Erik Paulsen and Dean Phillips faced off in the first debate of the cycle on Tuesday, August 21.

Congressman Paulsen touted his work on important issues, like tax reform, that are leading to great economic growth. Dean Phillips, on the other hand, avoided answering questions and spent his time talking about the gimmicks that are driving his campaign.

Major takeaways:

• Dean admitted that he supports sanctuary cities.
• Dean lied about providing healthcare to his employees after calling it a right. Dean said he's always provided healthcare to his employees. But just last year, he admitted that he doesn't provide healthcare for his employees because "it would cause him to lose money." 
• Dean said he wouldn't vote to repeal the tax cuts. But before it passed, he said he'd vote against it.
• Dean said he doesn't support new taxes. But last year, he supported a new carbon tax that would severely hurt the economy.

If you missed the debate you can read about it/watch it on the MPR News site .

Erik challenged Dean Phillips to real debates, where candidates will answer questions from the audience and where both sides will have their chance to be heard. Should Phillips agree to such debates, we will post the times and dates.