Reality TV star Luke Gulbranson to challenge Republican Rep. Pete Stauber

Sydney Kashiwagi, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Apr 15, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — Luke Gulbranson, a reality TV star from the series “Summer House” and “Selling the OC,” is auditioning for his next role, running for Congress as a Democrat in the Eighth District against Republican Rep. Pete Stauber.

An Eveleth, Minn., native, youth hockey coach and great grandson of a foreman from the Oliver mine on the Iron Range, Gulbranson says he understands the needs of the northern Minnesota congressional district, which Stauber has held since he flipped the seat in 2018 after Democrat Rick Nolan retired.

“I’m relatable to the people in northern Minnesota. I’m a small-town kid. I know the hardships, I know what they’re going through,” Gulbranson, a “welfare kid” whose family relied on food assistance, Medicaid and Medicare, said in an interview.

A career in acting and modeling — and now, luxury real estate — took him out of Minnesota but he returned to Eveleth, where his family still lives, during the pandemic to build a home in the woods. He owns a maple syrup company that’s set to launch in Target in May.

Gulbranson, who frequently travels for work as a real estate agent, said he is based in Eveleth, but he also splits his time between Los Angeles and New York.

Gulbranson’s entry comes just weeks before the Eighth District DFL’s endorsing convention and he joins several other Democrats already in the race. But he said he’s planning to run in a primary and thinks a combination of hard work, his large social media platform and connections to draw money and attention to the race will set him apart.

“I would love to have the DFL endorsement, it would be amazing. But the reality is, I am getting in late,” he said. “We’re going to put our best foot forward, and we will work our tails off to win the primary, go into the general against Pete Stauber and beat him as well.”

He also thinks being a political outsider with deep roots in the district will make him a formidable candidate against Stauber, a three-term incumbent Republican from Hermantown. Stauber won his last race by more than 16 percentage points and the district has swung heavily for U.S. President Donald Trump since 2016.

But Gulbranson thinks Sen. Amy Klobuchar running at the top of the ticket for governor will help pull DFL candidates ahead this year.

He also thinks Stauber’s support for Trump’s sweeping tax cut and spending package and opposition to former President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill in 2021 have hurt northern Minnesota. Both issues motivated him to get involved in politics this year, he said, as well as Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown on the state.

“We’re in rural Minnesota, we have limited facilities as it is. And if you’re going to cut funding for these facilities that need to keep their doors open, and they need to keep their doors open with that funding, that becomes a problem,” Gulbranson said of Stauber’s support for Trump’s tax bill. Stauber supported the bill and backed a a $50 billion rural hospital stabilization fund as a buffer against looming cuts.

He also takes issue with Stauber’s approach to overturn a longstanding ban on mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA). Stauber’s resolution seeking to open the area up to mining recently passed out of the U.S. House and could soon come up for a vote in the U.S. Senate.

“I’m very much for ... mining responsibly, following the rules and regulations, again, both state and federally, moving forward with things. But this bill that he’s trying to pass, I don’t agree with it,” Gulbranson said.

Stauber’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gulbranson said people politically connected who he would not name have been urging him to get into politics, an idea he’s kicked around for a while now. But one name he does drop is Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat and a friend of his, who’s a top contender in the state’s gubernatorial race.

Recent conversations with Benson are what ultimately “put me over the tipping point,” Gulbranson said on his decision to run for Congress.

Gulbranson still auditions for acting roles and has an agent, he said. But he plans to “settle down on all that stuff” as he runs for Congress.

“This is what I’m committed to and what I’m going to be working on, hopefully for the next couple years of my life and beyond,” he said of his congressional run.