Photo by Clay Schuldt Demonstration organizer Cimarron Burt holds up a sign outside the lobby of Congressman Brad Finstad’s downtown New Ulm office on Thursday.

NEW ULM — Over 40 individuals gathered outside of Congressman Brad Finstad’s downtown office Thursday for a group protest.

Cimarron Burt, a member of the Mankato Indivisible group, organized the protests. She said a simultaneous protest was being held outside Finstad’s Rochester office as well. Many of the protesters gathered to express dissatisfaction with the Republican Congressman’s support for recent actions taken by the Trump administration, as well as Finstad’s lack of town hall meetings with constituents.

“The big sentiment is dissatisfaction with the budget across Congressional District 1,” Burt said.

“We want a town hall,” said protester Pat Booker. “The staff have been here at the office and they’re fine, but we want the elected official to answer questions.”

Booker said her greatest concern was Finstad’s recent voted in the U.S. House that cuts $2 trillion in federal spending that could result in cuts to Medicaid, but also gives tax cuts to billionaires.

Some of the protesters were allowed to enter Finstad’s office in small groups to talk with staff about their complaints.

Booker said a lot of people are upset about the budget cuts that are costing federal employees their jobs. She said the standard answer from staff is these cuts were to eliminate fraud.

“Then show me where they are cutting fraud,” Booker said. “Show me evidence of the fraud being cut from a source that can confirm it.”

The potential loss of Medicaid rallied many of the protesters. Dr. Joan Krikava said it was the main reason she attended the protest. Krikava served as a physician at New Ulm Medical Center and is on the Oak Hills Living Center board.

“This will be a catastrophe for sick people,” Krikava said. She believed if the Medicaid cuts went through, there would be many nursing homes and hospitals going bankrupt. She said senior care facilities depend on Medicaid funding. Without it she fears many seniors will need to move out of nursing homes. In addition, without Medicaid, many hospitals will need to cover the cost of uninsured patients admitted to the facility.

“It is very naive for anybody to think these cuts will not affect them,” Krikava said.

Vickie Sieve expressed concerns that the loss of Medicaid would impact the most vulnerable.

“I worked with disabled people for 40 years,” Sieve said. “The cuts to Medicare and Medicaid are concerns. Medicaid funds the services for many disabled people. This will hurt that community a great deal.”

Medicaid cuts were not the sole reason for the protest. Booker also had issues with how the Trump administration’s handling of Ukraine. President Donald Trump’s recent comments that Ukraine started the conflict with Russia did not sit well with her. She wanted her representative to respond to these concerns.

“I think people need a response,” she said. “There is no town hall. What is the hesitation?”

Tom Kuster, who was the DFL candidate for Minnesota House District 15B, attended the protest.

“I think the district sent a farmer to congress to get a farm bill, but that hasn’t happened,” Kuster said. “Instead we get a Project 2025 Farm Bill.”

Cassie Reed said she attended the protest because her daughters deserve to grow up with the rights to their own bodies.

“I refuse to be compliant as the country spirals into fascism,” she said.

Reed was angry with the White House’s decision to start selecting which news agencies were allowed to cover briefings and blocked others. She saw this as curtailing freedom of the press.

Alvaro Chavez, a first generation U.S. citizen, had concerns about the GOP immigration policy.

“Not all immigrants are criminals,” he said. “They’re pretty fundamental to the country.”

“Our country was built by immigrants,” Reed said.

Chavez said in this part of the country, there are a lot farms that depend on immigrant labor.

Mindy Van Raalte attended to protest continue dishonesty with the Trump administration.

“I am tired of the lies from this administration,” she said. She was specifically angry with Trump’s claims he would not cut Medicaid and claims that Ukraine started the war with Russia.

“This is just the first of the protests,” Booker said. “There will be others again and again until there is a response.”

Finstad did issue a statement on the demonstrations.

In an email he said “There’s been some concerning misinformation that the budget framework passed by House Republicans this week contains cuts to Medicaid benefits,” he said. “In reality, this was procedural, and no cuts have been made to legitimate recipients of Medicaid benefits. The Trump administration is taking steps to root out the waste, fraud, and abuse that exists within programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, allowing us to make sure they’re truly serving the individuals who depend on them. According to President Trump, only fraud and improper payments within these programs are being targeted and those who need Medicaid services will have them.”

In response to claims he is not responding to constituents, Finstad said. “I’m always open to hearing people’s comments and concerns. When individuals contact our office, we respond to them. We may not agree on every issue, but we respond.”

Finstad said when not in Washington, D.C. he travels the district, meeting with individuals and groups.

“Since taking office, I have visited all 21 counties multiple times and will continue to do so regularly,” he said. “We routinely highlight our work in both D.C. and the district on social media and our weekly email newsletter.”