“By holding the line on taxes, there’s more money available for businesses and people to spend, which grows the economy,” he said. “And when the economy grows, the state collects more tax dollars.”

Brynaert said when she announced her candidacy that it wouldn’t be about locking herself into preconceived ideas of how the state’s problems would be solved. What she offered was a commitment to studying issues and proposed solutions, listening to experts and seeking input from area residents.

“I’ve been in the community long enough to pick up the phone and know who I talk to and listen to,” she said.

This is the first time she’s run for a partisan office, and Brynaert said all of her community work involved working toward solutions with other concerned citizens regardless of their political affiliation.

She said she never cared if they were a Republican or a Democrat “as long as we were working together to address the community issues at hand.”

Different focus

Brynaert is concerned about rising property taxes and tuition rates, about inadequate transportation in outstate Minnesota, about uninsured and underinsured Minnesotans and about environmental protection. But mainly she talks about how issues tie together and how healthy kids and families are at the center of it all.

She points to the Children’s Project, Mankato Area Healthy Youth, good schools, good jobs, good roads — all as vital ingredients for a healthy community.

“Education is only a part of that,” she said.

Brynaert would look at more state funding for helping the most vulnerable kids succeed, saying that is a great investment because of lower long-term social costs from drug dependency, teenage pregnancy, criminal justice expenses and other problems.

“We really reduce costs down the line by preventing children from falling between the cracks,” she said.

Robinson lists economic development, health care and education as his top issues. Spending more isn’t typically part of Robinson’s solution, although higher education is an exception.

“That’d be the area where I’d invest it,” he said of directing any surplus state money toward tuition relief for college students. “That’s a priority to me.”

Robinson also proposes a textbook rental program for state colleges, saying the $400 to $500 per semester that many students spend on books is one of the top concerns he hears when campaigning in the dorms and student apartment complexes.

“It would require some money from the state to establish it,” he said.