Photo by Mike Lamb Lyon County farmer Paul Lanoue, left, talks with U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis, right, during the Lyon County Republicans Banquet Tuesday night.

MARSHALL — Jason Lewis says it’s “game on” in his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Tina Smith.

“Which is fun for out state,” he said after giving a speech during Tuesday night’s 2020 Lyon County Republicans Banquet. The Southwest Minnesota State University College Republicans hosted the event on a farm on County Road 67.

Lewis says his internal polls and other polls are showing the race as a statistical tie. He credits his strong showing in the polls to his strategy of campaigning hard in Greater Minnesota.

“Tactically, our plan is to represent Greater Minnesota. That is why we are here. We will hit all 87 counties in a couple weeks,” he said. “It’s a different strategy. She thinks all the votes she needs are in Ramsey (County). We did all the numbers and we don’t think that works. We think the numbers are here.”

Michelle Fischbach also attended the banquet and railed against U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her opponent, Rep. Collin Peterson.

“Nancy Pelosi just continues to work against the president,” she said. “Collin Peterson keeps her in power and allows her to push that garbage agenda. She says she wants an honest negotiation with the president. She just wants to push this garbage. And this is not what we need and Collin Peterson is enabling her. They have gone too far and we are going to get rid of them.”

State Sen. Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, stressed the importance of this election.

“Can you imagine a Joe Biden presidency?” he asked the audience. “And six more years of Tina Smith — no way. I was a state senator when she was lieutenant governor and she has an agenda. It’s a very strong socialist agenda. She’s also very supportive of the non-pro-life movement. There is also several other things in her past that we can’t have six more years of.”

Dahms also charged that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is “out of control.”

“To get him out of power, both the House and the Senate needs Republican majority vote in order to take his power away from him,” he said.

State Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, reminded the audience that the nation is heading toward a “fork in the road.”

“Two directions, two visions in this country. Promised socialism, or voting for somebody who has left this country in a better position in what he found it. We have business and opportunity,” he said.

Swedzinski said it’s important to fix the family unit in this country.

“We lasted 240-odd years in this country because of constitutional conservatism,” he said. “We empowered individuals. We empowered families. When the family is broken the school board is not going to fix it, the county commission is not going to fix it, state government is not going to fix it. Certainly not the federal government”.

State Rep. Joe Schomacker sees a new energy level among Republicans.

“There is a whole new energy for conservative values that many of us had are whole life, but never had someone like President Trump to be the standard bearer for those things,” he said. “We have someone to stand up against those who are burning down businesses and creating violence and disrupting lives in the name of an objective they really can’t describe. We have a president that is willing to stand up to that. We have a president who is putting justices on the Supreme Court and other courts that are going to be strong.”

State Sen. Bill Weber blamed poor leadership for the violence that occurred after the killing of George Floyd.

“What happened in Minneapolis and St. Paul with the riots is truly a terrible thing. What happened to George Floyd is a terrible thing. I think what people need to see is that this is what you have or what happens when all of sudden your leadership fails you,” Weber said.

“Those riots, that property damage, that store destruction could have been stopped if the mayors of those cities, the governor of Minnesota would have acted responsibly during the time there was for them to act. And I think we feel badly for those businesses who lost their life savings, lost their businesses.”