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Paula Overby
Paula Overby (Legal Marijuana Now Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District. She lost in the general election on November 8, 2022. Overby unofficially withdrew from the race but appeared on the general election ballot on November 8, 2022.
Overby completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Overby died on October 5, 2022.[1]
Biography
Paula Overby was born in Redwood Falls, Minnesota. She earned a high school diploma from Nashua Senior High School and a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1976. Her career experience included working as a director as well as in quality assurance and systems management.[2]
Elections
2022
See also: Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Minnesota District 2
Incumbent Angie Craig defeated Tyler Kistner and Paula Overby (Unofficially withdrew) in the general election for U.S. House Minnesota District 2 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Angie Craig (D) | 50.9 | 165,583 |
 | Tyler Kistner (R) | 45.6 | 148,576 | |
 | Paula Overby (Legal Marijuana Now Party) (Unofficially withdrew)  | 3.3 | 10,728 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 585 | ||
| Total votes: 325,472 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Angie Craig advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 2.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Tyler Kistner advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 2.
Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota primary election
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Patrick Bradley (Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota)
Legal Marijuana Now Party primary election
The Legal Marijuana Now Party primary election was canceled. Paula Overby advanced from the Legal Marijuana Now Party primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 2.
2020
See also: United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2020
United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2020 (August 11 Republican primary)
United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2020 (August 11 Democratic primary)
General election
General election for U.S. Senate Minnesota
The following candidates ran in the general election for U.S. Senate Minnesota on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Tina Smith (D) | 48.8 | 1,566,522 |
 | Jason Lewis (R) | 43.6 | 1,398,145 | |
 | Kevin O'Connor (Legal Marijuana Now Party) | 5.8 | 185,064 | |
 | Oliver Steinberg (Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota) | 1.8 | 57,174 | |
| Rob Barrett Jr. (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 22 | ||
 | George Dennis Jr. (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 5 | |
 | Steve Carlson (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 3 | |
 | John Berman (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 2 | |
| Jason Shaver (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 0 | ||
 | Josh Ondich (Independent) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 0 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 2,261 | ||
| Total votes: 3,209,198 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota
Incumbent Tina Smith defeated Paula Overby, Ahmad Hassan, Steve Carlson, and Christopher Seymore in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 11, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Tina Smith | 87.1 | 497,501 |
| Paula Overby | 5.3 | 30,497 | |
 | Ahmad Hassan | 3.5 | 20,037 | |
| Steve Carlson | 2.9 | 16,429 | |
 | Christopher Seymore | 1.1 | 6,480 | |
| Total votes: 570,944 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota
Jason Lewis defeated Cynthia Gail, John Berman, Bob Carney Jr., and James Reibestein in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 11, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jason Lewis | 78.1 | 191,288 |
| Cynthia Gail | 7.2 | 17,675 | ||
| John Berman | 6.6 | 16,212 | |
 | Bob Carney Jr. | 4.3 | 10,503 | |
| James Reibestein | 3.8 | 9,210 | ||
| Total votes: 244,888 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota primary election
Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota
Oliver Steinberg advanced from the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 11, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Oliver Steinberg | 100.0 | 3,275 |
| Total votes: 3,275 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Legal Marijuana Now Party primary election
Legal Marijuana Now Party primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota
Kevin O'Connor advanced from the Legal Marijuana Now Party primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 11, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kevin O'Connor | 100.0 | 6,996 |
| Total votes: 6,996 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2018
General election
General election for U.S. Senate Minnesota
Incumbent Amy Klobuchar defeated Jim Newberger, Dennis Schuller, and Paula Overby in the general election for U.S. Senate Minnesota on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Amy Klobuchar (D) | 60.3 | 1,566,174 |
 | Jim Newberger (R) | 36.2 | 940,437 | |
 | Dennis Schuller (Legal Marijuana Now Party) | 2.6 | 66,236 | |
| Paula Overby (G) | 0.9 | 23,101 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 931 | ||
| Total votes: 2,596,879 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota
Incumbent Amy Klobuchar defeated Steve Carlson, Stephen Emery, David Robert Groves, and Leonard Richards in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 14, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Amy Klobuchar | 95.7 | 557,306 |
| Steve Carlson | 1.7 | 9,934 | |
 | Stephen Emery | 1.2 | 7,047 | |
| David Robert Groves | 0.8 | 4,511 | ||
| Leonard Richards | 0.6 | 3,552 | ||
| Total votes: 582,350 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota
Jim Newberger defeated Merrill Anderson, Rae Hart Anderson, and Roque De La Fuente in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 14, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jim Newberger | 69.5 | 201,531 |
 | Merrill Anderson | 15.7 | 45,492 | |
| Rae Hart Anderson | 8.9 | 25,883 | ||
 | Roque De La Fuente | 5.9 | 17,051 | |
| Total votes: 289,957 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
2016
Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District was a battleground district in 2016. Republican incumbent John Kline, who began serving in Congress in 2002, chose not to run for re-election in 2016, leaving the seat open. Jason Lewis (R) defeated Angie Craig (D) and Paula Overby (I) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Craig faced no primary opponent, while Lewis defeated Matthew Erickson, John Howe, and Darlene Miller in the Republican primary on August 9, 2016.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Jason Lewis |
47% | 173,970 | |
| Democratic | Angie Craig | 45.2% | 167,315 | |
| Independent | Paula Overby | 7.8% | 28,869 | |
| N/A | Write-in | 0.1% | 360 | |
| Total Votes | 370,514 | |||
| Source: Minnesota Secretary of State | ||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Jason Lewis |
48.9% | 11,641 | ||
| Darlene Miller | 30.7% | 7,305 | ||
| John Howe | 13.6% | 3,244 | ||
| Matthew Erickson | 6.8% | 1,612 | ||
| Total Votes | 23,802 | |||
| Source: Minnesota Secretary of State |
||||
2014
Overby ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent Minnesota's 2nd District. Overby ran uncontested for the Independence nomination in the primary on August 12, 2014.[12][13] She was defeated by incumbent John Kline (R) in the general election on November 4, 2014.
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | John Kline Incumbent |
56% | 137,778 | |
| Democratic | Mike Obermueller | 38.9% | 95,565 | |
| Independence | Paula Overby | 5% | 12,319 | |
| N/A | Write-in | 0.1% | 186 | |
| Total Votes | 245,848 | |||
| Source: Minnesota Secretary of State | ||||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Paula Overby completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Overby's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- Support drastic reductions in military spending and global imperialism in favor of broader diplomacy and cooperation for the sustainability of our planet.
- Support drastic reductions in healthcare spending by eliminating Managed Care organizations and drug company profiteering to bring American healthcare cost in line with global standards and improve healthcare quality outcomes to a level that minimally meets global quality outcomes.
- Address the high cost of education and other factors that have produced an extremely high cost of living.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Overby's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE: I Our political process is broken. The most recent Gallup poll1 shows 13% of Americans approve the way that Congress is doing its job. We cannot have representative government if we continue selling our congressional seats to the highest bidder. The ideal of a government that serves the people has been crushed under the weight of corporate political investment, campaign finance, and an army of overpaid lobbyists representing special interests. We must return our government to the people. As a quality assurance analyst, I'm focused on creating quality processes. If we don't fix our process, nothing else really matters. I will advocate for diverse voices in government, oppose gerrymandering, endorse public funding for elections, and promote collaboration. Only by working together to find solutions can we truly serve the people.
Health care should be about maintaining health and caring for those in need. Today, it's a privatized industry dedicated to profits. Maximizing profits means minimizing service. (read how congress is privatizing Medicare) Americans pay more for health care than any other affluent nation on earth2 and we still do not provide basic health care for all of our citizens. We can point proudly to some of the finest medical facilities in the world, but for most Americans, access to quality health care is limited or non-existent. It is unconscionable that in the wealthiest country in the world, we still refuse to provide equitable access to quality healthcare for all.
Publicly funded career readiness. College tuition has increased by 40% since the sub-prime mortgage crises in 2007. We are literally taxing our young people to fund the banks. The wealthy will still have their private colleges but public funded career ready education is fundamental to a sustainable economy and a democratic society. College students' futures have been drowned under trillions of dollars of debt before they even have a chance to participate fully in our economy.5 We need to provide student debt forgiveness in order to ensure our economic health. We need to end the predatory loan practices of for-profit schools.
Teaching Career resources https://www.teachingdegrees.com/
It was not long ago that a person could graduate from high school and get a job that would support a family. Higher education meant higher earnings. Private industry has clearly demonstrated its unwillingness to invest in long-term growth strategies that will produce jobs for our workers. Automation is making it more difficult for low-skilled workers to provide for their families. When I look around our state today, I see college-educated citizens working two and three jobs to support a family and I see them trying to deal with thousand dollar a month daycare bills. We have created a cost of living that is unsustainable for most of us. Tax payers cannot continue subsidizing obsolete technologies and bailing out bankrupt investment strategies. Trickle-down economics has clearly failed us with corporations moving trillions of dollars out of our economy into offshore resources. It is time for those who have benefited most to re-invest and help provide a stable economic future. We need to protect workers and provide them real incentives to ensure our communities prosper. We need to return economic power to workers, who provide the source of economic prosperity. We need to promote worker cooperatives, restore pensions and sick leave benefits, and stop gambling with our shared economic future through privatized and risky retirement accounts. We need to invest in infrastructure and sustainable energy alternatives that will not only provide stable, living wage jobs, but will benefit all of us. Finally, we need to start planning for a post-industrial society in which achievement and economic stability are not measured solely through profit, employment, and wages.
This is where we need to divest ourselves from regime change wars and invest in a global cooperative. The markets have clearly demonstrated the potential for renewable energy but our government continues to abide by policies that sustain fossil fuels. The rapidly expanding global demand for energy and the impact on climate and the environment, creates a pressing demand for a global energy policy. The United States should be a leader on energy policy and innovation but we are sacrificing our economic advantage by failing to invest in economic development and the maintenance of our own infrastructure. An American energy policy focused on sustainable technologies and advanced research into energy conservation and distribution will ensure that we successfully face the challenges of global warming. We must return to a healthy and cooperative relationship with our environment.
Wealth taxes make sense because the billionaires don't work for a living. The average citizen cannot reasonably invest in or profit from a monetary system that is controlled and manipulated by wealthy interests. Computer trading is clearly not a capital investment for any except a few well-to-do people. For most of us, it is gambling, taking wealth from honest investors and giving it to Wall Street profiteers. Faith in our monetary system is essential to average investors and most of us do not trust that system today. We need to ensure that our financial system will fairly reward all of us.
The judicial branch was created to defend the constitution and protect the rights of citizens from the abuses of government. The advent of the privatized prison system has undermined this system. We are creating a criminal class based on ethnic and racial discrimination to generate profits for the incarceration industry. Our legal system is completely overwhelmed by low-level prosecution, adversarial family law, and frivolous tort proceedings. Our legal process is so complex that it excludes a majority of Americans from any form of due process or social justice. With 5% of the world’s population, the United States has 25% of the world’s prison population. Prison industries provide billions worth of forced labor to multinational conglomerates. Tax payers foot the bill with little benefit to society at large. We must focus on scientific research and best practices in restorative justice to decrease recidivism. We need to provide opportunities to historically under-served and marginalized communities that allow for equitable access to economic and social stability. We must listen to the diverse voices of community leaders instead of imposing solutions from outside those communities.
The opioid crisis is clear evidence that we need to end the drug war on American citizens and address America's Drug Cartels. Drug pricing in America can hardly be defined as anything but extortion. The misguided “war” on drugs has resulted in little more than the creation of a militarized police force that focuses on the incarceration of low-level drug users that feeds the for-profit prison industry and is waged primarily in communities of color and oppressive poverty, rather than addressing the root causes of this crisis. It is time to end this masquerade. We are not winning and we are suffering enormous casualties. This misguided initiative is clearly not providing any relief from this public health crisis. I support legalization of marijuana along with taxation and regulation as a vital initiative toward ending the war on drugs and creating equitable drug policies. Drug abuse is symptomatic of social and economic instability. That's where we need to address the problem.
After whistle blowers like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning revealed the extent of government surveillance of U.S. citizens by the NSA, Congress has taken no steps to eliminate this activity. Minnesota's own Coleen Rowley, former agent of the FBI, has warned about this assault on American civil liberties.7 History has demonstrated the consequences of governments acting in secrecy to control civilian populations. We must oppose these threats to our freedoms. The NSA in concert with corporate media, magnifies fears of terrorism from without and within and leads us to the willing sacrifice of our individual freedoms along with excessive spending on militarism and war.. Our First Amendment right to free speech is far more critical to personal liberty than our Second Amendment right to bear arms. Freedom and liberty cannot survive under a system of government allowed to operate in secrecy. Democrats re-authorize the patriot act Similarly, citizens need protection from corporate invasion of our privacy as well as lack of corporate attention to computer security. The rash of hacker attacks stealing private data from major data warehouse like Equifax, demonstrates a need for greater scrutiny of our credit markets, and more consumer protections from credit fraud and identity theft. Consumers should not have to pay to protect themselves from the irresponsible use of private data.
We are a nation of immigrants, a nation of diverse cultures. We deny our history by ignoring immigration reform. We jeopardize our future by targeting immigrants and refugees as threats to our life and liberty. Aside from the obvious benefits of expanding our shared cultural experience, immigration reform also includes very real economic benefits. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that enacting the Senate immigration reform bill of 2013 would have increased real GDP relative to current law projections by 3.3 percent in 2023 and 5.4 percent in 2033 – an increase of roughly $700 billion in 2023 and $1.4 trillion in 2033 in today's dollars.8 What's stopping immigration reform? Wealthy interests promoting protectionist fears to assert their own private interests..
A broad paid family leave policy10 is a proven policy shift that reduces pay inequity and drives gender equity. A strong family unit is critical to social stability. Wealth inequality and social welfare policies that aggressively divide families have jeopardized the fundamental family unit. Women and children continue to bear the consequences. Women earn 40% less than men, but still provide 40% of family income.. Beyond the issue of equal pay, women also hold seven out of ten minimum wage jobs. Gender equity demands greater emphasis on the social value of what women do. Twenty-six percent of America's children are in single-parent homes. Seventy-nine percent of custodial single mothers are gainfully employed. Fifty percent of them work full time. The fastest growing family model is single parent fathers. Ninety-five percent of single parent fathers work.9 In 1966, the organizers of the National Organization of Women, recognized that equality demanded economic independence for women, requiring a social restructuring that wouldn’t simply create employment opportunity for women but create economic value for the work done by women. Community work and child-rearing would have to be shared more equally by husband, wife, and society. That remains true today more than ever.
Domestic violence is a symptomatic of aggressive militarism We clearly need leadership willing to address the serious levels of violence in this culture. Violence against women continues at intolerable levels and there is a continued unwillingness to recognize that violence is not bounded by gender. Attacking the cause of violence requires attention to the family structure, early intervention, economic and social equity, emphasis upon improving the school environment, and education that stresses the importance of healthy community.
Sound public policy must respect the freedoms and dignity of the individual and must not be infringed upon by principles or beliefs of any religion. I am a Christian and my beliefs compel me to care for the sick, feed the poor, and house the homeless. I naturally look for solutions that promote those objectives. There is no proper motive for the state to restrict a couple's right to choose when or if they have children. Safe, accessible birth control options must be a priority.
We have a new generation of Veterans with traumatic brain injuries and PTSD who are not getting the care and respect they have earned. How long will we continue to send our young people off to war for financial interests? Following Vietnam our military leadership defined clear rules of engagement to prevent extended involvement in counterinsurgency, but our civilian leadership has ignored these sound principles of engagement, sacrificing our young people and mortgaging their future solely for the economic benefit of the wealthy minority. It's time to put an end to declarations of war made by executive order. That is the responsibility of our congress. We can strengthen and preserve our military by avoiding extended military engagements that will never gain the support of the American people.
It is time to let go of our war time economy and start focusing on building peaceful relationships and cooperation with allies. Diplomacy should be managed by the State Department, not the military.
The majority of citizens support legitimate control of firearm access such as background checks11, and I endorse that as well. I recognize the right to bear arms in the Second Amendment. The root issue, however, is a culture of violence which is facilitated by easy access to high-capacity military-grade weapons as well as increasing militarization of our police. There is growing anxiety about the evolving "police state". The National Defense Authorization Act of 1997 legitimized the use of military force against our own citizens; a dangerous precedent. I strenuously oppose the increasing militarization of our police and distribution of military surplus through the 1033 program and more recently grants to local police from the Department of Homeland security to by new military vehicles. I would move to cancel this activity. Sources:
|
” |
| —Paula Overby's campaign website (2022)[15] | ||
2020
Paula Overby did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2018
Campaign website
Overby's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE: Our political process is broken. The most recent Gallup poll1 shows 13% of Americans approve the way that Congress is doing its job. We cannot have representative government if we continue selling our congressional seats to the highest bidder. The ideal of a government that serves the people has been crushed under the weight of corporate political investment, campaign finance, and an army of overpaid lobbyists representing special interests. We must return our government to the people. As a quality assurance analyst, I'm focused on creating quality processes. If we don't fix our process, nothing else really matters. I will advocate for diverse voices in government, oppose gerrymandering, endorse public funding for elections, and promote collaboration. Only by working together to find solutions can we truly serve the people. HEALTH CARE: Health care should be about maintaining health and caring for those in need. Today, it's a privatized industry dedicated to profits. Americans pay more for health care than any other affluent nation on earth2 and we still do not provide basic health care for all of our citizens. We can point proudly to some of the finest medical facilities in the world, but for most Americans, access to quality health care is limited or non-existent. It is unconscionable that in the wealthiest country in the world, we still refuse to provide equitable access to quality healthcare for all. The Affordable Care Act promised freedom for jobs and business opportunities not linked to your health care. What we got was continuing cost escalation and higher premiums. Even popular benefits like coverage for pre-existing conditions, would never be a problem if we had a universal health care system. We need to embrace a system that provides health care to all citizens, and includes dental, vision, and mental health services. Such a system will reduce costs and will operate with minimal overhead in comparison to private insurance. Removing the insurance profit-motive, gives consumers freedom of choice. Increasing transparency creates a more competitive market where decisions will be made by individuals and their doctors based on science and best practices rather than by insurance company profits. We can save trillions of dollars in health care costs by providing universal health care. This will provide a tremendous source of economic power for our country. EDUCATION: The value of education in the US has regressed to a singular focus on technology, dominated by multi-national conglomerates. The strength of our democracy, health of our communities, and the development of meaningful social policy depends on the diversity of knowledge, critical thinking skills, and problem solving abilities. Education should be viewed as a social investment. We need to rely on scientific research and best practices, by creating quality metrics that correlate to success. We should view education with a social perspective from prenatal to career. K-12 is not sufficient for today’s complex world. Today, college students' futures have been drowned under trillions of dollars of debt before they even have a chance to participate fully in our economy.5 We need to provide student debt forgiveness in order to ensure our economic health. We need to end the predatory loan practices of for-profit schools. It is vital to our shared future that we provide affordable, equitable access to education for all.
JOBS: It was not long ago that a person could graduate from high school and get a job that would support a family. Higher education meant higher earnings. Private industry has clearly demonstrated its unwillingness to invest in long-term growth strategies that will produce jobs for our workers. Automation is making it more difficult for low-skilled workers to provide for their families. When I look around our state today, I see college-educated citizens working two and three jobs to support a family and I see them trying to deal with thousand dollar a month daycare bills. We have created a cost of living that is unsustainable for most of us. Tax payers cannot continue subsidizing obsolete technologies and bailing out bankrupt investment strategies. Trickle-down economics has clearly failed us with corporations moving trillions of dollars out of our economy into offshore resources. It is time for those who have benefited most to re-invest and help provide a stable economic future. We need to protect workers and provide them real incentives to ensure our communities prosper. We need to return economic power to workers, who provide the source of economic prosperity. We need to promote worker cooperatives, restore pensions and sick leave benefits, and stop gambling with our shared economic future through privatized and risky retirement accounts. We need to invest in infrastructure and sustainable energy alternatives that will not only provide stable, living wage jobs, but will benefit all of us. Finally, we need to start planning for a post-industrial society in which achievement and economic stability are not measured solely through profit, employment, and wages. ENERGY AND CONSERVATION: The markets have clearly demonstrated the potential for renewable energy but our government continues to abide by policies that sustain fossil fuels. The rapidly expanding global demand for energy and the impact on climate and the environment, creates a pressing demand for a global energy policy. The United States should be a leader on energy policy and innovation but we are sacrificing our economic advantage by failing to invest in economic development and the maintenance of our own infrastructure. An American energy policy focused on sustainable technologies and advanced research into energy conservation and distribution will ensure that we successfully face the challenges of global warming. We must return to a healthy and cooperative relationship with our environment. MONEY MANAGEMENT: The average citizen cannot reasonably invest in or profit from a monetary system that is controlled and manipulated by wealthy interests. Computer trading is clearly not a capital investment for any except a few well-to-do people. For most of us, it is gambling, taking wealth from honest investors and giving it to Wall Street profiteers. Faith in our monetary system is essential to average investors and most of us do not trust that system today. We need to ensure that our financial system will fairly reward all of us. SOCIAL EQUITY: The judicial branch was created to defend the constitution and protect the rights of citizens from the abuses of government. The advent of the privatized prison system has undermined this system. We are creating a criminal class based on ethnic and racial discrimination to generate profits for the incarceration industry. Our legal system is completely overwhelmed by low-level prosecution, adversarial family law, and frivolous tort proceedings. Our legal process is so complex that it excludes a majority of Americans from any form of due process or social justice. With 5% of the world’s population, the United States has 25% of the world’s prison population. Prison industries provide billions worth of forced labor to multinational conglomerates. Tax payers foot the bill with little benefit to society at large. We must focus on scientific research and best practices in restorative justice to decrease recidivism. We need to provide opportunities to historically under-served and marginalized communities that allow for equitable access to economic and social stability. We must listen to the diverse voices of community leaders instead of imposing solutions from outside those communities. WAR ON DRUGS: The misguided “war” on drugs has resulted in little more than the creation of a militarized police force that focuses on the incarceration of low-level drug users that feeds the for-profit prison industry and is waged primarily in communities of color and oppressive poverty, rather than addressing the root causes of this crisis. It is time to end this masquerade. We are not winning and we are suffering enormous casualties. This misguided initiative is clearly not providing us any relief from what is essentially a public health crisis. The opiod crisis and the increase in exploitative drug pricing demonstrates the contradiction in America’s drug policies. We can not continue to allow prescription drugs to be marketed for profit without any regard for social impact and health consequences. I support legalization of marijuana along with taxation and regulation as a vital initiative toward ending the war on drugs and creating equitable drug policies. The crisis of drug abuse must be addressed by providing communities with economic stability, equitable access to health care resources, and quality educational opportunities. PRIVACY: After whistle blowers like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning revealed the extent of government surveillance of U.S. citizens by the NSA, Congress has taken no steps to eliminate this activity. Minnesota's own Coleen Rowley, former agent of the FBI, has warned about this assault on American civil liberties.7 History has demonstrated the consequences of governments acting in secrecy to control civilian populations. We must oppose these threats to our freedoms. The NSA in concert with corporate media, magnifies fears of terrorism from without and within and leads us to the willing sacrifice of our individual freedoms along with excessive spending on militarism and war.. Our First Amendment right to free speech is far more critical to personal liberty than our Second Amendment right to bear arms. Freedom and liberty cannot survive under a system of government allowed to operate in secrecy. Similarly, citizens need protection from corporate invasion of our privacy as well as lack of corporate attention to computer security. The rash of hacker attacks stealing private data from major data warehouse like Equifax, demonstrates a need for greater scrutiny of our credit markets, and more consumer protections from credit fraud and identity theft. Consumers should not have to pay to protect themselves from the irresponsible use of private data. IMMIGRATION: We are a nation of immigrants, a nation of diverse cultures. We deny our history by ignoring immigration reform. We jeopardize our future by targeting immigrants and refugees as threats to our life and liberty. Aside from the obvious benefits of expanding our shared cultural experience, immigration reform also includes very real economic benefits. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that enacting the Senate immigration reform bill of 2013 would have increased real GDP relative to current law projections by 3.3 percent in 2023 and 5.4 percent in 2033 – an increase of roughly $700 billion in 2023 and $1.4 trillion in 2033 in today's dollars.8 What's stopping immigration reform? Wealthy interests promoting protectionist fears to assert their own private interests. FAMILIES: A strong family unit is critical to social stability. Wealth inequality and social welfare policies that aggressively divide families have jeopardized the fundamental family unit. Women and children continue to bear the consequences. Women earn 40% less than men, but still provide 40% of family income.. Beyond the issue of equal pay, women also hold seven out of ten minimum wage jobs. Gender equity demands greater emphasis on the social value of what women do. Twenty-six percent of America's children are in single-parent homes. Seventy-nine percent of custodial single mothers are gainfully employed. Fifty percent of them work full time. The fastest growing family model is single parent fathers. Ninety-five percent of single parent fathers work.9 In 1966, the organizers of the National Organization of Women, recognized that equality demanded economic independence for women, requiring a social restructuring that wouldn’t simply create employment opportunity for women but create economic value for the work done by women. Community work and child-rearing would have to be shared more equally by husband, wife, and society. That remains true today more than ever. A broad paid family leave policy10 is a proven policy shift that reduces pay inequity and drives gender equity. VIOLENCE: We clearly need leadership willing to address the serious levels of violence in this culture. Violence against women continues at intolerable levels and there is a continued unwillingness to recognize that violence is not bounded by gender. Attacking the cause of violence requires attention to the family structure, early intervention, economic and social equity, emphasis upon improving the school environment, and education that stresses the importance of healthy community. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: Sound public policy must respect the freedoms and dignity of the individual and must not be infringed upon by principles or beliefs of any religion. We should not prohibit communities of faith from active participation in our political process. I am a Christian and my beliefs compel me to care for the sick, feed the poor, and house the homeless. I naturally look for solutions that promote those objectives. There is no proper motive for the state to restrict a couple's right to choose when or if they have children. Safe, accessible birth control options must be a priority. DEFENSE: We have a new generation of Veterans with traumatic brain injuries and PTSD who are not getting the care and respect they have earned. How long will we continue to send our young people off to war for financial interests? Following Vietnam our military leadership defined clear rules of engagement to prevent extended involvement in counterinsurgency, but our civilian leadership has ignored these sound principles of engagement, sacrificing our young people and mortgaging their future solely for the economic benefit of the wealthy minority. It's time to put an end to declarations of war made by executive order. That is the responsibility of our congress. We can strengthen and preserve our military by avoiding extended military engagements that will never gain the support of the American people. It is time to let go of our war time economy and start focusing on building peaceful relationships and cooperation with allies. Diplomacy should be managed by the State Department, not the military. GUN CONTROL: The majority of citizens support legitimate control of firearm access such as background checks11, and I endorse that as well. I recognize the right to bear arms in the Second Amendment. The root issue, however, is a culture of violence which is facilitated by easy access to high-capacity military-grade weapons. We need to address both of these core issues to finally break this vicious cycle. There is growing anxiety about the evolving "police state". The National Defense Authorization Act of 1997 legitimized the use of military force against our own citizens; a dangerous precedent. I strenuously oppose the increasing militarization of our police and distribution of military surplus through the 1033 program. I would move to cancel it. [14] |
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| —Paula Overby's campaign website (2018)[16] | ||
2014
Campaign website
Overby listed the following issues on her campaign website:[17]
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Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Overby is a divorced parent of three.[18]
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate U.S. House Minnesota District 2 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Fox 9, "Minnesota 2nd Congressional District candidate Paula Overby has died," October 5, 2022
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on August 15, 2022
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State, "Candidate Filings," accessed June 1, 2016
- ↑ Capitol View, "Gerson grabs CD2 spotlight as others weigh options," September 4, 2015
- ↑ Pioneer Press, "Howe runs for Second District as ‘conservative’ but ‘electable,’" September 22, 2015
- ↑ TwinCities.com, "Former lawmaker, LG candidate Pam Myhra enters Second District race," October 7, 2015
- ↑ Pioneer Press, "'Mr. Right' Jason Lewis is running for the Second District," October 12, 2015
- ↑ Star Tribune, "Darlene Miller announces run for Congress in Second District," January 7, 2016
- ↑ TwinCities.com, "Another Democrat files for 2nd Congressional District," March 24, 2015
- ↑ Daily Kos Elections, "MN-02 Mary Lawrence (D) press release on dropping out of race (Jan. 2016)," January 5, 2016
- ↑ Politico, "Minnesota House Primaries Results," August 9, 2016
- ↑ Associated Press, "Minnesota - 2014 Primary Results," accessed August 12, 2014
- ↑ Campaign Website, About, accessed January 14, 2014
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Paula Overby, “Policies,” accessed August 27, 2022
- ↑ Paula Overby's campaign website, “Policies,” accessed October 17, 2018
- ↑ Campaign Website, Issues accessed January 14, 2014
- ↑ Twin Cities Pioneer Press, "Eagan woman doesn't want gender identity to define impending run for Congress," August 11, 2013
