Gulbranson enters Minnesota 8th District race, touts lower costs and health care

Luke Gulbranson tried to turn North Shore frustration over jobs, household costs and medical bills into an early referendum on economic security in Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District. His campaign opened with a promise to lower costs, protect essential programs and expand access to affordable health care, a pitch aimed squarely at Lake County and the wider northeastern Minnesota region.

Gulbranson, who said he was born and raised in Eveleth, built that message around family history in the Iron Range economy. He said his great-grandfather worked as a foreman at the Oliver Mine, his father belonged to Operating Engineers Local 49, and his mother worked as a nurse caregiver. He also said he had personal experience with food assistance and Medicaid, giving his campaign a working-class frame that reaches beyond partisan slogans.

The campaign’s launch also leaned on local validation. Phill Drobnick, an Eveleth native and USA Olympic Curling coach, endorsed Gulbranson, adding a recognizable North Shore and Range name to the announcement. Federal Election Commission records showed Gulbranson designated Gulbranson for Congress as his principal campaign committee for the 2026 election cycle, confirming the run as a formal federal campaign for Minnesota’s 8th District.

That district matters sharply in Lake County because it is part of a seat with broad rural stretches and very different economic conditions from one community to the next. Census figures put Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District at 713,312 people, with a median household income of $74,635 and 5.2% of residents without health care coverage. In a district like this, where wages, insurance coverage and access to care can vary widely from Duluth to the North Shore, those numbers give weight to any candidate’s promise on costs and medical access.

Gulbranson’s entry also set up a direct challenge to incumbent U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, a Duluth native serving his fourth term in Congress. Stauber’s House profile says he has focused on “unleashing the economic engine” in northeastern Minnesota, a message that is likely to put jobs, energy and development at the center of the 2026 race. For Lake County voters, the contest now looks less like a routine campaign launch and more like a test of which economic story feels more believable at the kitchen table.

The district map ordered by the Special Redistricting Panel in 2022 keeps Lake County tied to that broader northern debate. With health care access, cost of living and rural services all on the ballot in spirit if not yet in name, the race begins with the same question facing many North Shore households: who can make the region feel more secure?