Republican congressional candidate Jennifer Carnahan told police that a man swerved his car at her after he made threatening and profane comments as she campaigned Tuesday in a Faribault neighborhood.
Police late Tuesday located the man, who is in his early 20s and lives just outside Faribault, and "there is an acknowledgment that there was an incident between the two of them," Police Chief John Sherwin told the Star Tribune on Wednesday. "Their stories obviously differ somewhat. The issue of swerving while driving is really what's in dispute."
The investigation is continuing, and police have yet to decide whether to recommend that the man be charged. Sherwin declined to release his name.
Carnahan told the Star Tribune that while door-knocking, the man at one home "started swearing at me and said you're not safe on these streets in a threatening way. ... I was a bit rattled."
After leaving the house in the 1000 block of 1st Street SE., Carnahan said, the same man "came whipping around the corner" in a car and nearly ran her over.
"He just swerved right at me. ... I'm thinking my toes are going to be broken if he hits me," she said.
Carnahan, who is Asian American, said the man "did not make any racial comments." Police said the man is white.
"His issues with her were political and not anything else," the police chief said.
Carnahan said the man "was just swearing a lot. ... I door-knock a lot, [and] I've never had this level of hostility. ... In the core of my body, I felt fear."
Authorities are requesting assistance from witnesses or individuals who may have additional information. A staffer was on another block nearby and did not witness the incident, Carnahan said.
Carnahan, a former chair of the state Republican Party, is seeking the GOP nomination in the upcoming primary in the First Congressional District, which stretches across the southern border of Minnesota and includes cities such as Rochester and Faribault.
The seat was held by her late husband, Jim Hagedorn, who died on Feb. 17 at age 59 from kidney cancer.
