House District 5A and Senate District 5 Candidates Debate on Lakeland PBS

Our state legislative debates continued tonight on Lakeland PBS with a focus on District 5. Our debates this year are being done using the Zoom platform with candidates participating remotely.

In House District 5A, incumbent DFLer John Persell faced former Republican Representative Matt Bliss. These two met in a very close 2018 election with Persell winning by 11 votes. Tonight, they debated many issues, including the Line 3 pipeline, where they agreed and shared support for the project – well, kind of.

Our second debate tonight was for the two candidates seeking to win the Senate District 5 seat. Republican incumbent Justin Eichorn faced DFL candidate and current Bemidji mayor Rita Albrecht. One topic they discussed, with the Leech Lake Indian Reservation running through District 5, was tribal relations.

Local debates resume on Lakeland PBS on Thursday night when we shift our attention to the southern portion of our viewing area. At 8 PM, we’ll have the District 9 Senate debate between incumbent Republican Senator Paul Gazelka and DFL challenger John Peters. That will be followed at 9 PM by the House 9A debate between incumbent Republican Representative John Poston and DFLer Alex Hering.