Yes, Gil Gutknect (R) of MN's 1st District will be facing off against a military veteran in next year's election. He will be facing Tim Walz, a teacher at Mankato West High School.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5645421.html"It gives us a higher profile and separates me from people," said Walz, a Democrat and teacher at Mankato West High School who is hoping to deny Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht a seventh term in 2006.
Walz, who served in Italy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, is gaining more attention than your typical first-time political candidate: He's part of a growing national trend in which a new class of veterans is coming home and hoping to make a mark on Capitol Hill. While the number of veterans in Congress has dropped dramatically in the past three decades, at least eight Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are running for 2006 U.S. House seats as Democrats, and two are vying as Republicans for the same seat in Texas.
Walz, who has a master's degree in educational leadership and is working toward a doctorate, spent 24 years in the Army National Guard before retiring in the spring as a command sergeant major. He taught in China from 1989 to 1990 and established a business to organize student travel there when he returned.
The Nebraska native made news in August 2004 when he said he was initially refused entrance to a rally for President Bush in Mankato because he wasn't a supporter. He calls the event a catalyst: "It definitely galvanized me to say, 'I'm not backing down from this.' "
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