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$665,000 and Kelda Roys
raised more than 527,000.

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Aside from the race for
governor, the state's eight

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seats in the U.S. House of
Representatives are also up

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00:00:12,746 --> 00:00:16,016
for election this year. One
of those races for the

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deeply red seventh district
in far northern Wisconsin

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has attracted many
candidates in the primary

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election. Here and now.
Reporter Steven Potter has

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this story.
>> There's a lot of

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motivation to elect people
in the seventh district

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00:00:31,498 --> 00:00:35,435
that will be Make America
Great Again. Republicans.

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>> The Great North Woods of
Wisconsin is known for many

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things vast forests,
abundant farmland, and some

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of the best lakes and
rivers that the state has

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to offer. It's also known
as a very thinly populated

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region, but there is
something that's become far

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more crowded than usual.
That's the ballot for the

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upcoming Republican primary
for Congress. In all, there

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are five candidates on the
ballot for the seventh

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Congressional District
Republican primary election,

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which takes place on August
11th. The candidates

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include a financial planner,
an accountant, a public

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relations executive, a
marketing specialist, and a

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homebuilder. They're all
after the seat being

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vacated by current U.S.
House representative Tom

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Tiffany, who's running as
the Republican candidate

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for governor. While they're
all Republicans, each of

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these congressional
candidates has different

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reasons for why voters
should choose them. Kevin

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Hermening, the financial
planner from Wausau, was

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one of the Marines taken
hostage for more than a

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year during the Iranian
hostage crisis back in 1979.

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He's one of the better
known candidates in this

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race.
business owner, a school

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board member, a community
volunteer. So there are a

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lot of reasons why that I'm
the best qualified to

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represent the voters here.
>> Another well-known

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candidate is accountant
Michael Alfonso, who lives

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in Hayward. He's the son in
law of U.S. Department of

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00:01:58,986 --> 00:02:01,388
Transportation Secretary
Shawn Duffy, who held the

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same congressional seat
that Alfonso is running for

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now.
>> I'm just, you know, an

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average kid from northern
Wisconsin. I grew up in

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land o lakes. I bring the
energy of a 26 year old.

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I'm at every single county
in the in the district. I'm,

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you know, representing
every voter.

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>> Then there's public
relations executive and

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Stanley resident Jesse
Ebben, who has farming

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roots in the district.
>> I am a Christian

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conservative, a Trump
Republican, a proud seventh

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generation wisconsinite who
is committed to getting the

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government off our back,
out of our way of life so

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that we can flourish and
prosper right here in rural

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Wisconsin.
Rhinelander resident Niina

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Baum, who owns a marketing
agency and was born and

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raised in the Northwoods.
>> I grew up in the

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district in Price County on
a dairy farm, a small farm

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with about 25 milking cows.
And there were a lot of

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small farms in my community
when I grew up. And they

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all disappeared.
>> And finally, there's Don

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Rajala, a native and
current resident of

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superior. He works in home
construction I.

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>> This is my fourth time
running for Congress. I did

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it in 2010, 2014, 2016. I
have this time and all this

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energy Steil. I'm 58 years
old, but I just know I can

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get out there and represent
people.

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Congressional District
stands out for a few

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00:03:15,562 --> 00:03:18,398
reasons. First is its size.
As the state's largest

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congressional district, it
stretches across 20

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counties and almost
19,000mi'!S of northern and

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central Wisconsin. The
economy here is anchored on

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agriculture, forestry,
manufacturing and tourism.

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Politically, however, the
area has seen significant

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change over the last couple
of decades, driven largely

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by redistricting. The
seventh Congressional

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00:03:37,784 --> 00:03:40,754
District is now the most
reliably Republican

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00:03:40,821 --> 00:03:43,624
stronghold in the state.
>> They're very Republican.

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>> Jacque Weissenburger is
the vice chairwoman of the

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Rusk County Republicans.
>> People here really

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appreciate the values of
hard work, having

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individual freedoms, being
able to live their lives as

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they see fit.
>> She says. This race for

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the seventh Congressional
District of Wisconsin has

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00:04:02,709 --> 00:04:05,746
national consequences.
>> There's a very big risk

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00:04:05,812 --> 00:04:10,717
at midterms that the House
will turn blue, and I think

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00:04:10,784 --> 00:04:13,820
that it's this particular
race itself in the seventh

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00:04:13,887 --> 00:04:18,125
district will be it'll be
somewhat of a barrier

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00:04:18,192 --> 00:04:20,994
against that happening.
>> While it's certainly

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00:04:21,061 --> 00:04:23,130
possible that the seventh
district could elect a

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00:04:23,197 --> 00:04:25,165
Democrat, and there are
three of them on the

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00:04:25,232 --> 00:04:28,535
primary ballot, election
experts say that's fairly

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00:04:28,602 --> 00:04:31,572
unlikely. In the 2024
election, voters of the

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00:04:31,638 --> 00:04:34,441
seventh district chose both
Republican Tom Tiffany for

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00:04:34,508 --> 00:04:38,045
U.S. representative and
Donald Trump for president

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00:04:38,111 --> 00:04:40,781
by a 20 point winning
margin. The candidates have

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00:04:40,848 --> 00:04:43,150
been working hard to get
voters attention and

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00:04:43,217 --> 00:04:45,519
letting them know that they
understand the issues that

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are important to them,
according to recent polling,

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00:04:48,889 --> 00:04:51,925
Michael Alfonso is leading
the pack, and Alfonso does

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00:04:51,992 --> 00:04:54,561
have the endorsement of
President Trump.

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00:04:54,628 --> 00:04:58,065
>> We've seen kind of this
mortgaging of the middle

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00:04:58,131 --> 00:05:01,134
America, the manufacturing
jobs, so that we can

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00:05:01,201 --> 00:05:04,071
benefit the coastal elites.
I don't like that. When we

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00:05:04,137 --> 00:05:07,140
talk about rising costs,
maybe the tariffs

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00:05:07,207 --> 00:05:09,510
contribute to that. But
President Trump understands

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00:05:09,576 --> 00:05:12,446
that this is a short term
plan. We're going to be

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working to bring back the
jobs we lost overseas,

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00:05:15,949 --> 00:05:19,086
right back here to northern
Wisconsin. And then we can

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00:05:19,152 --> 00:05:21,622
start removing the tariffs.
>> Number two in the polls

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is Kevin Hermening, who has
given $1 million of his own

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money to his campaign.
>> When people decide to

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call central and northern
Wisconsin their home,

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00:05:30,664 --> 00:05:34,001
they're saying to the rest
of the state, we'd like you

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00:05:34,067 --> 00:05:37,704
to be involved, but we
don't need you to control

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00:05:37,771 --> 00:05:42,176
our lives. And so it's a
big reason that I love

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00:05:42,242 --> 00:05:46,046
living up here because of
the individuality and the

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00:05:46,113 --> 00:05:49,550
the willingness of people
to pull themselves up by

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00:05:49,616 --> 00:05:52,319
their own bootstraps.
>> Jesse Evans says her

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priorities center on land,
wolves and jobs.

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>> A lot of the issues here
are a battle of our way of

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life. So it's everything
we're seeing right now,

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00:06:01,261 --> 00:06:03,830
with solar panels and
windmills being targeted to

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00:06:03,897 --> 00:06:06,433
be put on our farmland and
the fight that we have to

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00:06:06,500 --> 00:06:08,669
see our rural save, our
rural landscape, our family

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00:06:08,735 --> 00:06:12,306
farms from bad energy, bad
energy policy. There's

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really a big battle to
de-list the gray wolf. We

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need to make sure that that
hunt can be localized right

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here in our state. And I
work in manufacturing, so

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making sure that we have
good manufacturing jobs,

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that the government isn't
the barrier for keeping

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00:06:25,485 --> 00:06:27,688
those manufacturing jobs,
keeping the manufacturers

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here in the rural
communities.

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>> For Niina Baum, who's
biking around the seventh

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00:06:31,725 --> 00:06:34,194
district to meet voters,
she worries about the

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country's financial future
and wants regulation

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00:06:36,897 --> 00:06:38,932
changes.
>> Social Security Trust

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Fund has been projected to
be insolvent in a few years,

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00:06:41,935 --> 00:06:44,671
and if nothing's done about
it, it's automatic cuts of

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about 23%. That is going to
have a huge. If that

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00:06:49,843 --> 00:06:52,112
happens, that's going to
have a huge negative impact

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00:06:52,179 --> 00:06:55,516
on our Northwoods economy.
I'd like to see more zoning

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00:06:55,582 --> 00:06:57,551
deregulation, making it
easier, more attainable for

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people to actually build
homes and more cost

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effective. And not all of
these barriers, like

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00:07:01,822 --> 00:07:04,057
minimum square footage
requirements or outdated

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00:07:04,124 --> 00:07:06,260
zoning regulation.
>> Don Raihala Halah wants

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00:07:06,326 --> 00:07:08,896
to make sure local
residents maintain local

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00:07:08,962 --> 00:07:11,064
control.
>> I'm a big believer in

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00:07:11,131 --> 00:07:15,002
referendums and referendums.
Stop data centers dead in

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their tracks. If. If a city.
Let's choose Wausau or

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00:07:18,238 --> 00:07:20,641
Superior. If the citizens
want to get together and

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00:07:20,707 --> 00:07:23,377
put out a referendum and
stop it, it stops right

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there because the state has
given the power to local

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municipalities to do that.
>> Just like names on the

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ballot, there's no shortage
of issues in this race.

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>> Health insurance.
>> Costs of housing.

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>> Loss of a job.
>> Or with Iran.

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>> These tariffs.
>> Immigration.

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00:07:36,723 --> 00:07:38,525
>> Drug pricing.
>> On manufacturing and on

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00:07:38,592 --> 00:07:39,993
agriculture.
>> Tough for small farms.

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00:07:40,060 --> 00:07:42,262
>> Epstein files.
>> But there's one topic

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00:07:42,329 --> 00:07:44,665
that's on the top of mind
for all voters. The

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00:07:44,731 --> 00:07:48,068
increased cost of
everything. Republicans

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00:07:48,135 --> 00:07:50,170
running for the seventh
Congressional District are

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00:07:50,237 --> 00:07:53,106
careful about how they
discuss the economy and

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00:07:53,173 --> 00:07:56,910
inflation, and what can be
done to bring down costs,

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00:07:56,977 --> 00:07:59,446
Jessi Ebben says it's all
about energy.

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00:07:59,513 --> 00:08:02,115
>> Well, the cost of energy
is really the baseline that

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00:08:02,182 --> 00:08:04,251
starts a lot of the
inflation. So the best

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00:08:04,318 --> 00:08:06,620
thing we can do is have
good energy policy to

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00:08:06,687 --> 00:08:09,356
really start this. And that
doesn't mean solar or wind.

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00:08:09,423 --> 00:08:12,693
>> Michael Alfonso blames
problems within government

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00:08:12,759 --> 00:08:14,761
programs.
>> So inflation it's a

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00:08:14,828 --> 00:08:17,164
scary one. It's caused by
government overspending. I

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00:08:17,231 --> 00:08:20,234
think the easiest thing to
cut from the federal

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00:08:20,300 --> 00:08:22,603
government is fraud, waste
and abuse. So much fraud in

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00:08:22,669 --> 00:08:26,473
our system, so many people
making money off of

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00:08:26,540 --> 00:08:28,742
American taxpayers,
scamming them. If we want

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00:08:28,809 --> 00:08:32,112
to shrink the spending, the
easiest place to do it is

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00:08:32,179 --> 00:08:34,414
get rid of the cheats.
>> Kevin Hermening also

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00:08:34,481 --> 00:08:36,750
blames the federal
government. But differently.

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00:08:36,817 --> 00:08:38,785
>> The government has a
spending problem.

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00:08:38,852 --> 00:08:42,055
Government should not be
borrowing for its ongoing

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00:08:42,122 --> 00:08:46,827
costs of operation. When
you do that, you run into,

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00:08:46,894 --> 00:08:51,031
in our case, a $40 trillion
debt. And so the government

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00:08:51,098 --> 00:08:55,169
needs to understand that
these are dollars that are

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00:08:55,235 --> 00:08:58,038
intended for our
communities. These are

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00:08:58,105 --> 00:09:00,207
dollars that are best spent
by the people who live here,

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00:09:00,274 --> 00:09:04,778
who earn them. And that
could play a big role in

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00:09:04,845 --> 00:09:07,748
bringing down inflation.
>> Niina Baum says pricing

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00:09:07,814 --> 00:09:10,117
problems start with the
white House.

191
00:09:10,184 --> 00:09:11,985
>> Something that we've
been seeing happen a lot

192
00:09:12,052 --> 00:09:16,590
more with the current and
past administrations, is

193
00:09:16,657 --> 00:09:20,260
that a lot more has been
passed through executive

194
00:09:20,327 --> 00:09:22,829
order, and I think that
creates a lot of volatility,

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00:09:22,896 --> 00:09:24,631
which affects the
affordability and the

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00:09:24,698 --> 00:09:28,101
economy.
sure what can be done about

197
00:09:28,168 --> 00:09:30,270
inflation, but residents
need to do what they can

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00:09:30,337 --> 00:09:32,539
for themselves.
>> If you're going to build

199
00:09:32,606 --> 00:09:35,409
a home, be your own
contractor, be your own

200
00:09:35,475 --> 00:09:37,911
general, you you're going
to save 15% right off the

201
00:09:37,978 --> 00:09:40,547
bat. It's going to take a
couple of phone calls and

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00:09:40,614 --> 00:09:43,283
maybe a weekend here or
there, but be your own

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00:09:43,350 --> 00:09:46,520
contractor.
race. These candidates will

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00:09:46,587 --> 00:09:49,156
be splitting the Northwoods
Republican electorate, and

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00:09:49,223 --> 00:09:52,659
voters here are spread far
and wide across the rural

206
00:09:52,726 --> 00:09:55,495
district. That means that
it may come down to just a

207
00:09:55,562 --> 00:09:59,066
few percent or even a few
hundred votes, and each

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00:09:59,132 --> 00:10:02,803
campaign has many miles to
cover. Between now and

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00:10:02,870 --> 00:10:08,208
August 11th. Reporting from
August 11th. Reporting from