Minnesota Republican fires back after Dem Party targets her candidacy on day 1: ‘I will never be cancelled’

FIRST ON FOX: Jennifer Carnihan, widow of the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn., and former chair of the state’s Republican Get together, responded after the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Get together (MN DFL) attacked her on the very first day of her candidacy. The occasion highlighted a intercourse trafficking scandal involving a former donor and office claims towards Carnahan, who condemned what she claimed was a “double commonplace” towards her.

“The MN DFL is clearly involved about my candidacy, given my robust help in southern Minnesota,” Carnahan stated in a Tuesday assertion first launched to Fox Information Digital following her marketing campaign announcement and the Democratic assault Monday. “My husband made historical past in 2018 when he flipped a US Home seat from blue to purple; and beneath my tenure we grew our occasion, retired $1 million in debt, flipped three US Home seats from blue to purple and turned Minnesota right into a nationwide battleground state for the 2020 Presidential election. I am happy with the good successes we had in Minnesota throughout my chairmanship.”

Carnahan claimed that the Democrats singled her out as a result of she contradicts their identification politics narrative.

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“As an adopted Korean, minority girl with a robust conservative report, I undermine the identification politics Democrats have come to rely on,” she stated. “Every part they are saying girls and minorities are deprived in doing, I’ve accomplished. By means of my experiences, and really due to them, I stay an ardent conservative and proud supporter of President Donald J. Trump.”

“The left has tried to cancel me earlier than, however I’ll by no means be canceled,” Carnahan declared. “I can’t be intimidated by them, or any within the Republican institution responsible of the identical. I’ll by no means settle for the double-standards or guilt-by-association they’re so desperately trying to assault me with. Voters can already see by their determined makes an attempt, however I’ll by no means cease preventing to protect my husband’s legacy.”

Carnahan introduced her candidacy for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District on Monday, operating to exchange her husband, Hagedorn, who died final month. The particular election major will happen on Might 24.

Hours after she introduced her candidacy, DFL Get together Chairman Ken Martin launched an announcement condemning her.

Rep.-elect Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn., is seen after the freshman class photograph on the East Entrance of the Capitol on Nov. 14, 2018. 
(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Name)

“It was not way back that Jennifer Carnahan needed to resign in shame as Chairwoman of the Minnesota Republican Get together after her full and complete mismanagement of the group turned public,” Martin stated.

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“First, a political ally and shut pal of Carnahan’s was indicted for baby intercourse trafficking,” he famous. “Then, 4 of Carnahan’s former government administrators accused her of fostering a poisonous work atmosphere, different staffers accused Carnahan of turning a blind eye to sexual harassment, and one more staffer stated she was outed towards her needs by Carnahan and subsequently harassed.”

“Jennifer Carnahan’s management skill has been fully discredited by those that labored most intently together with her,” Martin concluded. “It’s clear that Carnahan has no enterprise serving in any elected workplace in any way.”

Carnahan did ineed resign as occasion chair after a federal grand jury indicted outstanding Republican fundraiser and podcast co-host Anton Lazzaro on baby intercourse trafficking costs In Aug. 2021. Carnahan condemned Lazzaro and pledged to donate to charity all funds he had given her. 

Carnahan addressed Martin’s claims in an announcement to Fox Information Digital.

“A donor did some unhealthy issues which I condemned instantly,” she stated. “The query nobody appears to ask is why I used to be singled out, regardless of different candidates, organizations, and nationwide leaders from Minnesota additionally having accepted 1000’s of {dollars} of his contributions. There’s clearly a double commonplace at play right here. It’s time to maneuver on.” 

She additionally dismissed the accusation that she had turned a blind eye to sexual harassment.

“Throughout my tenure as chair there have been two sexual harassment studies made,” Carnahan famous. “We took these studies significantly, investigated and terminated two workers inside days. As a girl who has been sexually harassed myself, I’d by no means tolerate this habits. To insinuate in any other case is totally incorrect.”

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Carnahan turned the primary Asian American girl elected to run both main occasion in Minnesota, serving because the state’s Republican Get together chair from 2017-2021. Underneath her management, the Minnesota GOP paid off $1 million in debt and flipped three Home seats – Minnesota’s 1st and eighth Congressional Districts in 2018 and the seventh Congressional District in 2020 – from blue to purple. Hagedorn represented the first Congressional District from 2019 to 2022.

No fewer than seven Republicans have entered the race, together with one former state consultant and two present state representatives. 5 candidates have entered the Democratic Farmer Labor Get together major, together with Richard Painter, a former White Home ethics lawyer beneath President George W. Bush, and Jeffrey Ettinger, former CEO of Hormel Meals.