Curtis Hed, who works as a professional magician and lives in Becker, announced in a facebook post yesterday that he is running for the Minnesota 6th Congressional District seat currently held by Representative Michele Bachmann. Calling himself the “phantom candidate” because the website name was available and “sounded cool“, Hed introduced his campaign and his purpose for seeking the office.
Hed asked followers to provide him with signatures by Tuesday, June 5th so that his name could appear on the ballot rather than having to run a write-in campaign as he previously thought and had written on his campaign website.
It is not entirely clear what issues Hed will focus on in his campaign against establishment candidates, Jim Graves (DFL) and Michele Bachmann (R), but from writings on his website and on facebook the focus appears to be purely a campaign against the current two political party system.
To this end if elected I will do what I can to convince others in government that we need to find ways to minimize the power that political parties wield within the halls of government.I realize that doing so I will be asking others to take a stand against the systems which they may feel they owe their political careers, but I firmly believe our elected officials need to be beholding to us as a whole, and not simply to groups of people in control of a given party.
If Hed doesn’t gather the 1000 signatures needed to appear on the ballot it appears from his website that he may continue his campaign as a write-in candidacy. Stay tuned for further information about this candidacy and perhaps even an exclusive interview with Mr. Hed to find out why he has decided to challenge Bachmann and the two party system.
Full Disclosure: I am not involved in the Hed campaign but his wife is a colleague of mine and therefore I do know Mr. Hed. He has not authorized this post and I did not seek permission to write about him.
