KAXE contacted every candidate up to three times using contact information submitted to the Secretary of State's Office to invite them to participate in our Election Guide.
Candidate responses have not been edited and are published as submitted.
As necessary, our news team added contextual information clearly marked with an "editor's note" and in italics. We will make every effort to make note of inaccuracies if they come to our attention.
Please contact our news team at news@kaxe.org with questions or comments or to report any errors.
KAXE's Primary Election Guide only includes races where enough candidates filed to trigger a primary. Visit our full list of who's running for office in Northern Minnesota to see who else will be on the ballot in November.
About this race
Minnesota's 8th Congressional District spans much of Northern Minnesota, including the Arrowhead; Brainerd lakes area; Beltrami, Clearwater, Mahnomen and Lake of the Woods counties; and part of Becker and Hubbard counties.
Republican Rep. Pete Stauber is running for reelection.
The winner of this primary will face the winner of the Democratic primary in the general election in November to represent Minnesota's 8th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Remember: In the primaries, you can only vote for candidates from one political party. If you vote for candidates from more than one party, your vote won't be counted. You decide which party you will vote for, as Minnesota doesn't have political party registration.
Click the tabs below to learn more about the candidates
Website: AnthonyHamiltonforCongress.com
Age on Election Day: 43
Community: Mora
Employment: I am a farmer. I farm my own land.
Please share any prior experience and education that you believe qualifies you for office.
Our founders never intended for Congress to create career politicians. They envisioned citizen legislators to temporarily occupy these seats. Farmers, veterans, tradesmen, working class people who would step away from their lives to serve and return home. That is the tradition I intend to keep. I am a farmer, my qualification isn’t a resume built inside Washington rubbing elbows with lobbyists. It's a lifetime of solving real problems with limited resources. I know what the cost of gas, doctor bills, grocery costs, vet bills, and when the harvest doesn't go as planned, do to a monthly budget. The 8th district is full of people who work with their hands, manage their own finances, and deal with the consequences of decisions made by people who have never lived anything close to their lives. I am one of those people. That is my qualification.
Why are you running?
I'm running because I'm no longer willing to sit and watch our government act this corrupt. I spent years doing what most people do, calling and emailing my representative, hoping someone would listen. Nobody did. Our government isn't broken, it's corrupt and there is a difference between those two words. Broken things can be fixed by accident. Corrupt things are working exactly as designed, just not for you and me. Lobbyists write our laws. Members of Congress trade stocks on information you and I will never have. The government shuts down and the people who caused it still get paid. I got tired of waiting for someone else to fix it. So I wrote the CAPT Act. A five-part reform bill covering stock trading bans, lobbying restrictions, salary accountability, attendance requirements, and term limits. I'm serious about this, I am willing to go do it myself. That's why I'm running.
Why should voters choose you to advance to the general election?
I am not a performance. I don't have a consultant telling me what to say to a donor expecting something in return. I've taken zero PAC money. I don't owe anyone anything except the people in this district. Pete has been in Washington since 2019. Our debt has climbed toward $40 trillion, our grocery bills have gone up, healthcare costs have gone up, and the lobby money flowing into his campaign has gone up. That is not a record to run on. That is a record to run from. I'm running because I want my children to grow up knowing their government won't cheat them. That it belongs to them. Right now it doesn't, and Pete is part of the reason why. Voters should choose me because I'm the only candidate in this race who can't be bought. That is not a talking point, it's just the math.
What are your top three priorities, if elected? Please describe specific policy goals.
My top priority is congressional reform and real accountability. I authored the CAPT Act, a five part bill that addresses the core corruption that drives every other problem in Washington. One: Term limits. Three in the House and Two in the Senate, no more career politicians feeding at the troughs for decades. Two: End lobbying corruption and foreign money in our legislative process. Lobbyists write our laws, that has to stop. Three: Ban congressional stock trading for every member of Congress and staff. Four: Financial accountability for shutdowns and unbalanced budgets. Shut down the government, lose your salary for the full duration, no pay back. Every year without a balanced budget triggers a 10% pay cut. Five: Mandatory attendance. Show up and do the job you were elected to do or you don't get paid. Same as every other job in America. Fix Congress first, then fix everything else.
What are your natural resources policy positions?
Minnesota's natural resources belong to the people of this state, not to foreign corporations, not to Chilean mining companies shipping the output to China and then call it American energy independence. I support domestic mining and timber. CD8 was built on resource industries and I will not apologize for that. That doesn't mean we have to risk destroying the Boundary Waters to watch Chilean companies get rich while supplying Chinese domestic production. Pete sponsored opening the watershed to sulfide mining through H.J.140 knowing the outcome and who would benefit. I would not have let this happen.
How would you ensure constituents who didn’t vote for you still feel represented?
Every constituent in this district deserves to be heard. That starts with showing up, something that Pete has failed to do. He has not held a single in-person town hall in over seven years in office. That is not representation, that is avoidance. I have been holding town halls before I am even elected. That is the standard I intend to keep. Beyond that, I am looking closely at congressional staffing allowances and how they can be deployed to actually serve constituents across this district, not donors, not lobbyists, not party leadership. People who call my office should reach someone whose job is to listen and help, not manage them. You don't have to agree with me on everything to deserve a representative who answers the phone. That is the baseline and I intend to meet it.
What would you do if what’s best for your district differed from your party’s position on an issue?
I would unapologetically side with my constituents. That is the job. I am not running to be a reliable party vote, I am running to represent the people of the 8th district. If those two things conflict, there is no conflict, my constituents win every time. This is why I wrote the CAPT Act. A member of Congress why is financially beholden to a party, donor, or PAC cannot make that choice freely. The money owns the vote before the vote is even cast. I don't have that problem. I don't owe anyone anything except the people in this district. The founders didn't design this system for party soldiers. They designed it for citizen legislators who would use their own judgement on behalf of the people they represent. That is the job I am applying for.
Website: petestauberforcongress.com
Party Endorsed
Incumbent
KAXE did not receive a response from this candidate.
Still have questions for the candidates? Contact information for all those who've filed to run for office can be found at candidates.sos.state.mn.us.
-
Contributed/Lorie ShaullMonths before the midterms, the Trump administration dismantled a bipartisan federal commission that serves local offices that oversee voting. -
Lorie Shaull/Special to KAXEThe library matched the anonymous matching donation for $30,000 it received in June 2026. A larger fundraising goal is aimed at increasing public hours in 2027. -
Contributed/University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Science and Engineering CenterDue to smoke from Boundary Waters wildfires, the MPCA issued air quality alerts for large parts of Minnesota. The alert lasts until at least Friday, July 16, 2026. -
During the Phenology Report for the week of July 14, 2026 Staff Phenologist John Latimer remarks on blooming basswoods, hawks hunting in harvested fields, and more.
