Former Summer House star Luke Gulbranson has announced he is running for Congress in Minnesota.
The 42-year-old actor was a key cast member of the hit Bravo television show for three seasons from 2020 to 2022.
Gulbranson acknowledged the series in his first campaign video, saying: “Yeah, I’ve been on reality TV.”
He continued: “That’s drama for show. What’s happening in D.C. is real drama with real consequences. And the stakes couldn’t be higher. I wake up every morning and there’s this dangerous rhetoric and this madness coming out of D.C. And I can’t stand it,”
Gulbranson is campaigning in Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, a seat currently held by Republican Representative Pete Stauber. According to local newspaper the Minnesota Star Tribune, Gulbranson is standing as a Democrat.
In the emotional video unveiling his candidacy, Gulbranson, who was born in Minnesota, said he “didn’t grow up with much.”
“I know what it’s like to get the power turned off. A few times,” he continued. “To need food assistance or go hungry. To need Medicaid, or I couldn’t see a doctor.”
Describing himself as a “hockey coach” as well as a businessman and actor, Gulbranson credited playing ice hockey with giving him sanctuary as a child. “I had hockey,” he said. “I had the woods. I had people here on the Iron Range who taught me how to keep going, who were getting by because of great union jobs.”
He went on to call out Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who he said are “wreaking havoc to our communities,” and also criticized Congress for “voting to take away people’s health care.”
He added that he is against: “Spending $200 billion on a war when we need to be spending that money at home, taking care of our own people.”
“I’m not here to play politics,” says Gulbranson. “I’m running to get Congress working for the people again. To fix problems, not cause them. To protect our lands, to protect good paying union jobs and to help families who live on fixed incomes who sit down at the kitchen table to do their budget and they still come up short.”
In addition to Summer House, Gulbranson also appeared on the Bravo show’s spin-off, Winter House, and the Netflix show Selling the OC. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he moved back to Minnesota to build a home. He has maintained relationships with his former castmates, including Lindsay Hubbard.
He is not the only former reality star running for political office this year. The Hills star Spencer Pratt, 42, recently announced that he is running to be mayor of Los Angeles.
Although Pratt is a registered Republican, he says he will run as an independent candidate because “this is not a partisan race.”
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