Lynn Youngblom, right, and Dane Youngblom, second from right, both of Duluth, hold up signs in opposition of ICE while attending a rally outside of the Teamsters Local 346 building in Duluth while U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber was speaking with members on Wednesday evening, Jan. 28, 2026.
(Dan Williamson / Duluth Media Group)
A large crowd of protesters wrapped around the sidewalk on both sides of a union hall in the Lincoln Park neighborhood as U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber spoke to members inside Wednesday.
With chants like “Where’s Pete?” and “We want to talk with Pete,” protesters held signs challenging the Hermantown Republican’s support of President Donald Trump, removing the mining ban on federal land within the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the federal government’s immigration enforcement in the state.
The gathering outside the Teamsters General Local 346, 2802 W. First St., came four days after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents shot and killed protester Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, in Minneapolis, and three weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis.
U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., leaves the Teamsters Local 346 building in Duluth after speaking with members on Wednesday evening, Jan. 28, 2026.
(Dan Williamson / Duluth Media Group)
When Stauber left through the back door of the Teamsters General Local 346, protesters yelled and flipped him off as he backed his truck out of the Teamsters’ parking lot.
‘You don’t get much opportunity’
Fiadh Kinsella, of Duluth, who has worked at Dinosaur National Monument and Glacier and Mount Rainer National Parks, wore a classic wide-brimmed National Park Service hat to the protest.
Fiadh Kinsella, of Duluth, speaks during an interview with FOX 21 outside of the Teamsters Local 346 building in Duluth while attending a rally to voice concerns with U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber on Wednesday evening, Jan. 28, 2026.
(Dan Williamson / Duluth Media Group)
“I think we’re kind of at a turning point where either things are going to cool off a lot or it’s going to get a lot, lot worse … if you want your voice to be heard, that now is the time to start getting out there, showing up en masse, regardless of where you’re at, to really push for what you believe in,” Kinsella said.
Standing on a pile of snow at the corner of First Street and 28th Avenue West, Beth Hall, of Duluth, said she makes regular calls to Stauber’s Hermantown and Washington, D.C., office but feels like her concerns aren’t being heard by staff. She was particularly concerned about mining near the BWCAW.
“When I heard he was going to be in town, I had to come here and be a part of this movement so he can see how many constituents don’t agree with many, many of his stands,” Hall said. “You don’t get much opportunity because he has not made himself available to any of us for a very long time.”
One topic, media limited
Stauber, who did not respond to the News Tribune’s request for comment, was there to speak about the bipartisan Faster Labor Contracts Act, a bill he introduced in September meant to speed up first contracts between a newly unionized group of workers and their employer.
According to their website, the Local 346 represents pipeline workers in Minnesota and all its surrounding states, and workers in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin in a variety of industries including delivery, driving, construction, paper mills and policing.
In an email Wednesday morning, Local 346 Secretary Treasurer Zak Radzak told the News Tribune that it was the only topic of the meeting.
“We will be running on rules to not allow other topics to be discussed at this meeting,” Radzak said.
The media was largely blocked from attending.
While WDIO was allowed inside the event, other media organizations were not. A Minnesota Star Tribune photographer was kicked out after being initially allowed into the entryway.
Northern News Now reported that its photographer and reporter were initially allowed into the event but were called “unwanted guests,” and the meeting was paused until the two left the building.
Northern News Now alleges a Teamster “shoved” the photographer out the door as the photographer was trying to leave.
A News Tribune reporter and photographer were denied entry; the man at the door, wearing Teamsters apparel, said he had been instructed by Radzak not to let the Star Tribune or News Tribune inside.
Earlier on Wednesday, Radzak told the News Tribune in an email that their staff would not be let in because “we have very limited space and we are expecting a packed house. We want to make sure every member that wants to attend is able to get in. So for that reason I have to say no.”
Radzak did not respond to the News Tribune’s requests for comment after Wednesday’s meeting on who decided which outlets were allowed inside or if the union condoned a Teamster member allegedly shoving a journalist.
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