Anthony Hamilton

“I am a farmer and beekeeper. Science is not abstract to me. I use it to test soil, water, and hive health. I use it everyday because my livelihood depends on getting the facts right. If a vote touches science, I want to hear from scientists before I vote. I would seek input directly from researchers, including the University of Minnesota Extension and scientists who live and work in the Eighth District, not just whoever a lobbyist sends to my office. I would never vote on something without hearing multiple positions on it. Good science includes disagreements. I want to hear the strongest case on each side, ask hard questions, and then make the call myself. That is what I would owe the people I represent. I don’t take PAC money, and would not take lobbyist money. That matters here. When a member of Congress hears from a scientist, the question is whether they are listening to evidence or a donor. I answer to my district, so the evidence can actually reach me.”

KEYWORDS: Evidence-based decisions, multiple perspectives, accountability

“I am not against mining. Iron Range miners built this district and I want mining jobs here. But H.J. Res 140 is not about American mining. Twin Metals is owned by Antofagasta, a Chilean conglomerate. The minerals would likely be processed in Chinese-owned smelters. The President signed an executive order treating critical minerals as a national security issue. Handing our copper and nickel to a foreign firm feeding China’s supply chain contradicts that order. Pete Stauber sponsored this resolution. Look at his donor list and ask who he was working for. The Boundary Waters is a national treasure and an economic engine. Sulfide-ore mining in that watershed carries acid drainage risk that lasts generations. Water flows north into the wilderness. You do not get a second chance with that. My position: no sulfide-ore mining in the Rainy River watershed until independent science proves it can be done without polluting it, and the burden of proof sits on the mining company. American-owned projects outside sensitive watersheds should get faster permits, not slower. Protect the water, put Americans first in our own mines, and make Congress answer to voters instead of mining PACs.”

KEYWORDS: Antofagasta, foreign ownership, national security

“PFAS was invented in Minnesota. 3M made these chemicals for decades while knowing the risks, and now 21 Minnesota community water systems exceed federal limits. Families drank that water. That is not a partisan issue. It is a poisoning issue. I live on well water. My family eats what we grow and drinks what comes out of the ground. Clean water is not an environmental slogan to me. It is dinner. My policies are simple. First, polluter pays. The companies that made and dumped PFAS fund the cleanup and the filtration, not the ratepayers and not the taxpayers. Second, fund testing for private wells, because rural families are on their own right now. Third, stop new PFAS from entering products where safer alternatives exist. Fourth, hold the Pentagon to the same cleanup standards as everyone else on contaminated bases. In 2021 the House voted on the PFAS Action Act to set drinking water standards and force cleanup. Pete Stauber voted no. Check his donor list, then check that vote. I take no PAC money, so when the polluter and the water bill are on opposite sides, I am free to side with the water.”

KEYWORDS: clean drinking water, 3M, PFAS Action Act

“I am partially against data centers. I am fully against ordinary families paying for them. These facilities use as much electricity as a small city and millions of gallons of water for cooling. When a hyperscaler plugs into the grid, somebody builds the new generation and transmission to serve it. Too often that cost lands on every household’s electric bill while the tech company gets a tax break for showing up. My policies. First, the data center pays its own way. Full cost of the power and grid upgrades it demands, locked in by contract, so residential ratepayers are protected. Second, no water permits without an independent assessment of what the aquifer and local wells can spare. Farmers and rural families were there first. Third, tax breaks only if they are earned with permanent local jobs, not construction jobs that vanish in two years. Fourth, local governments keep the final say. No state or federal preemption of township and county decisions. Big Tech has plenty of lobbyists in Washington. I take no PAC money and no lobbyist money, so when the data center and your electric bill disagree, I work for you.”

KEYWORDS: electric rates, ratepayer protection, water use

“Research pays. As a farmer I benefit every season from work done at land grant universities. Disease resistant crops, soil science, pollinator research that keeps beekeepers like me in business. The NIH numbers in your question tell the same story in medicine. This is one of the few places government spends a dollar and gets more than a dollar back. Here is my problem. Congress cannot fund research reliably because Congress cannot budget at all. Continuing resolutions, shutdown threats, and last minute deals whiplash every lab in the country. Scientists spend their time writing grant applications instead of doing science because nobody knows what next year looks like. My policies. Stable multi-year funding for core research agencies so labs can plan. Grants awarded on merit and open competition, not on which university hired the better lobbyist. Full public transparency on where every research dollar goes, because taxpayer confidence is what keeps the money flowing. And my CAPT Act suspends congressional pay when Congress fails to pass a real budget, because the biggest threat to American research is not any one cut. It is a Congress that will not do its job.”

KEYWORDS: merit-based grants, CAPT Act, congressional accountability

“Every one of those numbers is a neighbor. The Eighth District is home to several Ojibwe nations, so the disparity in your question is not a statistic to me. It is families in my district burying their kids. The decline proves something works. Naloxone saves lives, so keep it cheap and everywhere, including schools, bars, and squad cars. Treatment works when you can actually get it, so my first priority is rural access. In much of my district the nearest detox bed or medication-assisted treatment provider is an hour or more away. That kills people. Second, fund tribal nations directly. Tribes run some of the most effective recovery programs in Minnesota because they built them for their own communities. Money should go straight to them, not through layers of agencies that skim and slow it. Third, hit supply hard. Fentanyl traffickers and the Chinese precursor pipeline deserve prosecution, not the addict who needs a bed. Fourth, follow the evidence. If a program saves lives, fund it. If it does not, cut it. I take no pharmaceutical PAC money, so I can back what works instead of what pays.”

KEYWORDS: naloxone, rural treatment access, tribal nations