Campaign workers set up the booth for Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen on the opening day of the Minnesota State Fair on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022, in Falcon Heights, Minn. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Editor’s note: This story contains graphic descriptions of alleged child abuse.

A disgraced former Minnesota state representative ― who left his position after his own daughter accused him of repeated inappropriate behavior ― hosted a large fundraiser for GOP gubernatorial nominee Dr. Scott Jensen last week.

Jim Knoblach, who served in the state legislature between 1995 and 2007 and then 2015 to 2019, hosted the fundraiser at his St. Cloud residence on Aug. 24, according to a flyer posted on a local Republican Facebook page. The event required a minimum donation of $250, and it listed state GOP party chair David Hahn and U.S. Reps. Tom Emmer (R) and Michelle Fischbach (R) as special guests.

The former Minnesota House Ways and Means chair canceled his 2018 reelection campaign after a story published by Minnesota Public Radio detailed near-life-long inappropriate physical contact he allegedly dealt to his daughter, Laura Knoblach.

After St. Cloud Police declined to press charges against Jim Knoblach in 2017, Laura Knoblach provided MPR with documentation of attempts to get help on the supposed repeated abuse that started when she was nine years old. Some of the alleged inappropriate behavior included Jim pinning a nine-year-old Laura to the bed to lick her neck and bite her ear, him pinning her to kitchen appliances over 30 separate times and him pinning a 20-year-old Laura against a car to lick and kiss her neck.

Both Jim Knoblach and his attorney, Susan Gaertner, denied the allegations in response to MPR’s reporting. Gaertner even alleged that Laura Knoblach was attacking her father for political reasons.

Despite being out of politics for four years, Jim Knoblach is using the political clout he has left as a real estate investor to influence close electoral races in Minnesota. Records from the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board show that he donated a combined $750 to state Rep. Tama Theis (R-St. Cloud) in 2021 and 2022. Theis is running for the state senate seat in a district that the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party won in 2020 by just 316 votes.

Jim Knoblach also donated $500 in May to Aaron Henning, another St. Cloud Republican running for Knoblach’s old seat in 14B. Three different representatives have held the seat in just the past ten years (DFL Rep. Zach Dorholt held the seat between 2013 and 2015, and current Rep. Dan Wolgamott (DFL) has held the seat since 2019.)

After giving $3,000 of his own money to Paul Gazelka’s failed primary election campaign for governor in 2021, Jim Knoblach donated $500 to Jensen in June.

The Jensen campaign did not respond to a request for comment.