Minnesota Lawyer
Mike McFadden has the support of the last three Republican U.S. Senators from Minnesota.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike McFadden has picked up yet another major endorsement. McFadden now has the support of former Republican U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, meaning the political newcomer has been endorsed by three of the last four GOP office-holders in that role.
Boschwitz, a two-term U.S. senator who served from 1978-1990, will become an honorary co-chair of the McFadden campaign. Boschwitz served on budgetary and foreign relations committees in the upper chamber, and chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party’s chief campaign organization for that body.
“Mike’s whole career has been about bringing people — buyers and sellers — together, ironing out disagreements and difficulties and making things work,” Boschwitz said as part of his endorsement. “Mike McFadden is not a politician. He gets things done.”
McFadden, for his part, said he was “honored” to have a “foot soldier in the [Ronald] Reagan Revolution” backing his campaign. Earlier, McFadden had gained the endorsement of former U.S. Sens. Norm Coleman and Rod Grams, who had been named honorary co-chairs of the former investment executive’s nascent campaign. Grams, 65, died of cancer last month.
McFadden has so far proven the most able fundraiser in the race, though some GOP operatives have wondered whether his fundraising talents can overcome an apparent lack of connection with party activists. McFadden placed second in Saturday’s Republican State Central Committee straw poll, picking up 21 percent of the vote compared to 37 percent for state Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen.
To this point, both Ortman and McFadden have preferred to criticize incumbent DFL U.S. Sen. Al Franken, and have avoided going after each other.
Reached shortly after announcing Boschwitz’s endorsement, McFadden said he had sought the former legislator’s counsel since joining the race back in May. McFadden added that both Boschwitz and Coleman had served as mentors to him during this, his first political campaign, and said Grams had served a similar role before his passing.
“[Boschwitz] and [Coleman] have both won statewide races,” McFadden said. “Their experience is invaluable. They know better than anybody else what it takes to win. You need to be able to both connect with the grassroots and have the resources to run a competitive campaign.”
McFadden pointed out that his and Boschwitz’s candidacies had a good deal in common, especially the fact that both came from a business background rather than politics.
As to allegations that he hadn’t done proper outreach to the party’s activist base, McFadden said he was still looking to strike “a balance” in his approach to the campaign.
“I’m new to this,” McFadden said, “and we’re running a new type of campaign — one that we expect will get different results. Frankly, we expect to win.”
McFadden said he’d heard similar statements from delegates at the Republican State Central Committee meeting over the weekend, where he bested third-place finisher Republican activist Harold Shudlick (12.7 percent), St. Louis County Commissioner Chris Dahlberg (12.4 percent) and Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, (11.2 percent), among other entrants. McFadden said numerous party delegates approached him during the event to lament the GOP’s recent lack of success in statewide races.
“One of the things I consistently heard was, ‘We’re tired of losing, we have to win,'” McFadden said.
