Steve Gander (R) and Mike Christopherson (DFL) are the candidates for the Minnesota House of Representatives for District 1B. KROX asked a few questions of the candidates and what they had to say is below.
Q: Tell us about yourself and your family.
Steve: I have a wife named Rosalyn, and she and I have been married for 34 years. We have two grown sons, Tom, who is 31, and John, who is 28. Tom is married to his wife Bailey, and they have two kids and one on the way. So, I have a grandson and a granddaughter, and I know I also have a little granddaughter on the way.
Mike: I was born in Renton, Washington, right out of Seattle. I’m 54 years old, but my parents were from here; they graduated from Crookston Central in 1964, got married, started a family, I attended UMC when it was a two-year school, and went off to Moorhead State and met Michelle. We were together for years and years before we got married. I got a job at the Times. Michelle’s career took off when we got here, and we realized life is really great here. The golf is cheap, and there are lakes nearby, so we stayed. We have two sons: Ethan will be 26 soon, and Trey just turned 23.
Q: Why are you running?
Steve: You know, I don’t have very many regrets in life. Usually, I get an idea, and if that idea stays and lingers, I act on it. That’s how I feel we can go forward and live without regret. Really, my only regret is that I never served in the military. Talking to veterans, and I have immense gratitude for veterans; many of them are my patients talking to them and thanking them for their service and telling them about this one regret that I have, and they say, you know there are many ways to serve this great country, you find another way. It’s just giving back; it’s patriotism on a local level, and I’m hoping to extend that to a regional level and serve this great area.
Mike: People make a joke; why doesn’t it say Mike Christopherson on your signs? It’s because I’m proud of my family, and everyone knows my wife, people know me, they know our sons, and if it’s the person before party, then voters will be like, I know Mike, I know he’s a good guy, I know Michelle, she’s a great person and I know the boys and they are strong for this region. Maybe some voters disagree with me on some issues but when it comes to that personal decision, with your pen and your ballot, I’m going to vote for Mike even though I disagree with him on some things.
Q: What previous experiences will help you if you win?
Steve: I served on the City Council, probably close to 20 years ago, as a Council Member At Large. I finished a term and was re-elected for a second term, and then my wife and I talked about it, and we just stepped back to raise a couple of teenage sons. Then, eight years ago, I was elected mayor of East Grand Forks. I told them if you all want me, I will give you two terms, and then four years later if you all want me, I will give you one more term, and here we are at the end of that.
Mike: I was at the Times for 24 years total, three years in the middle, I actually was out here at UMC. All those years, being at every event you can imagine, every school board meeting, City Council Meeting, County Board Meeting, and Court Trial, with my laptop, with my notebook, with my recorder, I was the watchdog. You know, around here, you need to be the watchdog, keep an eye on the powers that be. Did I know a ton about everything? No, but I knew a bit about everything, pretty much. I resigned in the summer of 2021, and Michelle says, what are you going to do now? I said I’m going to teach. I’m a tier-one teacher at Fisher. You want to talk about getting out of your comfort zone? I got out of my comfort zone. I’m using a whole different side of my brain and seeing the world through a whole different lens.
Q: Are there any issues/topics that you are concerned about?
Steve: My number one concern is the divide that’s opened up between the north and south of our state. I cannot tell you how many people have said something like, hey, can we just cut the state in half, and we can be the North, and they can be the South? That’s a tragedy that’s been driven by the radical agenda of the metro elected officials who happen to be dominantly Democrats. They have gone unchecked; they have gone off the cliff. I love this state; I love this whole state. Folks on the porch, talking to them, told me they don’t care if they ever go back to the twin cities again. My number one objective is to put us back together in a cohesive, motivated, happy-to-be state, of a state.
Mike: We need to change the way we teach kids. There are a lot of kids who don’t identify with the way we teach. A kid that wants to be hands-on and wants to be in small engines, and that’s when his brain just comes alive; he can’t spend five hours a day in school in other classes where it’s like, here you are going to read this story on Shakespear and here’s a worksheet. Then they just shut down. Not everyone is going to go to a four-year institution, and not everyone is going to get their master’s Degree, but they can go to NCTC and get a certificate, get into a trade, or maybe they can just get through high school and evaluate after that.
Q: Anything you want the voters to know?
Steve: I will work with anyone who has common sense. I will work with anyone. I’m not hard-core to say I’m going to box out X, Y, or Z and not work with them. I know what I believe. I have a strong sense of what I know is right and wrong. I absolutely have a good fortitude and backbone. I run marathons for fun, so I’m used to getting to mile 20 or 21, and I’m pretty exhausted and saying we will get this thing over the finish line. Somehow I’ve always found a way to finish, you just figure out how to do it. Really, that’s life.
Mike: I said at the beginning of my campaign that I was in it to win it. Some of my campaign people picked up on it, and they say, Oh, Mike is in it to win it, and it’s totally corny, but I mean, we are going hard at it, and I think we are working really hard and trying to meet as many people as we can. The biggest challenge facing this state is we are like two states right now. Metro and rural, and we need to go down there as rural legislators and wake them up to the fact that what helps us helps you. When greater Minnesota does great, the Metro does great too. I’m going to go down there and scream that from the rooftops.
