ST. PAUL, Minn. – Former state Senator Scott Jensen, a frequent Fox News guest as a hard-to-find physician who opposes CoVid vaccines, won the Republican caucus for governor. Jensen took 38% in a six-candidate field. Second was Former Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka at 14%. The caucus is a straw poll through which delegates are chosen for regional caucuses at which delegates are elected for the state nominating convention. If Jensen survives the rest of the GOP selection process, he will face incumbent Democrat Tim Walz in November. The precincts caucuses drew 17,800 Republicans – the most since 2010 when 20,999 showed up. Other candidates besides Jensen and Gazelka:
> State Senator Michelle Benson.
> Mayor Mike Murphy of Lexington.
> Health-care executive Kendall Qualls.
> Physician Neil Shah.
Jensen. One term in state Senate. Earlier on Waconia School Board.
Gazelka. Long experience in Senate.
Jensen profile
Jensen, a one-term state senator who didn’t seek re-election in 2020. He was reared in Sleepy Eye. He attended Northwest Theological Seminary, then the University of Minnesota, which granted him M.D. credentials in 1981. He was selected by the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians as the 2016 as Family Physician of the Year. Age 67.
Jensen’s rise on CoVid fringe
Jensen, a physician, was catapulted into the national news in 2017 when Governor Mark Dayton collapsed during a speech. Jensen jumped on the stage to help. He was freshman state senator from Chaska at the time. Since then Jensen has curried favor from fringe groups for his outlier views on CoVid. For example, he claimed without evidence that hospitals were cashing in on Medicare reimbursements that were unusually high for CoVid. The claim failed fact checks. Even so, the claim made Jensen an ongoing Fox News guest. He claimed also that hospitals were inflating CoVid counts, which also was not supported by evidence. Later he signed on to a lawsuit against the federal government, claiming that CoVid vaccine was not really a vaccine but “an experimental biological agent” that was treating children as guinea pigs. Jensen’s media presence included social media items that went viral. In 2020 the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice had had enough. The board put Jensen under investigation for a television interview in which he advanced CoVid misinformation. This all became a money machine for Jensen’s gubernatorial campaign. Jensen has raised $1.2 million, much of it from donors outside Minnesota. Gazelka meanwhile, raised only $546,000.
Subliminal undertones. Yes, he’s a University of Minnesita grad, as the Gopher colors suggest. Yes, he’s a physician, as the poster quietly notes.