By permission from the Greg Copeland Campaign for Ramsey County Commission District 3, we are reposting this post from the gregcopeland911.wordpress.com website which was originally post on October 26, 2026 “Ramsey County Commission District 3, 4, and 6 LWV Forum October 8 2026.” Ramsey County Commission District 3 takes in all of HD 66B, parts of HD 66A, and HD 65A (map link here). The clarifications & comments in the post are from Greg Copeland’s administrator of his site, known by a pen name of Publius Jr. — admin
A Note to Readers: There is only 1 contested race in this forum in District 3 between the DFL endorsed candidate Garrison McMurtrey and Greg Copeland who is running in a nonpartisan race. Greg has run for the legislature as an endorsed Republican but in this race he is a nonpartisan candidate. He had asked the LWV why there are 2 other candidates answering questions and they told him that voters want to know the opinions of those in uncontested races. So 3 DFL endorsed candidates get 3 minutes to answer a question to 1 nonpartisan and a previously endorsed Republican Legislative candidate who gets only 1 minute to respond. Does that seem fair for a “Nonpartisan” group to do that? That’s why their Nonpartisan claim needs to be challenged and their nonprofit status too. They are an arm of the DFL Party in this state and this is the kind of nonsense they pull.
This video has all the questions asked of the candidates, and when the responses are have timestamps on them starting from the start of the video. The SPNN/LWV Team doesn’t set it up on their videos with “Chapters” or breaks marking when questions are asked. They aren’t kind to their viewers. If their forums were merely informational they would make sure the audience who views the video would know when and what is being asked. ~~ Publius Jr.
For the sake of fairness, to start off we will not list the incumbent’s title, just what party endorsed them. We’ll list the Candidates in the Original Electoral Colors prior the #NewsMafia’s switcheroo in 2006. Republicans will be in Dark Royal Blue (Greg Copeland is running as a nonpartisan but to local media they treat him as Republican and so will this post), and the Socialist Democrats will be Communist Red (Socialists, Communists, Fasciists, Nazis all had a common color they embraced which was Red. See the CCCP or Red Chinese Flag which is all Red f0r reference).
Greg Copeland nonpartisan candidate for District 3
Garrison McMurtrey DFL endorsed candidate for District 3
Rena Moran DFL endorsed candidate for District 4
Mai Chong Xiong DFL endorsed candidate for District 6 (She is a DSA endorsed candidate)
DSA = Democratic Socialist of America
- There are 13 Questions and Opening & Closing Statements. You can click on the “continue reading” below question 4 to see the rest of the questions asked and when each candidate answered.
I’ve put in parentheses clarifications of something someone has said, and in Square Brackets my thought that the candidates missed. The links to maps are from my website where I’m the admin and chief writer as well. The website is just a website and not party of the state party and can’t endorse anyone, but have suggested to R Voters who to support in various races.
Time Stamps from the start of the video above
1:00-1:56 Kim McCoy who is a member of the LWV of St Paul does an introduction of what forum it is and then explains what areas are in each Ramsey County Commission District.
- District 3: Falcon Heights, St Anthony Park (Western edge of St Paul), Payne-Phalen (East Side of St Paul up to Ward 6 Precinct 6), North End (North Central St Paul), South Como [just west of North End and South of Como Park], Frogtown (St Paul), Hamline-Midway (St Paul) See our Map of District 3 link
- District 4: Parts of Highland Park, Macalester-Groveland, Lexington-Hamline, Merriam Park, Desnoyer Park, Crocus Hill, and Summit are all neighborhoods of St Paul. See our Map of District 4 link.
- District 6: Greater East Side, Payne-Phalen (east of Ward 6 Precinct 6), Dayton’s Bluff, Conway, and Highwood Hills which are neighborhoods of St Paul. See our Map of District 6 link.
1:57- 5:47 She explains the rules. She asks that members of the audience to not video the forum. So none of this video is edited on our end. She says members of the press can edit the video [I don’t have a press badge, but some consider me as a citizen journalist, I don’t get compensated like the #NewsMafia does, I don’t have video-editing as a skill yet].
The Rules she states are that each candidate can have an opening and closing statement that is 2 minutes long each, and can only have 1 minute to respond to a question. All candidates have agreed to it. If quoted by another candidate, the candidate can have a 30 second rebuttal. She says she will allow a candidate who does go over time to finish their thought before cutting them off.
She says the opening statements will be done according to alphabetical order and then she’ll randomly call on candidates during the forum so no candidate will always be first or last in the questioning.
She talks about questions submitted prior to the forum and questions can be asked from the audience using note cards, then they review them. (Mostly questions asked that hold the incumbent DFLer accountable are never asked, because the LWV of St Paul are “nonpartisan”). Questions have to apply to all candidates and can’t be of a personal nature.
Opening Statements (2 minutes each)
6:13 Greg Copeland
8:19 Garrison McMurtrey (He is another TDS person attacking President Trump. The “nonpartisan” moderator should stop him from doing this but she doesn’t)
10:15 Rena Moran (When she was the MN HD 65A DFL Representative often in her district there were stoppages of Interstate 94 by voters who had kept her in office. In some cases those “voters” threw cinderblocks, rocks from overpasses and pedestrian walkways down at State Troopers and St Paul Police who came to disperse them from a Federal Interstate Highway, often injuring law enforcement seriously and some have permanent injuries. She never discouraged them or berated them in public).
11:43 Mai Chong Xiong (what’s wrong with the moderator? Mai Xiong has made ICE into a golem that terrorizes when she and the other TDS sufferers don’t realize they are encouraging Foreign Invaders to come here and rip off the overburdened taxpayers. The TDS attacks are overstepping the rules of this “calm” and “neutral” forum).
Kim McCoy says she’ll call on the candidates in a random order. That’s odd as stated above there’s only 1 contested race and Greg Copeland nor Garrison McMurtrey should have to respond to a candidate in an uncontested race. It’s simply unfair and the 3 to 1 set up shows their incompetence or as I learned from President Obama that it’s a deliberate action.
14:04 Question 1: If you could tell us what your top 3 priorities are upon joining the County Board [The County Commission]?
14:14 Garrison McMurtrey
15:17 Mai Chong Xiong
16:22 Rena Moran (it’s almost as if these 3 are reading from the same script that was provided to them. They all use the same vocabulary and I’ve never heard the word “continuum” used so often)
17:41 Greg Copeland
19:04 Question 2: Are you anticipating any security issues regarding voting and voting rights in this election? As a County Commissioner, what precautions would you support to protect voting rights?
19:17 Rena Moran
20:13 Garrison McMurtrey
21:19 Greg Copeland
22:28 Mai Chong Xiong
23:27 Question 3: After complications with the closure of the Pig’s Eye Park homeless encampment in August, St Paul and Ramsey County have temporarily paused efforts to close down other camps. Some Ramsey County residents are concerned that future closure efforts will leave unhoused [homeless] camp residents without adequate support. What should Ramsey County be doing to address homelessness and the growing encampments?
23:55 Mai Chong Xiong
24:53 Greg Copeland
25:58 Garrison McMurtrey
27:05 Rena Moran
28:14 Question 4: Many working families identify increasing cost of living such as food and gasoline prices as a major hardship. What would you believe your role in addressing these issues as a county commissioner?
28:28 Greg Copeland
29:33 Mai Chong Xiong
30:57 Rena Moran
32:04 Garrison McMurtrey
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