DFL candidate for Minnesota's 1st Congressional District visits New Ulm.

NEW ULM — Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District DFL candidate Rachel Bohman visited New Ulm Tuesday.

Bohman is a Rochester native. She is a former Assistant County Attorney in Olmsted County and a former Rochester Township Board member. Bohman decided to run for the congress after seeing a lack of progress.

“I feel congress is at a standstill and not they are getting the work done,” she said.

Bohman sees current Republican candidate Brad Finstad as part of the problem, saying many of his votes were far to the right and created partisan conflict.

Bohman specifically cited Finstad’s vote against the infrastructure bill and the inability to pass a 2024 farm bill as the greatest disappointment.

“I was pretty disappointed when he voted against the infrastructure bill which included funding the New Ulm Airport,” she said. The infrastructure bill also included provisions for roads and water improvements. Bohman said for many southern Minnesota townships safe roads and access to safe water are top issues.

Bohman was not confident the 2024 farm bill would pass this year because partisan politics had stalled it after it passed the House Ag Committee. She said changes to the bill had removed SNAP funding, climate change policies, and crop insurance benefited southern crops more than northern. Insurance went up for southern crops peanuts, cotton, and rice but did not expand as much for corn or soybeans.

Having no farm bill is a concern for Bohman because it creates an uncertain future for farmers.

“Farmers need to know how to plan for their future,” she said. “it is a huge part of their economy.”

Immigration was another top concern for Bohman.

“I hear a lot about immigration,” she said. “There seems to be a discrepancy between how many are here undocumented.”

Bohman said she supported creating an expedited legal pathway to citizenship as it would benefit the economy.

“Many people coming to the country are helping our economy grow; especially in some of our southern Minnesota cities like Worthington, Faribault, St. James,” she said. “We would not be able to survive without people coming and working here.”

She wanted to find common ground on immigration and was against using fear-mongering about undocumented people.

“That’s not going to serve our country,” she said.

Another major topic in this election cycle was women’s reproductive rights.

“I really firmly believe in protecting women’s reproductive health and making sure women have the right to make decisions about their bodies with their physicians,” she said.

Bohman said there were many in the district concerned about reproductive rights. Coming from Rochesters, she knows many physicians with colleagues in southern states that are put into difficult legal situations.

“There are laws being created that physicians do not know how to operate and are worried about being criminally prosecuted,” she said. “it really impacts what physicians can and cannot do.”

On healthcare as a whole, Bohman said there were two big issues. The first was where people go for long-term care. The second was the affordability of healthcare.

“I think our healthcare system is broken in a lot of ways,” she said. “I would love to see the ability for family physician offices to open in smaller communities.”

She also suggested using telehealth technology as a backup method for healthcare access.

On economic issues like inflation, Bohman wanted to protect citizens from large businesses that are price gouging. She was a huge proponent of small businesses as a push for economic growth. Bohman praised New Ulm as a strong example of economic development and local government working together.

“You can see Main Street is thriving,” she said. “There is a reason for that.”

She also praised New Ulm’s approach to the day care shortage by creating a pod model.

“I love that model,” she said. “That to me is the sweet spot.”

In campaigning across the district, Bohman believes one of the top issues for voters is getting a congress that can work together.

“Mostly what I hear is they just want Congress to work again,” she said. “They don’t want Congress to play these games of going after cabinet members and constantly attacking the other side. They want Congress to function and to find common ground.”

Bohman believed the secret to success was taking small steps.

Bohman said in 2010 she was working with the Humphrey Institute. They were trying to find a way to pass a state election bill. Members from the state house, senate and other stakeholders were brought in and over several sessions were able to reach a compromise.

“Nobody got everything they wanted,” she said “but we made a little bit more progress and we passed the first election bill that had been stagnant for 10 years.”

Bohman believed the name-calling and personal attacks were not beneficial in Congress.

“I feel this district wants someone to be accessible to them, listen to them, hear their concerns and I am willing to be that person for the district,” she said.