REGIONAL — Anthony Hamilton never wanted to run for Congress.
The Mora farmer and residential maintenance worker has retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition that has cost him his ability to drive and makes it hard to afford doctor visits, even by telehealth. He goes on church mission trips and said he’s miserable by day three away from his family. The idea of spending 140 days a year in Washington sounds, to him, like a particular kind of punishment.
And yet three weeks ago, Hamilton filed to challenge Rep. Pete Stauber in the Republican primary for Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. He’s running his campaign from his kitchen table on what he described as a very small budget.
“I can count it on two hands,” he said.
“This isn’t something I want to do,” Hamilton said. “But I fear for where our country is headed, and I fear for what the legislative branch is going to look like by the time my children are older.”
What got him there was a petition.
Hamilton had started one out of frustration with Congress, a sense that the school-taught civics lesson about contacting your representatives had been quietly replaced by a system insulated from public pressure. The petition wasn’t able to change anything. So he decided to run instead.
His campaign is built around the Congressional Accountability and Public Trust Act, a five-part ethics reform bill Hamilton drafted himself. It would ban congressional stock trading and require divestiture within 90 days of taking office, impose a five-year post-service lobbying ban and a lifetime prohibition on lobbying any issue a member directly legislated, and suspend congressional salaries during government shutdowns with no back pay. Members who fail to show up for more than 10 percent of votes would also see their pay suspended, and Congress would face automatic 10-percent salary reductions for every year it fails to pass a balanced budget.
The pitch is simple: hold Congress to the same standards as everyone else.
“I have a hard time going to the doctor for my failing vision, and I can’t afford to do it,” Hamilton said. His family pays $500 a month for coverage, and telehealth visits still generate $300 bills. “Health care costs keep rising and the insurance end of the service is failing. I’m hearing that from everybody.”
Hamilton’s criticism of Stauber is specific. He said the incumbent voted against the PACT Act, which expanded health care for veterans exposed to burn pits, and has sided with his party on nearly every vote despite promising to serve as “an independent voice for CD-8.” By the time Stauber’s current term ends, Hamilton said, taxpayers will have paid him roughly $1.4 million.
“He would have done a little bit better for this district,” Hamilton said, “if he’d taken listening to people a little more seriously.”
Hamilton knows the math isn't hard. Stauber has millions in campaign funds. Hamilton has a kitchen table and a bill he says is ready to go on day one. He’s reached out to other congressional candidates about building a coalition around the CAPT Act, and has already heard back from several, including Mike Foley, a Republican running in Minnesota’s Sixth District, who said he intends to co-sponsor the legislation if elected.
“Our house is literally on fire,” Hamilton said of Congress. “And somebody has to put that fire out.”
He chose not to seek the Republican Party’s endorsement, believing the establishment would never back a challenger to an entrenched incumbent. Instead, he’s asking voters to show up on their own.
Minnesota holds an open primary, meaning any voter can request a Republican ballot regardless of party registration. Hamilton’s primary is Aug. 11.
“Whether you believe in me or you don’t,” he said, “we have to vote. We have to give this another go.”
His campaign website is anthonyhamiltonforcongress.com.