New candidate is in for U.S. House

State Rep. Jen Schultz of Duluth announced this week her candidacy to challenge U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber in the Eighth Congressional District.

The Democrat announced earlier this month she wasn’t seeking a fifth term in the state House representing eastern Duluth. She said she had “very mixed feelings” leaving the legislature and hinted that her public service wasn’t over.

Hermantown’s Stauber, the Republican incumbent, is seeking a third term. Theresa Lastovich, a Democrat from the Iron Range, entered the race in December but dropped out in February. Redistricting has changed the Eighth, with all Native reservations included in the district as it expands to the northwest and into Twin Cities area suburbs. Ernest Joseph Oppegaard-Peltier of Bemidji entered the congressional race after his area, formerly in the Seventh District, moved into the Eighth.