Congressman Erik Paulsen represented Minnesota’s Third Congressional District from 2009 – 2019. He served as a leading member on the chief tax writing House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over health care, economic, and trade policy.
Erik also was Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, focusing on innovation, entrepreneurship, access to capital, digital trade and key economic issues, while working with the President’s Council of Economic Advisors and Federal Reserve Board.
In Congress, Erik served as co-chair of the House Medical Technology Caucus and was the premier leader and advocate for the medical technology industry, the life-saving technologies it provides to patients, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports.
In addition, Erik was a member of the Deputy Whip Team and co-chaired the Digital Trade Caucus and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Caucus to promote international trade.
In 2019, Rep. Paulsen served as co-chair of the Pass USMCA Coalition, a group of trade associations, businesses and advocacy groups working together to ensure swift passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. From 2020 to 2021, he served on the Task Force on the Coordination of Behavioral and Clinical Health for the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), a bipartisan Washington, D.C. think tank. He is an independent director on the boards of Cardiovascular Solutions, Inc. and Pediatric Home Service, Inc., serves as Chairman of the Institute for Gene Therapies, and sits on the Strategic Advisory Board of Alliantgroup, which helps small and medium-sized businesses access tax credits.
Prior to his service in Congress, Erik was a member of the Minnesota State Legislature, where he served as House Majority Leader.
Erik has more than 16 years of business experience, including work as a business analyst at Target Corporation. He received his B.A. in mathematics from St. Olaf College.