FAIRMONT - With a background in farming and small business, Randy Demmer is a politician who believes he hasn't lost his focus on the people he represents.
If elected to Congress, he vows to remember the voters who put him there.
Campaigning for the Republican endorsement against Allen Quist and Jim Hagedorn, Demmer visited Fairmont on Monday. Stopping by the Ranch Restaurant, he spoke with a small group of supporters, including state Rep. Bob Gunther, R-Fairmont, and state Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont.
A native of the rural community of Hayfield, Demmer is state representative for District 29A.
"We need to have regular people representing us from regular places," he said in response to why is he running for Congress.
Demmer is a fiscal and social conservative, following traditional Republican values. He opposes big government, believes strongly in the rights of unborn infants, and supports the right to bear arms.
The country's current direction under President Obama has him "very, very concerned."
He made a point to avoid mud-slinging at opponent Congressman Tim Walz, but he did criticize the Democrat for supporting leadership that is "taking the country down the wrong path."
"I think we're at a crossroads," he said. "... The idea that government can step in and spend our way out of this ... is simply wrong. We, as a society, have to understand, we can change."
The way to implement that change, in Demmer's opinion, is to stop strangling the private sector with rules and regulations, in order to allow job creation and an "open, conducive economic environment for investment."
"The problem," he said, "is government is doing everything instead of letting people do things for themselves. ... That's where innovation comes from."
Demmer has a degree in agricultural business administration, and owned and managed a soybean and corn farm for 17 years. He also owned three NAPA Auto Parts stores for 24 years, and operated Computer Edge, an accounting software and computer consulting business, for 23 years.
Demmer and his wife, Kathy, are lifelong residents of Hayfield, where they raised three daughters.
