At the Minnesota State Fair, underdog candidates find an even playing field

Chip Tangen is sure to lose in November. He’s the Libertarian candidate for secretary of state.

But there he is in the blazing heat at the Minnesota State Fair, waving to passersby and handing out campaign fliers with the enthusiasm of a candidate sailing to victory.

The State Fair offers a unique opportunity to reach tens of thousands of voters for underdog candidates without well-funded campaigns or armies of volunteers — like minor party candidates, as well as Republicans running in indigo blue Minneapolis or Democrats in ruby red regions of greater Minnesota.

“It’s a good equalizer,” Tangen said at his post in front of the Libertarian Party stand. “Right next door is (GOP Attorney General candidate) Ron Schutz and then just beyond that is my opponent Tad Jude. We’re all talking on an equal basis with people.”

For Tangen, the state fairgrounds played a critical role in getting on the ballot to begin with. Minor party candidates for statewide office must collect 2,000 signatures, a threshold Tangen failed to clear in his campaign four years ago. Earlier this year, however, he and his wife attended an event at the fairgrounds and collected a few hundred in one fell swoop.

It may not close yawning gaps, but it does advance the goals many candidates pursue in longshot bids: promoting their ideas, injecting some more competition into our democracy and building support for others in the party.

Raising awareness about the plight of third-party candidates is the centerpiece of Tangen’s campaign. He thinks the state makes it too difficult to get on the ballot, which entrenches the two-party system and leaves voters with fewer choices.

“I do want to get the attention of one Minnesotan in particular, and his name is (Secretary of State) Steve Simon,” Tangen said. “I hope he stops by my booth, and we can have a conversation about ballot access laws.”

Tangen used to be a Republican. He worked for U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, who represented Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District for nearly two decades. Now he’s more of a swing voter longing for a viable alternative to the GOP and DFL.

Independent candidates can win, Tangen contends, citing former Gov. Jesse Ventura, though Ventura had the benefit of fame from his years on television performing piledrivers and power slams in the wrestling ring.

Tangen draws people to his party booth near the Department of Natural Resource’s native fish pond with the chance to win a prize by spinning a wheel with all 201 legislative races listed. If they land on the one with more than two candidates, they win a yellow bracelet. Everyone loves fair freebies.

Like a rigged ball toss game on the Mighty Midway, however, the odds are low: Just six legislative seats have a third-party candidate this year. There’s a better chance of landing on one of the 19 legislative races with only one candidate running.

All 19 candidates running unopposed are Democrats, who for the first time in history have fielded a candidate in all 201. It’s a remarkable feat that should help bolster their odds in statewide races by giving Democrats in red districts another reason to get to the polls.

“It’s because of our oppressive ballot access laws,” Tangen said.

‘The reverse door knock’

Doug Chapin estimates he shook about 1,000 hands each day he’s been at the fair in his bid to represent the 6th Congressional District, a seat held by powerful U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer since 2015.

“As a candidate, it’s kind of the ultimate hustle play,” Chapin said. “It’s like a reverse door knock.”

His greatest achievement from campaigning at the State Fair is likely to be his first-place prize in the animal calling contest at the Moo Booth  — not a seat in Congress. He received 10s across the board for his cow moo, beating out a slew of other local “celebrities” like a roller derby player and a Princess Kay of the Milky Way finalist.

Chapin isn’t offended by being called a longshot candidate. He knows Emmer, the 3rd ranking Republican in Congress, has won re-election five times with about 62% of the vote.

But Chapin also has the hallmark optimism of the underdog.

“As someone who’s studied election returns through the years, that’s a really soft 62%,” Chapin said. “I think it’s as much a function of the Democrats not actually running anybody trying to win.”

Chapin spent his career in elections policy and administration, overseeing the elections team at The Pew Charitable Trusts and founding a program in election administration at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

He believes the district can be flipped, and his campaign is laying the groundwork, if not for this November then in 2028. He’s already committed to running again.

He points out that the district is rapidly growing and changing, and that Republicans face significant headwinds in the midterms with an unpopular president in the White House. He counted 33,000 people who voted for Sen. Amy Klobuchar in 2024 but not for a candidate in the 6th Congressional District race. If they voted for him, that could make him competitive.

“Folks out here are ready for something better,” Chapin said. “The goal is to win, but we’re looking to change the fortunes of Democrats across the district.”

Long odds, high hopes

John Nagel rejects the premise that he’s an underdog in his race against Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar in the 5th Congressional District, even though she’s won her last two general elections with 74% of the vote.

“People need change. They need a normal guy,” Nagel said. “They need someone who grew up here.” (Omar moved to Minnesota at age 14.)

Wearing a denim shirt with the state seal (the old one, of course) and a Lisa Demuth for governor pin, Nagel shook hands with voters perusing a table of free Minnesota state flags (the old ones, of course) and Alpha News hand fans at the Minnesota GOP booth.

He’s running on his Minnesota roots and experience as a state trooper of 30 years.

Nagel says he’s more of an independent than a Republican, despite having voted for President Trump three times. In Congress, he wouldn’t show favoritism to one party or the other, he said, likening his approach to the State Patrol, when he worked with Democrats and Republicans.

Case in point: Last time he was at the State Fair, he says he and another man rushed to help a person who collapsed in a seizure. The other man turned out to be the younger brother of Dean Phillips, the former Democratic congressman. The two got the person in an ambulance to receive medical care, proving to Nagel that bipartisanship is still possible.

“Troopers are different. We expect everybody to do their job, to do it well. And if you screw up, you’re going to be held accountable,” Nagel said.

But even with decades of law enforcement experience and his promise to tell it like it is, he had little to say about the conduct of the roughly 3,000 federal agents who descended on Minnesota during the immigration crackdown. He said some things could have been handled differently but couldn’t pass judgment.

“As a state patrol lieutenant, if somebody did something wrong … I will wait until the time the investigation is done,” he said

And the Trump administration blocking state law enforcement from participating in the investigations of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti?

“I’m not going to second guess it,” Nagel said.

Nagel was approached by a young woman for a hug — the granddaughter of a former officer with whom Nagel walked the Minneapolis beat. She would vote for him, if she only lived in his district.