Richard Painter, ethics lawyer and 'U' law professor, says he's running for 1st District Congress seat

Mar. 2—Richard Painter, a former chief White House ethics lawyer and one-time U.S. Senate candidate, said he is running for the 1st District Congressional seat, in both the special election and general election, as a DFL candidate.

He is the latest to announce his candidacy for the open seat following the death of Rep. Jim Hagedorn earlier this month.

"I am running because like many of you, I am frustrated that the average person has no voice in government," said Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor. "It seems that politicians only listen to donors, lobbyists and small groups of activists rather than the people they represent."

A special election is being held to fill the 1st District seat after Hagedorn, a two-term GOP Congressman, died after a two-year battle with cancer. Under state statute, the timing of his death required that a special election be held in August, followed by a general election in November.

Painter is the second candidate to run for the open seat. The other is Richard DeVoe, a Red Wing bookstore owner who also is running on the DFL side. The list is expected to grow in the coming days. With Hagedorn's funeral set for Saturday, a number of Republicans, including possibly Hagedorn's widow and former state GOP Party chair Jennifer Carnahan, are waiting for the right time to announce their candidacies.

A graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School, Painter was a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, regularly appearing on TV to denounce Trump's ethical lapses and calling him a "Russian agent."

A longtime supporter of the moderate wing of the GOP, Painter switched his allegiance to the DFL and ran unsuccessfully in the 2018 Democratic primary against incumbent Sen. Tina Smith.

Painter lives in Mendota Heights in the 2nd District, but said he plans to sell his house and move to Faribault sometime this month or in April. That would put his residence in both the current 1st District and the newly redrawn one.

"I believe that we need much better representation in Congress, in a lot of our congressional districts," Painter said. "Unfortunately, the Republican Party has not been running candidates who represent the interests of ordinary people."

Painter said he would fight to reduce regulations on people and small business; support farmers and work to create a level playing field between them and big business; and promote regenerative agriculture and address climate change.

Painter said the Democratic Party has to do a better job appealing to rural America, which has all but been ceded to the Republican Party in the several election cycles.

"In a lot of rural parts of the district, there is a perception that Democrats can't get rural votes. And that just makes no sense when I don't see the Republican Party doing anything for the agriculture sector," he said.