By Phillip C. Parrish, LCDR USN (Ret.), Candidate for Governor of Minnesota 2026
August 24, 2025 – As a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer with 21 years battling threats in counterterrorism and information warfare, I’ve spent my career exposing shadows where bad actors hide. Now, as your candidate for Governor in 2026, I’m turning that lens inward to defend Minnesotans from a insidious enemy: digital suppression. From shadowy algorithms throttling truth to state-sponsored hacks burying inconvenient facts, these tactics aren’t just glitches—they’re weapons wielded by cowards to control what you see, hear, and think. Consider this your notice: You’re being tracked, documented, and when I take office, my administration will hunt you down, shut you down, and—most crucially—drag your paymasters into the light. The era of puppeteering the masses ends here. Truth doesn’t just survive; it strikes back.
Let’s cut the euphemisms. Digital suppression is no abstract boogeyman—it’s a calculated assault on freedom, often funded by foreign powers or domestic elites desperate to cling to control. Take the recent wave of U.S. political censorship: In 2025 alone, we’ve seen federal pushes for visa bans on foreign nationals censoring Americans online , EU regulations compelling global platforms to stifle speech under the Digital Services Act , and domestic bills in 26 states introducing over 70 measures to censor higher education, with 22 becoming law . Closer to home, my own campaign expose on leadership failures faced inexplicable throttling on X, echoing broader patterns where conservative voices are demoted or deleted to protect powerful interests . This isn’t coincidence; it’s combat in the information age, where bad actors deploy tools like DNS tampering to reroute traffic away from truth-telling sites, DDoS attacks to overwhelm servers (as seen in U.S. government breaches like the SolarWinds hack ), shadowbanning to bury posts algorithmically , and malware to intercept and delete communications before they spread.
These methods aren’t new—they’re digital evolutions of ancient warfare tactics, like the Roman emperors burning scrolls or medieval kings executing messengers. Today, nation-state actors, such as those tied to Russia or China, use proxies to suppress dissent, blending espionage with criminal hacks to erode public confidence . In the U.S., we’ve prosecuted Chinese contract hackers for global intrusions that stole data and silenced critics , while states grapple with disinformation floods during elections . Minnesota isn’t immune: Our cities have faced cyberattacks, prompting gubernatorial activation of the National Guard for defense , and new laws like the 2024 amendments to cybersecurity incident reporting empower us to track these threats systematically .
But here’s the sharp edge: You’re not as invisible as you think. We’re already detecting you through intrusion detection systems that flag anomalous traffic, endpoint monitoring that spots malware signatures, and threat intelligence feeds that trace your IP trails back to command-and-control servers. Honeypots lure you in, capturing your tools for forensic dissection, while behavioral analytics expose your patterns—like the repetitive bot flagging that tanks post visibility. State governments, including Minnesota’s, are building on federal models: The Justice Department has dismantled networks suppressing information , and our own 2025 cybersecurity enhancements, including the new law for tracking attacks , provide the framework to document every move.
When I become Governor, this won’t be rhetoric— it’ll be relentless action. Minnesota governors wield executive powers to combat cyber threats: Issuing orders for heightened infrastructure defenses , activating the National Guard for incident response , and collaborating with federal agencies like the FBI and CISA to prosecute under laws targeting cybercrimes . My administration will expand the state’s cybersecurity reporting system , invest in threat-hunting teams, and enforce the Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act to penalize data manipulators . We’ll shut down your operations—seizing domains, blocking IPs, and quarantining malware. But we won’t stop there: We’ll follow the money trail to your funders, whether foreign governments sponsoring espionage or domestic entities pulling strings. Expect subpoenas, asset freezes, and international cooperation to expose and dismantle your networks. I’ve done this in uniform; I’ll do it in office. Mark my words: I will deliver.
Minnesotans, we the people deserve unfettered access to information—to read, learn, and discern without a cabal deciding what’s “safe.” This isn’t about politics; it’s about sovereignty. The ancient tactic of starving minds to control bodies dies with us. Truth lives eternal, and under my leadership, it’ll roar free. Join the fight at parrish4mn.com. Your voice, unfiltered, is our greatest weapon.
For a transparent Minnesota,
Phillip C. Parrish
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