“If not me, who? And if not now, when?”
These were the questions Erik Osberg asked himself after the 2024 election. Osberg has been a Democrat his whole life, but had never been forthcoming with it until after the election, when he decided he couldn’t sit back and watch from the sidelines anymore.
This spring, he launched his campaign to run as the DFL candidate for Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District against current Republican Rep. Michelle Fischbach. With over 500 days until the 2026 election, he’s spending as much time as he can on the road, learning from and listening to constituents.
“There are 38 counties in the district. Tonight makes 20. We announced March 11 and now we’ve visited 20 counties in the district,” said Osberg at a recent local Lyon County DFL meeting.
There’s a reason he started early. Fischbach, who was elected for the first time in 2020, has easily defeated both prior democratic challengers, by over 65% in both 2022 and 2024.
“I’m grounded in the work. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the chaos but if I put my head down and work I know I’ll be able to get somewhere,” he said. “The next year is going to be work, and work, and work. That’s how we create progress.”
His ultimate goal is winning, but Osberg also mentioned the importance of the process of the campaign and encouraging others to get involved with the DFL.
Osberg’s three main areas of focus for the campaign are supporting public education, providing access to healthcare for rural communities, and creating sustainable agriculture policy that works for Minnesota farmers. He believes these are the three areas that affect the most western Minnesota voters. However, the specifics of his policy positions are something he doesn’t have yet.
“The good news is that we have a set of instructions. The Constitution. We just have to follow it,” he said.
He hopes to spend the rest of the year visiting counties in the district, learning from and listening to constituents, and then base his policy positions off of what he hears; eventually releasing official policy stances at the end of the year. As a newcomer to the political scene, he is instead using his background as a business owner and financial advisor to better understand rural policy. Osberg previously owned a media company, building brands for companies and specializing in video production.
He currently works in the public sector for Ottertail County. He was initially hesitant about taking the step to announce his candidacy. As a father of three, he was worried his children and family would face pushback from their community of Wadena, where Osberg has lived for over two decades. But so far he says the reactions from family, friends, and community members have been mostly positive, or at least neutral.
“It’s been a non-issue,” he said. “We were worried for nothing.” Although, he added, that doesn’t mean that he thinks the next year will be smooth sailing.
“We as a society don’t have a shared reality right now,” he said. “People have different perspectives on what has been happening in politics recently. My goal is to identify things that we can agree on and start over. Get everybody on the same page.”
Osberg gave a short speech last Monday night and took questions from the audience. His whirlwind tour of western Minnesota will continue throughout the summer.
