Northland voter priorities

The momentum leading up to Tuesday’s midterm elections has been building. We’ve been hearing from the candidates regarding their top priorities, but do their priorities line up with what Northland voters want done?

We took to the streets to get a sense of what you want from the leaders we are about to elect.

“Education, the environment, infrastructure, the economy.” These were some of the first words spoken when we asked passers-by what issues are most important to them heading into the November 8th election.

When we asked them to expound a bit on their answers, we found out that Northland voters are concerned about many pressing issues.

“Maybe clean up Duluth a little bit,” one man told us. “Working on all the potholes would be a good start,” he added.

“Climate change is the biggest issue facing our planet and everybody on the planet,” one woman told us. “Yes, the environment”, another woman said. “We all breathe the air and we drink the water.”

“I think we need a real focus on mental health,” one woman said. “Making sure facilities are available to help people who are struggling with that.”

Many of the voters we spoke with are hoping for improvements in infrastructure.

“I think our highway system, you know, really needs a lot of attention,” a man said.

“Infrastructure is really important. as you can see, we have roads that are very bad,” a lady said. “We have bridges that need to be repaired.”

We heard concerns expressed on other topics too, from abortion to education, to fair elections, to personal safety.

“We’ve been hearing there’s too many too many gunshots and stuff around town,” an elderly man said with his wife at his side. “So that would go to crime okay, and I think drugs.”

His wife added, “Take care of the borders. We can’t even take care of our people here in the United States. I feel bad for them at the borders, but yes, definitely crime.”

Many voters are telling us our elected leaders themselves are part of what they feel is broken in our political system.

“All the political stuff we’re getting in our mailbox is like, don’t vote for him because he’s bad,” a woman said. “Well, I would rather know who I should vote for, and why!”

“I want a political leader that’s caring and understanding,” a local college student said. Another woman adding, “Honesty and integrity and respect in our politicians, in our in our society is needed.”

Across the Northland we are hearing that inflation, rising costs and money seem to be on everyone’s mind.

“I think they should lower the property taxes,” one man said. “We have the crazy escalation of real estate values that must mean the city is making windfall profits. It seems to me we could lower the property taxes.”

“The cost of living and inflation is a major international problem,” a woman said. “And don’t know if the people we have running are ready to deal with it, but I hope so.”

“Grocery prices, gas prices, we’re seniors and all our money is being eaten by all the rising prices,” a retired man said.

With many issues facing us this election, it is important to remember that we are all in this together.