By Phillip C. Parrish, Candidate for Governor of Minnesota
Fellow Minnesotans, as the leaves turn on this Halloween eve of October 31, 2025, the air carries more than just the chill of autumn – it’s thick with the orchestrated fog of political theater. The elite gatekeepers, those puppeteers who pull strings across both the DFL and Republican aisles, are scrambling to anoint their next “electable” savior. Hand in glove, Democrats and so-called Republicans work to preserve their stranglehold, deploying the same tired calculus of race, gender optics, and manufactured momentum to prop up insiders who’ll keep the machine greased. Over on the DFL side, Tim Walz’s unprecedented third-term bid – announced just last month on September 16 – is the crown jewel of their hubris, a desperate bid to extend the fraud-riddled reign that’s drained our coffers. But it’s my own Republican Party that’s at it again, betraying the grassroots fire we ignited with Trump and the America First wave. These alleged Republicans – I call them that because they serve the same deep-pocketed masters as the Dems – are poised to unveil their chosen one, possibly House Speaker Lisa Demuth or some other polished placeholder yet to be named. Why now? Because they see me gaining ground, breaking through their echo chamber of noise and lies. They’re terrified – not of me, but of you, the Minnesotans hungry for the unfiltered whole truth. This is our preemptive strike: a warning shot before their scripted coronation. To the gatekeepers in both parties, the pundits, the billionaire donor class: Don’t do it. The people are awake, and your foot on the scale will only accelerate your fall.
The Bipartisan Elite’s “Electable” Racket: A Legacy of Betrayal and Blunders
Minnesota’s political swamp isn’t red or blue – it’s a murky green of establishment sludge where DFL hacks and Republican pretenders collude to sideline real reformers. Their “electability” formula? Sidestep substance for superficial checkboxes: the ideal demographic profile, a timely entry to surf national tides, and unwavering loyalty to the donor class. Competence? Results? A spine to fight for working families? Irrelevant. It’s all about perpetuating control, and they’ve botched it spectacularly for decades – often on purpose, to keep outsiders like me from upending their feast.
The DFL’s track record is a dumpster fire of arrogance. In 2018, they packaged Walz as the affable everyman, only for his administration to unleash billions in unchecked spending that birthed scandals like the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud – a premeditated pipeline of stolen tax dollars to cronies and criminals. By 2022, despite economic wreckage, their machine steamrolled challengers with dark money and media smears, securing Walz’s second term. Now, with his third-term gambit, they’re circling the wagons, floating safe bets to shield their fraud enablers. Nationally, it’s the same: Hillary in 2016, Biden in 2020 – elite darlings who cratered because they couldn’t mask the rot.
But let’s not pretend the Republican side is innocent. These alleged Republicans – ensconced in St. Paul suites, jetting to D.C. fundraisers – have sold out the party’s populist soul. Remember 2018, when they propped up Jeff Johnson as the “viable” alternative, only to watch him fizzle against Walz’s facade? Or 2022, when the establishment undercut Scott Jensen’s lockdown-busting momentum with whispers of “unelectability,” dooming him to an 8-point loss despite Minnesotans’ seething frustration. Fast-forward to today: With Walz’s reelection machine revving, GOP insiders are in panic mode. Rumors swirl of a big-tent anointing – perhaps Lisa Demuth, the Cold Spring Speaker who’s ruled out a Senate run but fits their insider mold perfectly, or another faceless operative from the Jensen-Robbins-Johnson-Evenstad primary scrum. Why the rush? My campaign’s surge – fueled by town halls in Bemidji barns and Iron Range diners, not donor dinners – has them spooked. Polls they suppress show outsiders like me surging because we expose the bipartisan scam: Both parties’ elites greenlight the same waste, from COVID grift to green mandates that gut rural jobs. Their calculus isn’t about beating Walz; it’s about beating back the truth-tellers who threaten their club.
Out of Touch: The Elite’s Bubble Bursts Against Minnesota’s Raw Reality
While DFL socialists and Republican poseurs debate diversity quotas in air-conditioned capitols, everyday Minnesotans battle a ground truth they’ve long ignored. Their glossy reports – like the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s June 2025 Economic Trends puff piece touting “low unemployment” – ring hollow when you factor in the underemployment epidemic crushing our heartland. Metro areas might hum, but from Worthington’s packing plants to Hibbing’s shuttered mines, families are fleeing to tax havens like Iowa and the Dakotas. Why? Our punishing 9.85% income tax – the highest in the Midwest – devours paychecks, while corporate cronies lobby for exemptions that widen the chasm.
Taxes are just the opener. Fraud? It’s bipartisan negligence on steroids. Walz’s DFL crew greenlit the Feeding scandal and now, amid fresh Medicaid billing horrors exposed in October 2025, they’ve ordered a third-party audit – too little, too late, after hundreds of millions vanished. Where were the Republican watchdogs? Silent, complicit, more interested in power-sharing deals than clawbacks. Crime ravages our streets: Minneapolis homicides remain 30% above pre-2020 levels, carjackings plague the suburbs, and rural opioid waves drown communities – all while elites peddle “equity” as an excuse for soft bail and sanctuary policies.
The disconnect festers because they’ve built ivory towers: Private jets for Demuth’s D.C. schmoozes, loopholes for Jensen’s donor pals, and a media lapdog press (Star Tribune, anyone?) that brands reformers as “extremists.” They haven’t felt the sting of $4 gas surcharges or the despair of a Rochester nurse rationing groceries. Their “electable” picks – safe, scripted, and soulless – mirror this blindness, recycling the same failed consultants who lost us statewide races for 20 years.
What We the People Demand: Unyielding Truth, Justice, and a Bipartisan Reckoning
We reject your rigged rodeo. We crave a governor who speaks raw truth: Walz and his DFL crooks – from fraud architects to election dodgers – rot in jail, with every stolen dime audited and returned. That’s billions from COVID scams, Medicaid heists, and pork-barrel black holes. No more teleprompter parrots; we need fighters slashing taxes to 5% flat, axing property levies, and enforcing borders that protect, not endanger.
To the DFL machine: Your Walz sequel is DOA – Minnesotans won’t forgive the third-term power grab amid your scandals. To my alleged Republican brethren – Demuth, Jensen, Robbins, Johnson, Evenstad’s handlers, and the shadowy bundlers: You’re exposed. Propping up your “chosen one” to squash my momentum won’t save you; it’ll ignite the base you fear. We see your fear – the packed rallies, the viral clips piercing your firewall. You’re not scared of a candidate; you’re terrified of empowered Minnesotans demanding the full truth about your bipartisan betrayals.
Step aside, or be steamrolled. The donor class’s checkbooks can’t buy what town-hall thunder delivers.
The People’s Uprising: Draining the Twin-Party Swamp in 2026
This isn’t a race; it’s a revolution. On August 11, 2026, in the primary, and November 3 in the general, we’ll shatter the elite’s scale. I’ve stood with you – in flooded basements, foreclosed farms, and forgotten factories – and I pledge: Jailed criminals, reclaimed billions, and a Minnesota reborn for makers, not manipulators.
The masks are off, gatekeepers. The truth is out. Join the people, or get trampled by them.
Phillip C. Parrish
Republican Candidate for Governor
October 31, 2025
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