Following the arrest and federal charges brought against incumbent Senator Justin Eichorn for attempted prostitution of a minor, the seat was vacated and a special election was filed. On Tuesday, a hotly contested debate was held by the Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce & League of Women Voters among the GOP competitors.

Senate District 6 spans across Cass, Crow Wing, and Itasca Counties. Action 4 Liberty has previously reported on the race and the candidates. The primary date is Tuesday, April 15th. The full debate can be viewed here.

During last night’s debate, seven GOP candidates participated while former failed MNGOP Chair Jennifer Carnahan claimed she was sick and could not attend. Instead of speaking with voters directly, Carnahan will instead be known for her attempt to purge A4L grassroots supporters out of the MNGOP, her recorded phone call laughing about her then husband’s eventual death, her connection to convicted child sex trafficker Anton Lazzaro, and refusing to sign the Never Again Pledge.

Of the seven candidates in attendance, only ONE candidate has signed A4L’s Never Again Pledge to prove that he will support the strongest piece of legislation to prevent Walz or any future Governor from ever locking down our state again with abusive Emergency Powers. All other candidates have refused to stand with the conservative grassroots that A4L became the voice for during Covid tyranny. Kern has even made a video explaining why he signed it and why he cares so deeply about this battle. See Kern’s pledge and participation in A4L protests against lockdowns below:

EVERY SINGLE other candidate has flatly refused to sign the pledge and prove to voters that they will fight for freedom! One candidate, veterinarian John Howe, used his wife to convey the message to A4L that he does not have time to read the bill. However, during the debate, Howe brought up two other pieces of legislation that he supports… It sounds like he has time to read other bills, but not a bill on the most critical fight against big government in our lifetime!? While Howe gave good answers on mining and shrinking government, refusing to sign the Never Again Pledge is not a good sign that he would be a fighter.

Doug Kern bragged up the Never Again Bill during the debate and said he will work with anybody to do good. Doug said “People always said, well it’s Action 4 Liberty. No, its Action 4 You” and that he’d talk with people across the aisle to get it passed. Immediately following Doug’s strong answer, candidate Angel Zierden sneered and instead suggested building trust with Democrats and pushing bipartisan bills. Does she not realize Democrats are destroying our state and weak RINOs helping them are the problem?!

Zierden is a potential secret Democrat who endorsed radical leftist Jen Schultz for Congress (CD8) against Pete Stauber. However, that did not stop her from name dropping Stauber in the debate as if she were a supporter, she clearly has zero credibility. Zierden’s debate answers would continually hark back to her institutional knowledge and support for “bipartisanship”, which shows she is weak to Democrat arguments before even getting elected.

Also participating in the debate was RINOs Keri Heintzeman and Josh Gazelka. Josh is the son of RINO Paul Gazelka. Josh spent most of his time trying to sound agreeable but was oddly passionate about lowering corporate taxes. In what was a potential Freudian slip, Gazelka said he was running to serve his “family” which may be true since his father has seemingly lined up an endorsement for him from the gun-control loving, drunk driving Democrat-endorsing,  MPPOA. On most issues Josh offered standard Republican thinking, however, at one point Josh said that Democrats are not evil!

Largely absent from Keri Heintzeman’s responses were acknowledgements that she is running for a seat while her husband, RINO Josh Heintzeman, is currently in the State House. While using President Trump as a shield and costume, Keri talked up many issues like school choice. Many wonder why she and her husband both want to play politics over a hundred miles away from their district. Keri has the support of unhinged Walter Hudson via a retweet and has her campaign managed by shady political operative and failed Deputy Chair candidate Kip Christianson.

The debate was interrupted by an attendee, Troy Scheffler, who yelled that Keri was a liar. Troy’s yelling and cursing continued and most of the arguing can be heard in the debate audio. Some viewers told A4L he exposed Keri Heintzeman on the mentioned court case and others say he was out of line and was perhaps drinking beforehand.

Other debate participants included Matt Zinda and Steve Cotariu. While Zinda brought up many good points including HRCC corruption, Josh Heintzeman doorknocking Erik Mortensen’s door for Mort’s opponent, and Heintzeman's revenge plot on a police chief, it was perhaps overshadowed by Scheffler’s interruption and Zinda’s racialized perspective. Sources tell A4L that Zinda is telling people not to vote for him and that he does not want to win. Zinda has also shared a post on social media calling President Trump a pedophile, clearly showing he is not in line with the Trump MAGA era of the GOP.

Steve Cotariu claimed to be a lifelong Republican, however, it appears he donated to Shaky Amy Klobuchar’s Presidential campaign and radical leftist Jen Schultz for Congress (CD8). If Cotariu deserves credit, it was for his public support for “zero base budgeting” which means government making budgets from the bottom up and not simply continuing spending levels. Cotariu also made good points around not electing career politicians, but he is going to need a little magic to win. Unfortunately, Cotariu has refused to sign our Never Again Pledge so he seemingly will not prevent future tyranny by government in the name of things like Covid. 

As the only signer of the Never Again Pledge, Doug Kern has made it clear that he will stand up to the Establishment and fight for liberty. The fact that there are Republicans who are afraid to stand up to radical authoritarian policies before they even get into office is a clear sign that they will cave even more once the pressure is on. Doug highlighted other issues including support for mining, deregulation, the Trump tariffs, being 100% pro-life, reducing spending (called for pre-covid spending levels), returning surplus money to the taxpayers, removing DEI from schools, and keeping boys out of girl sports. Kern also mentioned the recent pointless legislative battle about giving wildrice an inherent right to life with similar words and thinking said by Senator Nathan Wesenberg in committee.

Action 4 Liberty will continue to stand with Patriots and fight for limited government. A4L is building momentum thanks to grassroots conservatives and we will continue to be their megaphone!