He's Not What
You Expect.

I spent my career in Special Operations doing work I can't fully describe in public. I served one year before 9/11 changed everything — and I was still serving when we pulled out of Afghanistan two decades later. Across more than 20 deployments — the majority of them in direct combat — and operations spanning more than 10 countries, I learned what it means to lead under pressure and own the result.

If my background raises questions, that's fair. I welcome scrutiny. My DD-214 is on file and available to any credible journalist or election authority who requests it. I have nothing to hide and no reason to exaggerate a record that stands on its own.

That service taught me that leadership is not a title. It is a decision you make every single day — to put the mission and the people you serve above your own comfort, your own agenda, and your own ego.

It taught me that problems don't get solved by committees with no accountability. They get solved by people who own the result.

"The most dangerous thing in any organization is not incompetence. It is leadership that sees the problem, has the power to fix it, and chooses to do nothing."

I watched this state's leadership see $9 billion drain out of programs meant to protect the most vulnerable residents. They were warned. They had the power to act. They chose their comfort over your security. I watched housing become unaffordable for the nurses and tradespeople who keep this state running. I watched Greater Minnesota get ignored while St. Paul patted itself on the back. I watched men — veterans, farmers, workers, fathers — struggle in silence with nowhere to turn.

I have spent my entire adult life in environments where that kind of leadership failure costs lives. I am not willing to tolerate it in the state I call home.

Tom Berhane — donating food, school supplies, and medications to the Lola Children's Home, Ethiopia