U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis announced last week that he will be embarking on a “Reopen Minnesota for Business” RV tour in protest of the economic shutdown imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Lewis’ campaign said the tour began Friday with select stops in the Metro area. The former congressman said he plans to meet with small business owners impacted by the coronavirus shutdown throughout the course of the tour.
“Several weeks ago I was the first to call for Minnesota to gradually reopen while protecting the vulnerable and defeating the virus, which was met with praise from small business owners,” Lewis said in a statement.
“I am pleased to see more and more beginning to call for the economy to reopen, but the time is past due for tone deaf politicians like Sen. Tina Smith to take heed, and therefore I am embarking on a ‘Re-Open Minnesota for Business’ tour to help struggling small business owners tell their stories and be heard,” he added.
Lewis was in attendance during Friday’s protest of Gov. Walz outside the Governor’s Residence and exited his campaign RV to greet several of the demonstrators. Later that day, he met with the owners of “The Dance Complex” in Maple Grove who said they “don’t want a government handout,” but just want the economy to reopen.
One of my first stops speaking with struggling business owners on my “ReOpen MN for Business” RV Tour, met with Alex who with his wife own/operate ‘The Dance Complex’ in Maple Grove.
“I don’t want a government handout,” Alex stated.
He just wants to #ReopenMN. Video to follow. pic.twitter.com/i9ButQHcj3
— Jason Lewis (@LewisForMN) April 17, 2020
“Right now there are 22 million Americans out of work, and just today Minnesota-based Best Buy announced they are furloughing 50,000 employees. Enough is enough – Minnesotans desperately need further economic relief,” Lewis continued, criticizing his campaign opponent Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN).
“This is not a game. Sen. Tina Smith twice voted to block economic relief to work in funding for her liberal pet projects like funding the Kennedy Center and the Green New Deal, and we can’t afford for her to play politics any further. Lives and livelihoods are on the line,” Lewis claimed.
Minnesota has seen 464,513 new applications for unemployment insurance since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. As The Minnesota Sun reported, Minnesota had 79,195 new applications in less than a week.
“I call on Sen. Smith to do her job and provide a much-needed lifeline to ailing businesses by funding the Small Business Administration. Then I call on her to stand with me in demanding Minnesota reopen for business when the stay-at-home order ends on May 4,” Lewis concluded. “If she is not willing to do so today, perhaps she will be willing to do so after hearing from the many struggling families and small business owners I will be meeting with in the coming weeks.”
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun and The Ohio Star. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Jason Lewis RV Tour” by Jason Lewis.
