Candidate Profile: Kendall Qualls For U.S. House

MEDINA, MN — The 2020 election is heating up in Minnesota and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office. Eyes are primarily focused on the presidential election, but voters will also decide the outcome of seats in the United States House.

Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Kendall Qualls, a Medina, resident is running for U.S. House of Representatives District 3.

Age: 57
Party affiliation: Republican Party
Family: Sheila Qualls, five children, and a Black Lab named Largo.
Occupation: Healthcare Executive, 27 years
Previous elected experience: N/A
Family members in government: One of my sons is a military police officer with the United States Army. Several of my brother in laws also serve in United States Army.
Campaign website: https://kendallforcongress.com

The single most pressing issue facing our state is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue facing our state is public safety. Therefore, my top priority as a member of Congress will be to ensure safe and secure communities by protecting our families, our jobs, and our communities by funding the police and implementing needed reforms. Ensuring security is the first order of government and ensuring safe communities will help us revitalize and strengthen our economy by supporting small businesses harmed by COVID-19, easing burdensome regulations, and passing fair trade agreements.

I am running for Congress, as a leader with military and business experience, outside the world of politics, to address the difficult challenges facing our state and country and help people pursue a goal that is larger than each individual and that transcends racial, economic and gender differences.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I will follow-through on my promises. Dean Phillips promotes himself as a bipartisan moderate, but his voting regard says otherwise. Dean Philipps has voted with Nancy Pelosi and her liberal agenda 100% of the time and Ilhan Omar 94% of the time. Simply put, the Third District deserves someone who will vote according to the pro-business, pro-education, and pro-family values of the Third District rather

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

My life is a reflection of the American Dream. I grew up in poverty in a broken home – first in a housing project in Harlem and then in a trailer park in Oklahoma. Despite the discord of my early years, I persevered and was accepted into a local state college. I paid my way through college by delivering pizzas and enlisting in the U.S. Army Reserves. I was then commissioned as an Army Officer at 19 years old. After college, I entered Active Duty and served as a Field Artillery Officer in the United States and in the DMZ in South Korea. After my Army years, I launched a successful career in the healthcare industry where I led global sales and marketing teams for Fortune 100 companies. For the past 15 years, I worked to transform stagnant or declining business units in the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries. I am now an executive with an innovative healthcare startup that empowers patients with cancer to make more informed decisions on treatment options.

My military and healthcare experience have taught me how to lead selflessly, put aside differences and advocate for my community. Further, my experience growing up in despair and uncertainty gives me a unique perspective to bring to Congress. To that end, I am passionate about helping the most vulnerable members of society and families, ensuring a strong economy to help people better their lot in life, and using my healthcare experience to help others.

What steps should state government take to bolster economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic for local businesses?

We must continue to manage the coronavirus in order to revitalize, secure, and strengthen our economy by easing burdensome regulations, realigning our medical supply chain to end our reliance on foreign manufactured medical supplies, and passing trade agreements that are fair for all Americans.

How will you address the calls for racial justice and police reform?

The series of tragedies affecting young black men has had a direct impact on me and my family. Nonetheless, it is imperative that we give police officers the support and training they need. Elected officials must work collaboratively with the law enforcement community to implement needed reforms. As an endorsed candidate by the Fraternal Order of Police, I am in a position to do so. Our campaign was the first to forward a detailed plan to reform policing and protect our communities, which can be found at https://bit.ly/3lw281n , and includes efforts to:

• Support, encourage, and implement community policing
• Provide better training of law enforcement tactics, including on use of force, de-escalation tactics, and intervention.
• Intervene, retrain, review, monitor, and remove problem officers
• Update and implement procedures for reporting, investigating, and disciplining use of force misconduct

List other issues that define your campaign platform:

My campaign will focus on four key issues:

• Safe and Secure communities
• Protect our families, our jobs, and our communities by funding the police and implementing needed reforms.
• Reopen and revitalize our economy
• Get people back to work by allowing businesses, small and large, to make the necessary decisions to protect customers and operate safely.
• Healthcare
• Improve healthcare and lower costs by empowering patients with price transparency and free market forces.
• Foreign Policy
• Keep America safe at home and abroad with a Peace through Strength foreign policy that avoids nation-building entanglements.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

Minnesotans deserve courageous leaders who are focused, disciplined, and honest; who will take a stand when times are hard.

I’m a leader with both military and corporate experience that is outside the world of politics.

I know how to create a vision and move people toward a goal that is larger than each individual and that transcends racial, economic and gender differences.

With your support and vote, we can create a new vision and chart a new course for Minnesota and our country.

In doing so, we’ll build bridges that will make America better, stronger and more united than ever before.