Jim Graves

Businessman Jim Graves Announces His Candidacy for Congress

admin — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 03:15:55 +0000

Businessman Jim Graves Announces His Candidacy for Congress

The 6^th Deserves a Representative Interested in Solutions, Not Celebrity

ST. CLOUD – Calling for results-oriented leadership in Congress that will focus on balancing the budget and the needs of middle class Minnesotans, businessman Jim Graves announced today that he is running to represent Minnesota’s 6^th Congressional District.

As founder and former CEO of the AmericInn Hotel chain, Graves has the skills and experience that Congress needs: building businesses, creating jobs, balancing budgets, and always making payroll. St. Cloud born and raised, Jim launched his own small business with just a used typewriter and a makeshift office in his basement. As a result of Jim’s hard work, business knowledge and determination to always get the deal done, that small company grew into a mid-size, family business now known as Graves Hospitality. Over the past three decades, Jim has built more than a hundred businesses, creating thousands of private sector jobs in small towns and cities throughout the 6^th District and across Minnesota.

“These days Congress is all about scoring political points rather than actually solving problems and Minnesota’s 6^th District – my home – is losing out because of that more than anywhere. I’m not interested in celebrity, only in solutions.” said Graves. “As a businessman who has balanced budgets and created jobs, I’m running to work with both sides to find ways to balance the budget, keep our promises to seniors, create jobs and strengthen the middle class.”

Jim and his high school sweetheart, Julie, have been married 39 years and are actively involved in the lives of their three sons, three daughters-in-law and seven grandchildren.

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For Immediate Release, April 11, 2013

CONTACT: Aaron Wells (320) 247-7616

St. Anthony: Risk-taker Graves is back to business

admin — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:13:54 +0000

Article by: NEAL ST. ANTHONY, Star Tribune

Fresh from his foray into politics, he doesn’t rule out a 2014 Bachmann rematch.

Jim Graves is a risk-taker.

When he launched a St. Cloud-based hotel development company in 1979 at age 26, he had more moxie than money.

“I had a couple grand in the bank and a Smith-Corona typewriter,” he recalled.

His first project was an AmericInn in Rogers, Minn., and a couple of restaurants. That led to three decades of restaurant, apartment and hotel projects — including the one in downtown Minneapolis with his name on it (the Graves 601 Hotel).

So when he launched a long-shot congressional campaign this year against incumbent Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, he was behaving in character.

Running as a job creator, fiscal conservative and social moderate in Minnesota’s most conservative congressional district, Graves narrowed what started as a double-digit Bachmann lead. DFLer Graves lost to Bachmann by 1 percentage point, despite being outspent 10-to-1 thanks to Bachmann’s coast-to-coast conservative patrons.

Would he do it again? “Never say never” is Graves’s response to whether he’ll run against Bachmann again in 2014. What he lacked in name identification and TV ads, the businessman nearly made up with a door-to-door campaign.

“I didn’t like fundraising,” Graves said of his seven-month campaign. “I did like meeting and talking with people, including those who opposed me.”

His affable, open-hand style made Graves the millionaire developer and property manager who almost delivered a stunning upset.

At the Red Carpet nightclub in St. Cloud one night in September, Graves touted his business credentials with conservative radio host Dan Ochsner. The crowd, packed with Tea Party and Bachmann loyalists, went from cool to warm toward the 59-year-old Graves.

“I’m a business guy,” Graves told them. “I love conservatives. I believe in free markets.”

Graves said in a recent interview that he’s back at work, planning developments in the Twin Cities, New York, St. Louis and Florida. His oldest son, Ben, runs day-to-day operations at Graves Hospitality.

Most of his wealth is tied up in real estate, said Graves, who started out as a schoolteacher in St. Cloud. In 1977, he took a job with a St. Cloud developer to make a better wage for his wife and three young kids. He struck out on his own nearly three years later.

Graves Hospitality started the AmericInn chain, focused on family style hotels at a reasonable cost, including a pool and free breakfast, in places like Waseca, Brainerd and Bemidji.

Things went well during the expansionary 1980s. But Graves stumbled during the 1990-91 real estate recession.

“There were a few times when I didn’t know how I was going to make payroll. So I made it out of my bank account,” Graves said. “I’ve had tough times, but I never failed or went bankrupt. I credit tenacity more than smarts for any success I’ve had.”

During the Great Recession (2007-2009), amid high vacancy rates and plummeting estate values, Graves said he had to invest millions to buttress Graves-owned properties at the insistence of his bankers.

“I didn’t have to give any properties back to the bank,” Graves said. “We try to conduct business with integrity and treat others as we want to be treated.”

Graves ran for office because he thinks a businessperson who is also a social-issues moderate could help the country with “solutions that work,” including federal debt reduction. He wants to clean up the loophole-pocked federal tax code that tends to benefit the wealthiest and certain corporations.

He favors means testing for social programs and charging wealthy seniors more in Medicare premiums. But he would preserve the social safety net. He wants deficit reduction while also preserving lower taxes for the middle class.

Graves admires Warren Buffett, America’s most successful investor and President Obama’s tax-reform poster boy.

Graves said he is comfortable losing some tax loopholes and even paying more, as a member of the 2 percent targeted by Obama in “fiscal cliff” negotiations with Republicans in Congress.

“I’ve got a comfortable lifestyle, beyond what I thought possible,” said Graves. “You give a person like me a $15,000 tax break, we don’t need it. You give a couple thousand more to a family with $50,000 in income, and it will immediately help them. They’ll spend it and you see the economy grow.”

Graves said the fun thing about having money is reinvesting in business and increasing charitable giving with his wife of nearly 40 years.

“You never take it with you,” he said. “Success isn’t what you’ve accumulated. It’s how you share your gifts.”

Jim Graves Headshot for Press

admin — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 18:28:22 +0000

Bachmann’s opponent says she is part of the ‘war on women’

admin — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:56:24 +0000

By Arturo Garcia
Sunday, October 28, 2012 14:46 EDT

WATCH THE VIDEO of Jim from MSNBC

The Minnesota businessman running to unseat Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) named her as part of the “war on women” Sunday in an interview with MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry.

“She has engaged in a war on women,” said Jim Graves, who currently trails Bachmann by six points among likely voters. “She would like to take women back 50 years and go back to a male-dominant society, control women’s reproductive rights, control their equal pay, control everything about women.”

Grave’s statement marks a rare occasion when Bachmann has been associated with the term, more commonly used in connection with other GOP lawmakers like Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), vice-presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Indiana senatorial candidate Richard Mourdock.

Graves also pointed out that Bachmann endorsed Akin in his race, and has stayed silent over the uproar surrounding Akin’s “legitimate rape” comments earlier this year.

In an interview last month, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) also linked Akin with Bachmann, saying he made her “look like a hippie.”

When Harris-Perry noted the seeming incongruity over Graves, a male hotel chain owner, taking more progressive positions on women’s issues than Bachmann, he slammed Bachmann’s voting record.

“She voted against equal pay for equal work for women,” Graves said. “She votes against reproductive rights, she votes against even women to have access to birth control.”

Graves’ accusations against Bachmann, aired Sunday on MSNBC, can be seen below.

WATCH THE VIDEO of Jim from MSNBC

Editorial: Job creator Jim Graves best choice for sixth district

admin — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 18:38:23 +0000

Article by: EDITORIAL BOARD , Star Tribune

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s extremism is roadblock to balancing the budget.

It’s easy to see why Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann has dragged her feet on debating Democratic challenger Jim Graves in Minnesota’s Sixth District.

Once you meet Graves, it’s abundantly clear that he’s anything but the big-spending liberal that Bachmann’s cartoonish ads make him out to be. Instead, Graves is a successful, numbers-minded business executive more at home in a boardroom than on the campaign trail.

At a time when the economy tops voters’ concerns, Graves actuallyis a job creator whose hotel and hospitality business has about 700 employees. While Bachmann’s ads depict Graves as a wild-eyed backer of the Affordable Care Act, Graves’ support for it is cautious at best, with his ideas for further reform echoing those in the Republican political playbook — tort reform and enhancing competition.

When the two candidates finally appear in the same room together — the first debate is set for Oct. 30, one week before the election — it will be obvious who has the bona fides on economic issues. Graves, 59, who founded the AmericInn hotel chain and later sold his interest, is a respected entrepreneur already on a first-name basis with Minnesota’s business leaders. The St. Cloud native’s plan to become a business “ambassador” for his congressional district, actively promoting its potential to companies elsewhere, is another reason he merits support.

Bachmann, who didn’t respond to the Star Tribune Editorial Board’s invitation for an endorsement interview, should be running scared. Her campaign ducked questions about the late date for the debate by responding with more shopworn phrases about big spenders. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. Bachmann has little to show for her six years in Congress besides empty rhetoric in self-promoting TV appearances and a presidential bid that quickly ran out of steam when her extreme positions became too much for her own party to stomach.

It’s not often that Republicans are upbraided by the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board. And yet Bachmann won that dubious distinction a year ago when she dangerously claimed after a presidential primary debate that a vaccine causes mental retardation.

Bachmann’s positions and self-promotion have alienated colleagues on both sides of the aisle. In 2010, the Republican leadership of the U.S. House denied her a key leadership position. This year, Bachmann’s embarrassing accusations about a Muslim Brotherhood infiltration sparked denouncements by U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Sen. John McCain. This lack of respect undercuts her ability to pass bills. While Bachmann touts the St. Croix River bridge as an achievement, the heavy lifting on its passage was done by others in the state delegation.

Bachmann’s extreme opposition to raising taxes and the debt ceiling also undermine her fiscal responsibility claims. Her absolutism runs counter to every credible debt-reduction plan, including Simpson-Bowles. She is a roadblock to the “grand bargain” sorely needed to rein in red ink and reassure the markets.

Former Republican governor Carlson endorses Graves

admin — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:42:05 +0000

Written by Mark Sommerhauser

DFL congressional candidate Jim Graves’ campaign says it has secured the endorsement of former Minnesota governor Arne Carlson, a Republican.

The Graves campaign has scheduled a news conference about the endorsement at 7 p.m. tonight at its office on Fifth Avenue South in downtown St. Cloud.

Graves, a St. Cloud hotel executive, is trying to unseat Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Stillwater.

The Graves campaign announced last week it would soon reveal the support of a leading Minnesota Republican. Today, campaign manager Adam Graves confirmed it’s Carlson, the two-term Minnesota governor.

Adam Graves said Carlson’s support is indicative of a broader trend among fiscal conservatives impressed by Graves’ business background and desire to improve the federal government’s fiscal situation.

“Jim is deeply honored and humbled by the endorsement of one of the state’s most widely respected Republicans,” Adam Graves said.

Carlson has been sharply critical of Bachmann, comparing her to former Sen. Joseph McCarthy in a recent post at his blog.

Carlson, who was Minnesota’s governor from 1991 to 1999, also has a history of endorsing candidates outside the GOP.

He supported Democrats Barack Obama in 2008 and Rep. Tim Walz in 2010. Also in 2010, Carlson endorsed the Independence Party candidate for governor, Tom Horner.

Democrat Jim Graves Has a Chance to Unseat Michele Bachmann

admin — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:44:44 +0000

by John Avlon

Outspent 10 to 1 in a tight race in Minnesota’s most conservative congressional district, businessman Jim Graves is polling well with independent voters, writes John Avlon.

Jim Graves is a 58-year-old self-made Minnesota businessman and grandfather of seven, still married to his high-school sweetheart, running against a symbol of unhinged hyperpartisanship in the halls of Congress. Bachmann’s bizarre presidential run only highlighted what an awkward fit she is for the common sense civility that characterizes “Minnesota Nice.”

But she’s never faced a truly competitive opponent, despite a string of narrow wins—and that’s changed this time around.

“I started my first company in a basement with $2,000 in the bank, and I’ve been able to create thousands of jobs,” says Graves, who started the mid-scale AmericInn hotel chain. “I’m a person who understands the economy and has built real businesses on Main Street. Now I want to give something back. I’ll be a good ambassador for the district. And you can juxtapose that againstMichele Bachmann—someone who’s divisive and antagonistic, ridicules our president, and spreads fear and division.”

“My policy approach transcends political lines,” Graves says. “I’m a centrist, a libertarian when it comes to social issues—I don’t think government should be involved with personal lives. I really believe in separation of church and state. Bachmann wants to blur those lines—she would [replace] our democracy with a theocracy … She epitomizes everything that’s wrong with Congress and this country—a lack of civility, a lack of bipartisan or nonpartisan approach to problem solving.”

Polls show the race is now neck and neck—with 48 percent for Bachmann and 46 percent for Graves and the remaining still undecided, according to a Greenberg Quinlan Rosner poll (outside polling also shows Graves close behind, within single digits). Crucially, independent voters now lean toward Graves by a 15-point margin. Now the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is backing Graves in his campaign, showing it is very much in play.

But this is the most conservative district in Minnesota, compounded by redistricting. Moreover, Bachmann has been a successful conspiracy entrepreneur—raising millions of dollars in campaign donation by throwing out extreme statements—such as questioning how many fellow congressmen have “anti-American” views (to use one mild example)—and then fundraising off it by playing the victim.

“She makes these inflammatory comments for fundraising purposes,” Graves recognizes. “As soon as she says something outrageous, the money spigot opens up. I was just told she’s raised more than $20 million this race”—in fact that number includes the money she took in during her presidential primary run—”that’s unbelievable in a rural moderate Minnesota district. We’re more in the $2 million range—so she’s got a 10 to 1 advantage.”

True to form, Bachmann is hiding behind a barrage of negative ads while refusing to debate Graves until the final week of the campaign.

“She’s spending millions on ridiculous attacks ads saying I am somehow responsible for TARP, the stimulus bill, the Affordable Care Act,” he says with a laugh. “But I wasn’t in Congress then—I was busy trying to keep my company afloat and make payroll. She was the one in Congress at the time. She’s attacking me as being a big spender, despite the fact that’s the opposite of what I am. I’m a business guy. I’m a spendthrift.”

The political leaders he admires don’t fit narrow partisan lines. “President Clinton did a great job in the 1990s—he balanced the budget and was able to work with people like Speaker Gingrich and others. It sent the message that we can balance the budget but we need to be willing to compromise. I like the way that Reagan brought the country together—I don’t agree with everything he did but he certainly garnered a lot of positive feelings during a difficult time for the country.”

But interestingly, Graves doesn’t connect his campaign to the current president. “My campaign isn’t an endorsement of President Obama’s first term in office,” Graves says. “I would have done some things differently than he did—I’m staying focused on doing what’s right for the people on the Sixth Congressional District.”

Graves believes the tipping point in the district was the combination of Bachmann’s presidential campaign creating embarrassment for constituents and a more recent self-inflicted scandal. “I think a turning point was Ms. Huma Abedin and the whole Muslim brotherhood conspiracy theory. And when people in the district saw that Speaker Boehner and Senator McCain said this has no basis in reality, I think that woke people up here. That’s not what a person in Congress or especially a person on the intelligence committee should say.”

A defeat for Bachmann would send a clear message to members of Congress that there is such a thing as too extreme in American politics.

This is a congressional race with national implications because a defeat for Bachmann would send a clear message to members of Congress that there is such a thing as too extreme in American politics. It would advance the cause of civility and constructive problem solving because it would show Washington that voters will punish those politicos who pander to the fringes while trying to divide and conquer.

“Yes, it’s the most conservative district in the state,” says Graves, acknowledging the challenge of this campaign. “But I look at it this way: everyone has the same primary interests—access to good jobs and fiscal responsibility. Everyone wants the economy to do better and those issues transcend party registration.”

Update: This article has been revised to reflect that Bachmann last week agreed to debate Graves, to show additional poll results, and to clarify that Bachmann’s fundraising total includes money raised for her presidential campaign earlier this year.

Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.

John Avlon is senior columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast, and the anchor of Beast TV. He is a CNN contributor regularly appearing on the show Erin Burnett Out Front at 7 p.m. EST. He won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ award for best online column in 2012.

Graves represents best choice for change in 6th District

admin — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:11:50 +0000

By The Stillwater Gazette on October 17, 2012 at 1:15 pm

There’s something definitely different waiting for Sixth District voters when they enter polling places Nov. 6. This election cycle, there’s no independent candidate on the ballot with the potential to skew the final result.

That’s one of the challenges facing three-term incumbent Rep. Michele Bachmann as she squares off against Jim Graves, an independently wealthy businessman who’s casting himself as an alternative, pro-business candidate.

During an endorsement interview with five editors from ECM Publishers and the Sun Newspaper Group, Bachmann quickly addressed that consideration in her introduction.

Bachmann presented herself as a strong and independent advocate for the Sixth District. While panel members agreed improving the economy, generating jobs and health care were her top legislative priorities and were impressed with her overall drive and determination, we believe it’s time for a change in one of the state’s critical districts.

After spending an hour interviewing Bachmann and Graves, it’s our view that Graves’ highly focused business and economic acumen would better serve the district during a time when innovative approaches to job creation are needed.

Why should Sixth District voters trust a self-made millionaire? Well, in 1976, Graves launched a small business from his basement with only $2,000 in the bank. By 1979, he founded AmericInn, growing the hotel franchise into the Graves Hospitality Corp. The Graves 601 Hotel in Minneapolis is known worldwide for its service and attention to detail.

It’s our view Bachmann’s political posturing and failed presidential run have changed many voters’ perceptions of her. She’s also drawn sharp GOP rebukes on Capitol Hill for a distasteful witch-hunt against Muslims in the U.S. government.

Nevertheless, Bachmann deserves credit for punching through legislation to secure funding for the St. Croix River crossing near Stillwater, a new veterans’ clinic in Ramsey and funding that will help the St. Cloud Airport.

Bachmann called the bridge funding a “remarkable signature achievement” during her endorsement interview.

And in a refreshing change of pace, she also credited U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken and Gov. Mark Dayton for their bi-partisan support in getting the long-awaited $690 million bridge project off the drawing board.

However, being able to compromise at a higher level has been a problem for Bachmann throughout her third term. If re-elected, she will foster a continued period of gridlock.

Bachmann’s solution for the lethargic economy is repealing the Affordable Health Care Act and making changes to the Dodd-Frank financial regulation overhaul that she says is making it difficult for small community banks to do business. She also fears Bush-era tax cuts won’t be extended, driving up taxes paid by families in the district.

Bachman said the Affordable Health Care Act should be scrapped. She wants legislators to start from scratch.

Graves wants to change medical care from a procedures-based model to outcome-based, making the system more transparent while focusing on preventative care. Bachmann, in typical fashion, has drawn a non-negotiable line.

Additionally, we’re not convinced Bachmann has finished her quest for a higher political calling.

Her Tea Party ties are stronger than ever, she remains a regular on the national conservative talk-show circuit and she still has a reputation for inflammatory, divisive rhetoric. Bachmann’s political passion is admirable and her ability to connect with constituents is impressive, but more often than not, she emphasizes self-propulsion in a narrow political arena rather than bipartisan solutions.

It’s our view Graves represents a new kind of candidate who can move the Sixth District forward. He’s a bipartisan moderate who understands the economic system’s finer points and has worked those points to continued success throughout a long business career.

We believe Graves can help improve the district’s troubled economy. We’re confident he can get future constituents engaged in discussions that will return people to work.

Graves is a proven business leader who believes in free markets; he comes from Republican roots. Graves represents the perfect fit for a new Sixth District, and is prepared to serve a conservative constituency.

— This editorial is a product of the ECM Editorial Board

NEW POLL – Bachmann Remains Vulnerable – 10/16/2012

admin — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 19:52:15 +0000

DCCC Adds Jim Graves to Highly Competitive Red to Blue Program

admin — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:34:38 +0000

DCCC Adds Tea Party Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s Challenger to Highly Competitive Red to Blue Program

DCCC Chairman Steve Israel announced today that businessman Jim Graves, congressional candidate in Minnesota’s 6th district, has earned a spot on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s (DCCC) highly competitive Red-to-Blue program. Graves is challenging Tea Party Congresswoman, and failed Presidential candidate, Michele Bachmann. A poll from Jim Graves’ campaign shows he trails Congresswoman Bachmann by just 2 points (46-48%) and Bachmann’s favorability is underwater with 57% of voters viewing her unfavorably. Independent voters have swung against Bachmann by nearly 20 points from a 4-percent advantage to a 15-point disadvantage.

The DCCC also announced that Mike O’Brien (MI-06) has been added to the Emerging Races program because he is running an increasingly competitive race against Congressman Fred Upton.

“Jim has proven his commitment to standing up for the middle class and creating good-paying jobs for Minnesotans,” said DCCC Chairman Steve Israel. “Jim is a successful businessman, builder and problem-solver who will focus on creating jobs, growing the economy and protecting Medicare not on partisanship, political games or pandering to the Tea Party. During Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s career in Washington, she has been more focused on being a national right-wing celebrity than on delivering for the Minnesota families she represents. Voters are experiencing buyer’s remorse with Congresswoman Bachmann and her relentless desire to put ideology over solutions.”

Graves has surpassed demanding fundraising, organizing, and infrastructure goals and demonstrated to voters that he is a strong leader who will stand up for Minnesota seniors and hardworking middle class families. Congressman Jared Polis (CO) and Congresswoman Donna Edwards (MD) co-chair the Red to Blue program, and Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz serves as the National Chair for Recruitment and Candidate Services.

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For Immediate Release, October 15, 2012

CONTACT: Jennifer Crider & Jesse Ferguson (202) 485-3440