Minnesota’s House of Representatives has been tied between Democrats and Republicans for two years. But this November, if DFL candidate Brian Cohn wins his race for House District 57B that could flip power to the Democrats. This would be very influential to Minnesota’s queer community given the anti-LGBTQ bills MAGA has continued to push in the legislature.
We sat down with Cohn, who is not part of the LGBTQ community, to learn more about his candidacy. He has lived in the Lakeville, MN area for 13 years. He touts his over two decades of experience in engineering and business process improvement. According to his website, his goal is to bring practical problem-solving Minnesota’s capitol. Article continues below.
Watch our conversation
What is he hearing from voters?
Cohn told The Gaily Show that he isn’t hearing about the culture war issues MAGA wants to talk about, issues such as trans athletes.
“Mostly what I’m hearing is [voters are] sick and tired of filling their gas tank and they’re costing a hundred bucks and $100 bags of groceries,” said Cohn. “A lot of young families in the district that just can’t afford to send their kids to childcare and it’s really hurting.”
He highlighted healthcare as the most critical issue Minnesota residents have raised with him. Specifically, they’ve shared with Cohn the double-digit increases in health insurance premium they have to pay. And the out-of-pocket maximums that are preventing them from going to the doctor.
Cohn also pointed to the fact that insurance companies are taking roughly 20% overhead compared to Medicare, which is typically 3%.
“Having healthcare is something that shouldn’t depend on where you work,” said Cohn. “It shouldn’t depend on where you grew up. We need to get to a universal healthcare system.”
He specifically said he would support Minnesota State Senator’s John Marty’s Minnesota Health Plan which would provide universal healthcare to all Minnesotans.
Impacts of Operation Metro Surge
Earlier this year, the Trump administration deployed three thousand federal agents to the Twin Cities for what they dubbed as an immigration enforcement campaign. They enacted thousands of violent arrests. Individuals were taken from their cars leaving them abandoned in the street. Hundreds of people ICE detained were lawful immigrants, even citizens. They used children as bait to arrest people. They trailed legal observers and parked outside the homes of school board members to intimidate them. They deployed flash bangs and green gas at constitutional observers. They detained people in conditions that Democratic lawmakers alleged were violating the detainees’s rights to medical care and access to lawyers. Agents killed two U.S. citizens without cause: Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti.
“We’ve talked to also a lot of people in the community that have been affected by Operation Metro Surge and been afraid to leave their homes,” said Cohn. “One thing that’s real important is to get that transparency out there.”
He attended public safety hearings at the capitol when Rep. Leigh Finke introduced legislation that would prevent federal agents from wearing masks to hide their identities. If elected he said he would support that type of legislation.
“The other thing that we need to do,” said Cohn, “I don’t remember if it’s the Attorney General’s office, or the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, trying to prosecute the people who killed Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. We really need to push those things forward to hold the Trump administration accountable.”
Addressing Fraud
On this issue, Cohn highlighted his background in business improvement.
“It starts by our processes to vet the people and the processes to be able to monitor what’s going on,” said Cohn. “How do we help our state government figure out how to improve those things so that we can vet people better so we can detect that?”
He called out MAGA for wanting to outsource government programs to the private sector. He said that was part of the problem that led to the fraud scandals in Minnesota.
“That fraud is happening by the middlemen,” said Cohn, “who are middle companies that are handling the money. And if we don’t have those middle people, there isn’t the incentive and the opportunity for the fraud.”
A focus on kids
When asked what his top legislative priority would be, Cohn said issues affecting children.
“We need to make sure we’re fully funding our schools,” he said. “I was just talking to a teacher last night who was frustrated that we are underfunding special education.”
He said part of this is not just funding education, but also “we need to work towards childcare for all.”
Gun violence is another issue he wants to address, citing the tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic School last year.
“We’ve got to do things that can reduce the terrible events that can happen, like at Annunciation, by reducing large capacity magazine bans and an assault weapon ban,” said Cohn.
He added that he wants to see new laws to increase safe storage requirements and stronger straw purchase requirements.
“My focus is on protecting the kids,” said Cohn.
Housing
Cohn noted that Lakeville used to be an affordable community, including on housing.
“Well, it has certainly changed from that,” said Cohn. “The builders are building new housing stock and what they’re selling is half million dollar kinds of houses.”
He said that some reports claim Minnesota is roughly 100,000 housing units short of what it needs.
“I think there’s two things we need to do,” said Cohn. “I think we’re going to have to look at some zoning requirements for our communities that each community knows exactly what they want to do and it sort of optimizes that. Second thing is we need to continue to help with first time home buyer assistance.”
Cohn said addressing Minnesota’s housing shortage must also include improving its transportation infrastructure.
“We also need to improve and grow our mass transit system to make it more attractive to build apartment buildings and higher density around that so people can get around and help people lower their transportation costs so they have maybe a little more to spend on housing,” said Cohn.
Environmental Protection
When it comes to the environment, Cohn has a clear vision for the state.
“I think our biggest threat on the environment is the people that want to do mining up near the boundary waters. So we really got to put the kibosh on that,” said Cohn. “We also want to work with farmers, make sure that they’re using sustainable practices to reduce the pollution of the groundwater.”
He also said that if elected he would want to engage with environmental justice advocacy and legislation.
“With so many things living in this ‘not-in-my-backyard’ world, we’ve put some of our major polluters in places that primarily pollute to people that are disadvantaged,” said Cohn.
Connect with the campaign
To learn more about Cohn’s candidacy, including information on door-knocking and how to donate, visit briancohn4mn.com.
In Minnesota, the final day of voting is November 3, 2026. To early vote, register to vote, find a polling place, and learn what is on your ballot, visit mnvotes.gov.
