republican erik paulsen was elected to the sea in 2008 after serving as house majority leader in the state legislature. this year he's facing democratic challenger terri bonoff who served a decade in the minnesota senate. and now we have representative erik paulsen and state senator terri bonoff hear from the third district. thank you for coming into this debate as we saw from our last one, we have more of a conversation here, thank you for coming in. senator bonoff, let's start with you.>> i am running for congress because i believe in the promise of our country and as people. i think it is more important now than ever before that we elect courageous leaders, leaders who can bring people together on both sides of the aisle together to tackle a very weak real challenge. the minnesota senate i've earned reputation for doing just that as a pro-business democrats, i work with the minnesota chamber to create the minnesota pipeline project, that was about getting rid of student debt and about addressing the sales gap that connected students with employers to get on the job training, they

republican erik paulsen was elected in 2008 after serving as house majority leader state legislature. this year, he faces democratic challenger terri bonoff, who served in them minnesota senate. now we have representative eric paulsen and state senator terri bonoff from the third district. thank you for coming in for this debate, which we really have more of a conversation here. thank you for coming in. senator bonoff, let's start with you. state sen. bonoff: i am running for congress because i believe in the promise of our country and its people. it is more important now than ever before that we elect courageous leaders who can bring people together on both sides of the aisle to tackle our real tough challenges. in the minnesota senate, i have earned a reputation for doing that. as a pro-business democrat, i work with the minnesota changer to create the minnesota pipeline project area that was about getting rid of student debt and addressing the skills gap. it connected students with employers. they got on the job training, get paid wages while getting their degree. while they are do

in the, a debate district with incumbent erik paulsen and democratic state senator teri. they talked about tax policy, the affordable care act, donald trump, and national security. hosted by eyewitness news. >> minnesota's third congressional district covers the metro. you'll find districts like lymington, and maple grove. a variety of industry -- of places call this home. republican erik paulsen was first elected in 2000 eight after serving as house majority leader in a state legislator. this year, he is facing a democratic challenger who served a decade in minnesota senate. have representative erik paulsen and state kerry bonne off here from the third district. this you for coming in for debate. we will have more of a conversation here. thank you both for coming in. let's start with your opening statement. >> thank you. i think it is more important than ever before that we elect courageous leaders who bring people together on both sides of the aisle together to tackle our real and tough challenges. in the minnesota senate, i earned a reputation for doing that. as a pro-

incumbent erik paulsen and democratic challenger terri bonoff. this is half an hour. leah: minnesota's third congressional district covers the west metro. here you will find cities like it in prayer, minnetonka, and a variety of industries call this district home including several , medical technology companies. republican erik paulsen was elected in 2008 after serving as first house majority leader in the state legislature. this year, he faces democratic challenger terri bonoff, who served a decade in the minnesota senate. now, we have representative eric

i want to talk about why i have connected erik paulsen to donald trump. that is a fair question. donald trump's candidacy poses a real threat to our country. the way he has campaigned has reminded me of very dark times in our world history. when dictators have come to the forefront. they would not have been able to do that if people had stood up and said "this is unacceptable." so i, partly, got into the race to tell the public because i was not hearing that from my congressman that i think donald trump poses a danger and threat to america. putting that aside. record, i believe your votes reflect, in some ways, where donald trump stands. for example, you are not pro-choice, which is a personal choice, but you are a leader in wanting to defund planned parenthood. i saw a letter sent to president obama that you are one of the signers calling roe v. wade a tragedy. and our district rejected the gay marriage ban. and i came back as a co-author on the freedom to marry bill. but you got an award to put that ban into the constitution. i know of donald trump's stance with the nra. you ha

when we would be in like minnesota 3 and erik paulsen would be up by 10 in the head-to-head, up by 12, but donald trump was losing the district by 22 points. history would show that a house candidate can't overperform that much. and so i don't want to say it's like something he missed, but it was a calculated gamble that at some point political gravity would take over. that's why i think that one of the most interesting things that we'll be able to do and most useful things we'll be able to do when we finally get the data back, find out how the president ended up doing in these congressional districts. to my point, if you were making that john or eric or barbara comstock aren't going to overperform by 20 points, but trump only leads the district by six points, that then your gamble will not pay off. nathan: looking back now thursday morning quarterback, is there a strategic -- would you have made any strategic changes? today in today's "roll call" my colleague wrote a story about the house. she had a quote from the director of the house majority p.a.c., she said had we seen more accur