Arlan Stangeland

Stangeland died peacefully at his home on Lake Lizzie in Northwestern Minnesota, outside of Detroit Lakes, on July 2, 2013.

In January 1990 it was reported that Stangeland had made several hundred long distance phone calls from 1986 to 1987 on his Minnesota House credit card to and from the residences of a female lobbyist from Virginia. Stangeland admitted that he had made the calls, acknowledged that some of them may have been personal, but denied having a romantic relationship with the woman.

Nonetheless, his popularity sharply dropped and Stangeland lost the election to Democratic State Senator Collin Peterson, who had run against him twice before, nearly defeating him in 1986.

Stangeland sought election as a Republican to the 95th congress in a special election on February 22, 1977, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Robert Bergland (D), who left the House to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. In the Republican primary on February 8, Stangeland defeated Richard Franson, "a frequent candidate who lived in Minneapolis, far from the district," with 97 percent of the vote.

Stangeland served on the Barnesville, Minnesota school board (1966–1975) and then as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives (1976–1977) before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as the Representative from Minnesota's 7th congressional district in a special election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Robert Bergland.

He attended grades 1-8 at Oak Mound School in Kragnes Township, Minnesota and graduated from Moorhead High School in Moorhead, Minnesota in 1948. While growing up, he was active in the Oak Mound 4-H Club, Oak Mound Parent-Teacher Association, and the Oak Mound Community Club. Following high school, he worked as a farmer raising Purebred Shorthorns and a family. He married Virginia (Trowbridge) Stangeland and fathered 7 children, 2 girls and 5 boys. Stangeland was a long-time member of Our Savior's Lutheran Church. Stangeland was a delegate to the Minnesota State Republican conventions from 1964 to 1968.

Arlan Inghart Stangeland (February 8, 1930 – July 2, 2013) was an American politician from Minnesota. As a Republican, Stangeland served in the United States House of Representatives from February 22, 1977 to January 3, 1991. He lost his campaign for reelection in the 1990 House election and subsequently retired from politics.