Dr. Wendell Smith, Northland Surgeon, Seeks DFL Nomination for 8th District

Dr. Wendell R. Smith announced March 5 that he will seek the Democratic-Farmer-Labor nomination for Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, setting up a primary challenge in August to Republican Rep. Pete Stauber. Smith, 65, made the announcement from Virginia, Minnesota, and framed his campaign around threats to rural health care and economic stability on the Iron Range.

Smith’s campaign release tied looming hospital closures to federal policy, saying, “Healthcare in Minnesota and our country is in danger. Republicans, including our representative, Pete Stauber, continually cut Medicare and Medicaid funding. The result of this is that 19 rural hospitals are at risk of closure, with 6 of these within the next 3-5 years. This will have a cascading effect on the economy, with people and businesses leaving as access to healthcare disappears.” The hospital figures and the 3–5 year timeframe were presented by Smith as central to his health care argument.

A life-long medical professional in the Northland, Smith has lived in Minnesota for 24 years and works as a general surgeon on the Iron Range. His employment history listed in the campaign materials includes 16 years at Essentia Health and six years at Fairview Range, a combination other outlets summarized as more than two decades practicing in the region. Smith’s background also includes eight years of service in the U.S. Air Force and academic credentials from Brigham Young University, Louisiana State University and the University of Utah.

Smith invoked professional and military oaths to explain his candidacy, saying, “As a physician I took upon myself the Hippocratic Oath, which means I put patients above self. As an officer in the US Air Force, I was sworn to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,’” said Smith. “These guiding principles, along with the people I’ve met and cared for, have made the health, well-being, and security of the people in the 8th District a personal matter for me.”

The campaign release, as reported, lists policy priorities beyond health care: restoring Medicare and Medicaid funding, protecting health care access for residents of MN-8, making education accessible and affordable, supporting workers’ rights and the right to unionize, and ending corporate money and corruption in politics. Smith framed those priorities as responses to what he described as cuts to federal health programs that imperil rural hospitals across northern Minnesota.

Electoral context positions Smith against an entrenched incumbent. Rep. Pete Stauber, a Republican first elected in 2018 who has won re-election three times since, is running for another term. Kdhnews reported four other Democrats have filed Federal Election Commission statements in the race: Trina Swanson of Hermantown, John-Paul McBride of Duluth, Cyle Cramer of Chisago City, and Emanuel Anastos of Tower. Smith will compete for the DFL endorsement and the August primary ballot as the campaign moves from announcement to organizing on the Iron Range.