UNDATED -- Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson is making his second bid to be the Governor of Minnesota. The Republican is facing Democrat Tim Walz in Tuesday's election.

Johnson was on the News @ Noon show Tuesday afternoon.

ON HEALTHCARE
He says, despite what some campaign ads say against him, he does support protecting pre-existing conditions for health care.

We've got to make sure we continue to take care of the people who need help whether they need help paying for their insurance or whether they have pre-existing conditions.  We have guaranteed affordable coverage to those with pre-existing conditions in Minnesota for 35 years, long before the federal government said we needed to because it's our values we have here.  That will absolutely continue when I'm governor, I've never suggested otherwise.

Johnson says he also wants to bring down the cost for premiums by forcing more competition for health care coverage.

ON IMMIGRATION
He says, if he's elected, he would encourage President Donald Trump to stop the Refugee Resettlement Program in Minnesota.

Minnesota has been very generous with respect to refugees, and it's something we should be proud of.  We have, I believe, 13% of the country's refugees and we have about 2-3% of the country's population.  So we've been more generous than any other state in the country, and we have areas in the state where people are raising legitimate concerns about the cost of the program.

We also asked Johnson about President Trump's call to end birthright citizenship. Johnson says, since it is in the U.S. Constitution he doesn't see that changing anytime soon.

ON TAXES
He says one of the things he'd like to do in office is lower our taxes.

Kiplinger's came out with their report last week - which they do every year - and it says we are now the highest taxed state in America.  I don't want to be #1 in this, I don't want to be 48th either, but maybe we could be 10th or 12th or something a little bit more reasonable.  So I'd start with the income tax, with the bottom tier and work up.

Johnson says he also wants to stop taxing social security benefits. He says we are the only state that still does that. Meanwhile, Democrat Tim Walz on WJON on Monday, he says he'd like to raise the state's gas tax by 10 cents to help pay for the state's infrastructure.

Four years ago, during his last Gubernatorial run, Johnson won Sherburne County by 23 percent, Benton County by 13 percent, and Stearns County by 11 percent. But, he lost the election by five percent.

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