 Now in the District 5A race, representative race, incumbent D.F. L.R. John Purcell is being challenged by Republican Matt Bliss. The candidates discussed many topics including proposed gas taxes in order to make improvements to roads and other infrastructure. So no, I will not support a gas tax. We have taxes already in place that were meant to maintain roads and infrastructure. We need to redirect those taxes back to where they were originally intended to go and fix and maintain our roads and bridges as is. Our speaker this year down in the house put together a real good bonding bill. It was bipartisan and it affected a lot of the rural bridges and infrastructure up here in rural Minnesota and that was a good bill and we need to continue that. The revenues that we have from existing sources, whether it's license tab fees or gas tax simply won't support the demand that we have for our transportation needs in the state of Minnesota. So there has to be some new revenue brought to the table or we simply will not be able to maintain our roads and bridges and we don't want another August of 2007 with bridges falling down. Our final debate tonight ended just moments ago and was a three-person showdown in the district representative 5B race. It included incumbent Tom Anzels from the DFL party as well as Republican Sandy Layman and Green Party candidate Dennis Barsness. The three candidates debated about proposed copper mines, the bonding bill for the Southwest light rail system and ways to boost the economy in the district. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.