By: Cirien Saadeh, UpTake Reporter

During a recent debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters, CD1 congressional candidate Jim Hagedorn called Black Lives Matter “extreme.”

“I believe the group Black Lives Matter has contributed to social unrest, to the deaths of police officers, to rioting, to the loss of commerce, and lots of other things, and they’ve done it in an illegal manner in many cases,” says Hagedorn during a debate held at the Winona City Hall on Oct. 4th. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has said similar things.

Throughout the debate, Hagedorn focused on issues of undocumented immigration and “Islamic terrorism,” both favorite talking points of Trump. Hagedorn spoke of his fear that both so-called Islamic extremists and undocumented immigrants had been and would be voting in American elections.

“It’s very important that we make sure that the only people that vote are U.S. citizens. Just recently in Washington state, an Islamic terrorist who was not a citizen of the United States, it was found that he had voted on a couple of occasions. That’s not right. In the state of Virginia, it sounds like there could be as many as a thousand people who have registered that shouldn’t be voting,” said Hagedorn.

Candidates On Bipartisanship, Post-Debate Interview

Video Above: Jim Hagedorn interview following his debate with Rep. Tim Walz in Winona.

At the same time, Hagedorn spoke about the need for bipartisan cooperation in Congress and noted that he saw bipartisanship when it came to issues that other congressmen already agreed with him on. He singled out Rep. Collin Peterson (DFL-MN)  and his positions of regulatory reform, pro-life positions, and amnesty for “illegal immigrants,” as areas of bipartisanship.

Hagedorn’s opponent Rep. Tim Walz (DFL-MN), however, is listed at the fourth most bipartisan member of the US Congress, according to The Lugar Center’s Bipartisan Index.

“I make no apologies for bipartisanship, I’m proud that when they did the most extensive study ever, I ended up as the fourth most bipartisan. And they also tied that to effectiveness: who can get things done? Who works with the other side? And who talks publicly about the other side? I think that’s the first thing, of not assuming people don’t love their country as much as you, don’t want to make sure that ah that that people have opportunities, they do,” said Walz

Hagedorn also spoke of the need to “take back our country,” repeating a talking point often used by the Trump campaign.