Key Races for Medtech: Amy Klobuchar vs. Kurt Bills for Minnesota Senate

In Minnesota, a state where medical device companies including Medtronic, Boston Scientific, and St. Jude Medical are among the biggest employers, one thing most politicians can agree on is their support for the medtech industry. In that vein, incumbent Senator Amy Klobuchar last year joined with Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) to form the Senate Medical Technology Caucus to raise awareness about issues facing the industry. Provisions she authored to simplify FDA’s conflicts-of-interest policy and speed medical device approvals passed as part of an FDA funding bill earlier this year.Though Klobuchar supports repealing the medical device tax, her opponent, State Representative Kurt Bills, has seized on the fact that she voted in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which created the tax in the first place. Bills has come out strong against the device tax, which he says should be repealed, as well as the ACA, which he argues should also be done away with. A high school economics teacher, Bills also supports reducing the overall corporate tax rate and eliminating the federal budget deficit.Polls show Klobuchar with a double-digit lead in the race, but Bills recently stepped up negative messaging, criticizing her for everything from voting for the Troubled Asset Relief Program to having presidential aspirations in 2016.