Republican Joe Teirab and U.S. Rep. Angie Craig shook hands before sitting down for a debate at Minnesota Public Radio’s St. Paul studio on Oct. 4, 2024. Photo by Michelle Griffith/Minnesota Reformer.
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Republican challenger Joe Teirab sparred during a lively debate at Minnesota Public Radio studios on Friday.
Craig and Teirab are running to represent Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District — the state’s most competitive. In May, the Cook Political Report moved the 2nd District from “likely Democrat” to merely leaning that way. A Cook Political Report ranking released Friday was unchanged.
Teirab, a son of a Sudanese immigrant, is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and was both a county and federal prosecutor before his congressional run. Craig is running for her fourth term. All of her races have been close, and she lost her first election in 2016.
The candidates touched on typical talking points: Teirab attacked Craig on the economy, while Craig hit Teirab on his anti-abortion views.
The debate was mostly predictable, but the duo is scheduled to debate again in Lakeville on Monday. Here are five takeaways from Friday’s debate:
Teirab disputes Social Security remarks, even though they’re on tape
MPR moderator Brian Bakst asked Craig and Teirab about former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ plans to eliminate taxes on tips. Teirab said no taxes on tips “makes a ton of sense,” as does eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits.
Craig jumped on his answer, noting that Democrats recently unearthed a recording of Teirab saying he’s open to changing the retirement age and privatizing Social Security. Teirab became visibly upset, shaking his head.
“My parents are seniors living in Worthington right now, living on a fixed income,” Teirab responded to Craig’s attack. “We cannot raise the retirement age at all. We cannot cut any benefits to seniors. That’s obviously a lie. You understand that you can’t run on your record on the economy, you can’t run on your record on the border, so you need to make up these lies.”
Asked whether he misspoke about his comments caught on tape, Teirab after the debate told reporters that the answer he gave on the recording was “pretty confusing” and said lawmakers need to ensure Social Security remains solvent.
Abortion might be settled in Minnesota, but not in this race
Craig and Teirab went back and forth over abortion. Teirab told his own story — his own mother almost got an abortion when she found out she was pregnant with him. She went to a crisis pregnancy center, where she was encouraged to keep the baby. Teirab is now on the board of that crisis pregnancy center.
Teirab said he’s against a federal abortion ban — though he’s repeatedly said that he’s personally “pro-life” — and believes in exceptions for rape, incest and to preserve the life of the mother. He said abortion is a state issue, rather than a federal issue. He noted that abortion is accessible in Minnesota, and he respects that that’s what the majority of Minnesotans want.
Teirab said he’s running to represent Minnesotans where abortion is legal, not other states where it’s banned.
Craig brought up Teirab’s anti-abortion record. In a Minnesota Concerned Citizens for Life candidate survey, Teirab responded “yes” to the question “As an elected representative, do you recognize a Federal role in protecting unborn children?”
She asserted he doesn’t support abortion ban exceptions — Teirab for months has said that he does — and that the federal government should protect abortion rights.
“If you’re in Congress and you won’t stand up and say, ‘No way, I’m not going to stand by while a state forces a rape survivor to carry a child with no choice for 40 weeks and have that child,’ you don’t belong in Congress,” Craig said.
Craig hugs police, distances herself from Biden on immigration
Teirab attacked Craig on immigration, even though she has criticized President Joe Biden’s policies on immigration and the border. When asked if Teirab supports Trump’s mass deportation policy, Teirab acknowledged that it “might not be pragmatic.”
“But at the same time, we need to make sure we have some law and order,” he said.
Craig said she wants to pass the bipartisan border bill, which Trump told Congress to kill so he can continue to campaign on the issue. She touted her bipartisan bona fides and noted she has the endorsement of rank and file police officers through the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association.
Teirab said in the end, it’s about results: “You talk about all these different facts and being bipartisan this, bipartisan that. Again, I got back to the basic tenets of have you done your job? Have you gotten results? No, you have not, because we have high inflation … you have an open border … those are facts you can’t get around.”
(Inflation soared around the world during and just after the pandemic due to supply chain snarls and people temporarily switching their spending from services like restaurant meals and entertainment to goods like bikes and used cars and furniture. Inflation has been way down since then, hitting its lowest level in three years in August, as prices rose 2.5% from the previous year. Border crossings recently hit their lowest level since 2020.)
Election integrity
Teirab, who is endorsed by Trump, acknowledged that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Earlier this week during the vice presidential debate, Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance refused to acknowledge that Trump lost the election, underscoring how the issue has become a litmus test in Trump’s circle.
“(The 2020 election) was fair. It was unambiguous. Joe Biden was elected as president, and I think, from my view, that was unfortunate because what happened was middle class families paid the price with high inflation, with an open border,” Teirab said.
The local GOP party in the 2nd District did not endorse Teirab before the Aug. 14 primary, and it still has not publicly supported him.
Bakst asked Craig whether there were any circumstances in which she would not vote to certify the results of the 2024 election, and Craig replied, “I believe in the integrity of America’s elections.”