WASHINGTON — About eight months ago, state Sen. Eric Pratt predicted that Republicans would win a big prize, the flipping of Democratic Rep. Angie Craig’s congressional district to the GOP.
Pratt, 62, told conservative podcaster Jack Tomczak that the families living in the 2nd Congressional District “are conservative families” who “don’t identify with one party or the other.”
“But they’ve been voting for Democrats,” Pratt said, because they “are voting because of a specific issue, or they are voting because they like somebody.”
He also said he believed he is the right GOP candidate to put the seat back in the Republican column.
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Pratt’s confidence was not unreasonable. The 2nd District was represented by Republicans in Congress for nearly 20 years before Craig, who is now running for U.S. Senate, was first elected to the U.S. House in 2018.
But, when Pratt made his comments on Tomczak’s podcast, President Donald Trump’s approval ratings had not dropped sharply to where they are now. Sixty-two percent of the respondents to a recent Washington Post-ABC-Ipsos poll said they disapproved of how Trump has handled his job as president.
And when Pratt made his assessment of the race, Operation Metro Surge had not yet occurred, causing severe economic and social disruption in the 2nd District’s urban area and swath of suburbs.
Yet, after winning the endorsement of the district’s Republican Party last weekend, Pratt continued to be bullish about his chances of flipping the 2nd District seat.
He believes voters in the district who have voted for Democrats have buyer’s remorse.
He said many are unhappy with the “trifecta” the Democrats had in 2023, when DFL majorities in the state Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz enacted wide-ranging Democratic policies, including legalizing recreational marijuana, strengthening abortion rights and expanding background checks for firearms.
Pratt said voters in the district have told him, “I didn’t vote for this.”
As a senior member of the state Senate Finance Committee and a former vice president of U.S. Bank, Pratt said he has the skills to combat fraud in state-run programs that receive federal funding. And he would do that from the U.S. Capitol.
“Everyone is pointing fingers at Tim Walz, and I think that might be justified,” Pratt said. “But the question is, who is watching fraud from Washington?”
Pratt’s focus on tax and spending issues is reflective of traditional Republican policy. He seems to have stayed out of the culture wars and is proud that legislation he pushed through the Legislature had bipartisan support.
The chance to run for an open seat was appealing to Pratt.
But it also drew three seasoned Democrats into the race, all current or former colleagues of Pratt in the Legislature.
State Sen. Matt Klein, former state Sen. Matt Little and state Rep. Kaela Berg are all seeking the endorsement of district Democrats to run for Craig’s seat at a convention at Burnsville High School on Saturday.
And Pratt faces other challenges, including a historical trend that midterm elections tend to favor the party out of power in the White House.
“It could be a competitive district in a good Republican year,” said Carleton College political science professor Ryan Dawkins. “But it’s really a bad Republican year.”
‘A pretty moderate, reasonable guy’
Pratt’s Republican rival, Tyler Kistner, withdrew from the race last month.
But that did not unite 2nd District Republicans.
A new GOP opponent entered the race just eight days before the 2nd District held its GOP convention May 2.
So, Pratt won 65% of the votes of delegates at the convention and newcomer Jeremy Westby won 35%.
Kistner is a Marine reservist who had tried to oust Craig twice and said he had to abort his third try because he was called to active duty. He did not endorse Pratt after he quit the race.
But Westby, who had been challenging Rep. Kelly Morrison in the 3rd Congressional District and switched over to run in the 2nd District after Kistner’s withdrawal, said he would drop out of the race and has endorsed Pratt.
The district’s GOP Party is grateful.
“We’re excited that both candidates have signed a pledge to abide by the endorsement so that we can avoid a costly primary in CD2,” said district Republican Party chair Joseph Ditto in an emailed statement.
The delegates who snubbed Pratt tend to be grassroot activists who reject fellow Republicans they consider establishmentarian and not MAGA enough.
“They’re frustrated and I get that,” Pratt said.
When Donald Trump first ran for president in 2016, Pratt said, “I wish someone else was the head of my party.”
Pratt now says that opinion, which was held at the time by GOP luminaries that include Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, has changed.
“There were a lot of people who held that belief (back then,) he said. “I think Donald Trump’s policies have helped a lot of people.”
When asked for specifics, Pratt mentioned the president’s tax cuts – which polls show are popular – and what he called Trump’s “pro-growth” economic agenda.
“He strikes me as a pretty moderate, reasonable guy,” Dawkins said of Pratt. “Which is probably the problem. There is not a lot of love for Pratt among base (GOP) voters.”
That moderation, however, could benefit Pratt in the general election, when unaffiliated voters and centrists from both parties weigh in.
A personal connection
Pratt was first elected to cover his Senate district, which includes most of Scott County, in 2012.
He was re-elected in 2016, 2020 and 2022 and is well-known in that part of the 2nd District, which includes the south Twin Cities metro area and runs south nearly to Mankato, encompassing all of Scott, Dakota and Le Sueur Counties as well as parts of Rice and Washington Counties.
Pratt said he is now knocking on doors in other parts of the district and holding “Chat with Pratt” meetings at local coffee shops to connect with possible supporters.
He lives with his wife in Prior Lake, his hometown since the mid-1970s, and has two grown children.
Pratt says his interest in public policy began in the ninth grade when he wrote a paper on inflation after hearing his parents talk about the issue at the dinner table.
While he identifies as a “finance guy” and “numbers nerd,” Pratt said the legislation that he is most proud of sponsoring is one that revamped the licensing system for the state’s teachers.
“It had a personal connection,” he said.
His mother had taught out-of-state for 13 years before the family moved to Minnesota. But she was not qualified to teach in Minnesota because she was missing a couple of credentials and his mother nearly gave up her career, Pratt said.
Related: The race for Angie Craig’s US House seat is heating up
His mother attended classes to secure the credentials she needed. But her struggle motivated Pratt to push a law through the Legislature that would make the teacher accreditation system more flexible.
He realizes he faces a tough job in winning the support he needs to win the district, which the Cook Political Report rates as “likely Democratic.”
“Anything worth doing is hard work,” Pratt said.
Greater Minnesota reporter Brian Arola contributed to this story.
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