ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota's Second Congressional District Rep. Angie Craig made her case for a fourth term in Congress Friday during a debate with her Republican challenger, Joe Teirab.
The debate, hosted by MPR News and moderated by MPR's politics editor Brian Bakst, took place at noon inside the public media outlet's St. Paul studios and lasted about an hour.
The 2024 contest between Democrat Craig and Republican Teirab is considered highly competitive — and contentious — as both candidates vie for votes in communities extending from the southern Twin Cities metro to just north of Mankato.
Craig was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018 and subsequently won re-election in 2020 and 2022. Meanwhile, Teirab has experience in the Marines as a JAG officer and most recently served as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota.
Friday's debate largely focused on the basic issues most important to voters: the economy, abortion, immigration, foreign policy and health care.
On the economy, Craig defended her record in Congress and highlighted a bill she supported in Washington to have a federal task force investigate high consumer prices.
"This is an area — gas prices, grocery prices, prescription drug costs — that I've been laser-focused on as the member of Congress from the 2nd District," Craig said.
Teirab, however, made a concerted effort to tie Craig to the Biden-Harris administration.
"You talk about these bills you've worked on. Fine and good," he said. "But the main issue is the economy and high prices, and you have failed."
The issue of abortion is where Craig made her most pointed attacks on Teirab.
"All women in America are asking for is the freedom to do what they think is right for them, too. That's what freedom is all about," Craig said. "Look, Joe Teirab is an anti-abortion activist. In college, he was in a pro-life organization. He's on the board of a pregnancy crisis center."
But Teirab said his views on abortion are informed by his own mother's experience being pregnant with him, and he denied that he would support any kind of federal legislation banning abortion nationwide. As the Dobbs decision allowed, he said states should be able to set their own policies.
"You want to confuse voters about my stance. I support the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother — you shake your head as if that's not the case," Teirab said.
On issues such as immigration and foreign policy, Teirab also drew an association between Craig and the Biden-Harris administration, saying they had all collectively not gotten the job done.
"Have you gotten results? No, you have not," Teirab said.
In response, Craig — who was among the first to call for Biden to step aside — painted herself as a moderate willing to provide a more independent and bipartisan voice in Washington.
"It feels very much like you want to be running against a different Democrat, but I've got bad news for you," Craig said. "You're running against me."