that i would look forward to working on together thank you both we've reached the final [00:56:30] Speaker 2: moments of tonight's debate no matter the outcome of the election this stands to be a historic moment for the state preparing to welcome minnesota's first female governor please consider incorporating a bit about this into your final remarks tonight following that coin flip we mentioned earlier speaker you will begin you each have one minute for your closing statement it has been an honor to be in front of you [00:56:52] Speaker 3: and be able to answer questions together i just want to get a couple of things out in the last minute i'm a regular minnesotan born and raised here never thought i would be running for governor but i'm here to look forward to serve you that means if elected as your next governor i would be working for the people of minnesota i have respected taxpayer dollars i have respected the work of the people that i've worked along with and very different from my opponent who it is on record has been very disrespectful and demeaning with people in her own workforce that is not the culture that i want to set i want to set a culture that will turn the state around protect taxpayer dollars end fraud improve our education make sure people know that we are open for business and i look forward to serving if given the opportunity your trust in me as the first female governor here in the state of minnesota and the first black woman to serve as governor of any state in the united states speaker thank you senator tonight has made one thing [00:58:02] Amy Klobuchar: clear and that is that we need a leader who's going to put minnesota first yes this is historic i've been the first woman county attorney the first woman when i served in the u.s senate for minnesota and i'd like to be your first governor but i don't do it because i want to be the first woman i do it because i want to get results for all of you and when you look at our two records and i ask you to go to my website because these negative ads including one that fox itself looked at of my opponent and found a one lie every 10 seconds in 30 seconds they have polluted our politics they are paid for by one billionaire in wisconsin but what i want to make clear when it comes to women i don't think we want our first woman governor to be someone that has such an extreme view that would ban women's health care in the case of reproductive health care with no exceptions for rape or incest and send doctors to jail it is in writing in her plan that is extreme and we have enough extreme things in our politics right now you may have different views on abortion but not many people think we should send doctors to jail so i am asking you look at my plans i want to bring down costs i'm excited to work on cutting through that red tape and bringing back trust by rooting out the fraud thank you and i ask for your support thank you to [00:59:24] Speaker 2: both of our candidates for their taking part tonight thanks also to our panelists and to you our viewers for watching the general election is tuesday november 3rd early voting in the state of minnesota as we know is underway right now thank you and good night [00:59:59] Speaker ?: you