Photos by Mike Lamb Minnesota Attorney General candidate Doug Wardlow talks to Marshall resident Bob Meffert inside the Southwest Minnesota Regional Airport in Marshall Tuesday morning. Wardlow joined other Republican candidates on a 15-stop statewide campaign tour.

MARSHALL — Jeff Johnson knows what it feels like just before losing a Minnesota gubernatorial election. He lost to Mark Dayton by 6 percentage points in 2014.

This time Johnson says it feels dramatically different just a week before the Nov. 6 election.

Johnson flew on a fixed-wing single-engine Cessna into Southwest Minnesota Regional Airport early Tuesday morning with three other Republican candidates seeking state offices as part of a 15-stop statewide tour that started Monday.

The Hennepin County commissioner told a small media contingent inside the airport terminal that he feels a different kind of energy this time around.

“I think there is an energy out there. We didn’t feel that four years ago,” Johnson said.

A small crowd greeted Johnson, attorney general candidate Doug Wardlow, secretary of state candidate John Howe and state auditor candidate Pam Myhra.

“I know what it feels like before you win a race and I know what it feels like right before you lose a race — because I have done both,” Johnson said. “It feels like we are going to win right now.”

A recent Minneapolis Star Tribune poll shows Democrat Tim Walz holding a slim 6-point lead, but Johnson says he doesn’t trust polls.

“But even the polls are looking like momentum is on our side. So if you believe in those, that’s positive. But I go by my gut and my gut is saying people are looking for a change in state government right now,” Johnson said.

During the tour, Johnson said people have expressed frustration with “mess up after mess up” in state government and the corruption and fraud at state agencies.

“Democrats, Republicans and anything in the middle, people are really concerned about Minnesota government and the attitude,” he said. “They are looking for change.”

Johnson brought up the change in attitude in state agencies while talking about agriculture.

“I talk to farmers all over the state. I hear the same thing. Government is getting in the way, treating us like we serve them as opposed to the other way around. Whether you want to look at the buffer strips or ditch mowing or some other regulations that are out there — we need government to understand they serve people. Part of their job is to help businesses, including farms, to succeed,” Johnson said.“This doesn’t mean we don’t regulate. Of course we are going to regulate because we need to protect our environment. But let’s include the farmers in coming up with what those regulations should look like.”

While President Donald Trump is stirring up a lot of controversy just before the mid-term elections, Johnson doesn’t believe it will play a major role in Minnesota statewide elections.

“I support President Trump,” he said. “I don’t agree with every word he says, but I support him. And for some people, they won’t vote for me because of it. But others will only vote for me because of it. But I think the vast majority of Minnesotans that I talk to have their opinions about what’s happening at the national level, but they are able to separate that from the governor’s race.”

Johnson also said he would like to see changes in the funding formulas for K-12 education and transportation. He said the formulas are too “metro centric.”

Meanwhile, Wardlow told the media that he will work to take the politics out of the attorney general’s office.

“And we need to enforce the law,” he said.

“My opponent, Keith Ellison said he wants to push a policy of a radical agenda through the attorney general’s office. He wants to wage a political war against the president that is inappropriate and an abuse of the office and a waste of taxpayers resources.”

Wardlow said he wants to reorganize the criminal law division to make sure county attorneys and prosecutors have all the resources they need to get convictions to keep Minnesota safe.

“We need to fight human trafficking, we need to provide leadership for the opioid epidemic to make sure we attack it from all angles,” he said. “We are still having problems with methamphetamine all over the state.”

Wardlow is also feeling confident about his chances of winning.

“We are 7 points up in the last poll that came out a week ago. I’m definitely feeling the energy and enthusiasm building, growing. Democrats, I think, are on their heels a bit. We feel a surge of enthusiasm and that will carry us to election day,” he said.

Howe described his plans to shape the secretary of state office into a one-stop shop for everything, including support for business.

“We need a government that operates at the speed of commerce,” he said. “And not only is it important for the secretary of state to make public appearances, but also lean on legislative issues to make sure Minnesota has a better business climate so we can retain businesses that we have — but how do we recruit businesses to come in?”

Howe also talked about election integrity to make sure they are safe from hacking.

“There are several things we need to do to improve election integrity,” he said. “We are currently one of the few states that has a cyber security division in the National Guard. So when I become secretary of state we are going to utilize the National Guard not only for the secretary of state platform in cybersecurity, but across all platforms.

“The good news, we were never hacked by the Russians. We were never attempted to being hacked. A lot of people like to throw that out as just part of a fearmongering campaign.”

Myhra touted a recent endorsement by the Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial board.

“People really care about accountability and transparency on how our tax dollars are being spent,” she said. “Quite honestly, that’s what the state auditor’s office is all about, or should be all about. I will lead the office and set the tone for effective, independent financial audit performance reviews to give taxpayers that accountability and transparency they want and they need.”