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ROCHESTER 鈥� Sara Bertschinger doesn't care about any "baggage" Royce White may be carrying into an Aug. 13, 2024, primary battle against fellow Republican Joe Fraser.

And she's not alone. Republican officials 鈥� from the state GOP chairman to lawmakers and county-level party leaders 鈥� are backing White, who was endorsed by a wide margin at the May GOP state convention. This support comes even as which is what the Republicans might need to win a statewide election and unseat U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a three-term senator running for her fourth term.

"He鈥檚 real,鈥� Bertschinger said, referring to White, a former NBA player and one-time Gopher basketball player. "He鈥檚 not milquetoast."

She said she likes his stance on core conservative issues such as limited government, transparency and reining in spending. Bertschinger says that at a recent townhall meeting, White clearly articulated her own pro-life position.

"When people talk about conservatives, there are financial conservatives or social conservatives," Bertschinger said. "Royce is both."

But he also admitted, she said, to have only gotten into politics about four to six years ago, about the same time Bertschinger also became publicly active in politics. That, she said, made his mistakes and growing pains relatable.

"He seems to learn things the hard way," Bertschinger said. "He鈥檚 still figuring things out."

Brian Todd / Post Bulletin

Minnesota Rep. Pam Altendorf says on Nov. 5, she'll vote for whoever is the Republican nominee, whether that's Fraser or White.

She hopes it's White.

"Between the two, Royce is our best chance to beat Amy Klobuchar," said Altendorf, who is in the middle of her own re-election campaign to the Minnesota House.

She said White is the anti-establishment candidate, something that she feels connects with voters beyond the Republican Party. He talks about term limits in Congress 鈥� "We're staring at lifelong politicians like (Joe) Biden, (Nancy) Pelosi and (Mitch) McConnell," Altendorf said 鈥� and the fiscal danger of the national debt.

"His message resonates with the people in the middle, the independents and the moderates who are sick of business as usual," Altendorf said.

She says she sees negative Royce White headlines in the media, but added she's seen nothing positive about Fraser, and that bothers her as well. She said Fraser is just another no-name establishment Republican candidate. That is a recipe to lose to Klobuchar.

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Still, White's baggage, which includes allegations of misuse of campaign funds from his failed run for the U.S. House in 2022, being behind on child support payments, and antisemitic comments, begs a question, Altendorf said.

Fraser told Forum News Service that he believes White's baggage 鈥� both personal and related to his campaign 鈥� make him a difficult sell for the general election and should, therefore, make him the wrong choice for the GOP.

鈥淗e鈥檚 an unelectable candidate," Fraser said. "Everything from being a woman-beater, deadbeat dad, he鈥檚 an antisemite, he鈥檚 a criminal Black Lives Matter activist and he鈥檚 abused campaign finance laws.鈥�

When delegates arrived at the GOP endorsing convention in May, Altendorf said, they heard the candidates give their pitches for their respective races, but why did no one from the party give them any background information on the candidates?

"The Minnesota GOP should be responsible to vet the candidates," she said. "All these state delegates came to vote, but they got no inside information on why they shouldn't vote for a particular candidate."

In other words, while White clearly gave the most compelling case to vote for him at the convention, the state party didn't let anyone know about all that baggage.

"That makes me think it's one of two things: Either someone did not do their job to vet him, or it鈥檚 a smear campaign because they don鈥檛 like the candidate the delegates endorsed," Altendorf said.

Minnesota GOP Chairman David Hann said while it is not the party's job to pick candidates, a nominating committee conducted interviews and background checks with all candidates.

In the case of White, he said, the nominating committee determined it had reservations about his candidacy, and that information was shared with all the campaigns.

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Hann said the party did not share the information directly with delegates 鈥� that's outside what is allowed by the party's own rules 鈥� but if delegates were unaware of any problems in White's past, his opponents should have made those problems more known while addressing the convention.

"Everything was known about (White's) circumstances," Hann said. "Whether delegates paid attention to it or not ... the public was aware of his record."

The delegates at the convention, however, decided White's past wasn't relevant to their own choice, Hann said.

Days after the Republican convention wrapped up, Fraser announced he was going to continue his campaign to the August primary.

In a statement, Fraser said he received numerous messages from people across Minnesota "encouraging me to continue on." He said when he entered the race he had "every intention of honoring our party鈥檚 endorsement" but was concerned that not enough delegates showed up to the convention.

"... It was no longer a question about the party endorsement, but about the choice we, as a party, are offering Minnesotans who are desperately seeking new leadership," Fraser said in the statement. "We have a number of opportunities to bring change to our state and country 鈥� from flipping the state house and potentially the state senate, key congressional seats, the senate, and the White House, we cannot chance it on a decision made without the facts. Minnesotans deserve better."

Gerald Wolf, chairman of the Fillmore County Republicans, said his county's contingent of delegates heard what White had to say at the convention and they were sold.

"We all voted for Royce White," Wolf said. "I think he appeals a lot more to voters and the current political environment we have out there."

Wolf said White candidly answered questions, explained his positions and his past, and doesn't worry about being politically correct, a trait Wolf said he appreciates.

Fraser, he said, had a harder time articulating his political views. Wolf also deemed some of Fraser's answers regarding cybersecurity to be either based in falsehoods or ignorance of the issues.

Meanwhile, Wolf said, White hit the GOP grassroots highlights: Clean up Washington, D.C., stop taking money from big corporations, defend Israel, reduce the size of the federal government.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got to get rid of these three-letter agencies that are invading the rights of American citizens,鈥� Wolf said.

And while Wolf said he will vote in November for whoever wins the GOP primary on Aug. 13, he doesn't want to send a weak Republican to face off against Klobuchar.

"It's been a problem in the past where we just put up the most electable candidate," Wolf said. "What we end up with is a Democrat with an 'R' behind his name."

Like Wolf 鈥� and Altendorf and Bertschinger 鈥� state Rep. Steve Jacob said he'll vote in November for whoever wins the Republican primary.

Jacob has already cast his vote in the primary 鈥� early voting began on June 28 鈥� and he cast it for Royce White.

"I honored the endorsement," said Jacob, who said as a fellow Republican politician if he supports the endorsement process in his own race, he must do so in other races.

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In fact, Jacob said he's disappointed that Fraser has kept his campaign going because now two Republicans have to spend money campaigning against one another when they should be using those resources to defeat Klobuchar.

As for the endorsement of White, Jacob said the endorsement process is the system candidates work within, but it's a system that could use some review and possibly some fixing.

He said the system tends to favor candidates who are farther right, which can be be problematic once the general election rolls around.

"If you鈥檙e not all the way as far to right as you can get to, you鈥檙e a RINO," Jacob said, referring to the acronym for "Republican in name only." But a Republican win, sometimes, is a Republican win, even if the candidate isn't perfect. "A half a loaf of bread is better than no loaf."

White, he said, is "about as far to right as you can get."

"Whoever our candidate is going forward, that's who I'm voting for," Jacob said. "If Joe Fraser wins the primary, I鈥檒l be a Joe Fraser guy."

Bertschinger said she wished Fraser would have honored the endorsement because of the money issue 鈥� Republicans spending to fight other Republicans 鈥� and because White has a broader appeal outside the old-style Republican base.

"The main reason there is a primary is because Joe Fraser seems to be backed by the establishment elite," she said. "So people go for the candidate that is grassroots and real."