Baxter native and Democrat Quinn Nystrom announced her candidacy for Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District on Thursday. Nystrom is the first Democrat to announce her candidacy for the 2020 election. Republican Congressman Pete Stauber is currently the Representative for Minnesota’s 8^th Congressional District.

On Thursday, Nystrom held a campaign kickoff event at Whipple Park in Baxter to announce her candidacy. Nystrom was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 13, and her campaign focuses on affordable health care as well as fighting against rising insulin costs in Minnesota.

“It’s important to me that I’m not just talking to Democrats, that I talk to people of all political stripes,” said Nystrom. “My number one thing is affordable health care; for the past 23 years, I have committed my life to standing up for people who have pre-existing conditions, we need to stand up to pharmaceutical companies, we need to stand up to the health insurance companies, and that’s what I have been fighting for my whole entire life and that’s what I’m going to do if you elect me to Congress.”

Nystrom will be starting her campaign this weekend in the Duluth area where she will be attending several events all weekend long and getting out to meet people in the community.

By — Chaz Mootz