Capitol View for August 12

Minnesota has a somewhat low-key primary election tomorrow. There are contests for the Senate nominations and various U.S. House skirmishes to determine who will appear on November ballots. Dana Ferguson reports on the 22 Minnesota House contests on Tuesday’s ballot. Seven of those involve an incumbent — mostly Republicans — against challengers from within. That includes the dean of the Minnesota House GOP caucus, Rep. Greg Davids of Preston. Dana went to his district to find out what’s afoot. A reminder that this is a preview of coming attractions as all 134 House seats and the chamber majority are at stake this fall.

Not sure about what’s on your primary ballot or even how to vote? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with basic information on the primary mechanics. We also have voter guides that go pretty far down the ballot, so check them out. There’s even a quiz that might give you a lighter way to get informed. Much more on down-ballot contests can also be found on our website.

And once the results start rolling in Tuesday, tune in for a special broadcast. It won’t be a full-blown election night live show, but we’ll have plenty of check-ins on how the votes are falling and what they suggest about the general election to come. We’ll start just before polls close at 8 p.m.

Here we go again with email security as a campaign concern. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign says it believes it was the subject of an email hack and a foreign adversary might be behind it. The campaign didn’t provide specific evidence that Iran had breached its emails, but it’s an odd place for Trump to be after the mileage he got in 2016 out of a hack that exposed emails of then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The military record of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been the part of his past that Republicans have parsed more than most, and he’s acknowledging a misstep on that front.A campaign spokesperson said Walz “misspoke” during a 2018 appearance when he told a crowd about carrying a weapon of war, in war. Walz has previously said he never saw combat, although he did do a deployment to Europe in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. What’s not in dispute is that Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard and rose through the ranks. Democratic veterans and some from other political persuasions are coming to his defense, saying that attacks on his service are in poor taste, even in the context of a presidential campaign.

One of those furious by the criticism of the Walz military record is former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura. While Ventura and Walz have been mostly aligned during the past few years, Ventura has by no stretch been fond of Democrats. But he said he’s behind the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket after flirting with support for a third party campaign this year. Here is Ventura on X and also on CNN.

Long week? Dogs don’t care. Walz logged quite a few miles over the past week, jetting to Pennsylvania on Tuesday and capping it off with a stop in Las Vegas on Saturday. On Sunday morning, he was spotted unwinding with a Scout — his energetic pooch — at the Minnehaha Off-Leash Dog Park. The giveaway, according to our senior producer Heidi Raschke, was the long line of black SUVs with government plates in a no-parking zone, one with a white towel hanging off the front passenger door handle (paw patrol is my guess). Now that Walz is under Secret Service protection, he can’t really slip away anywhere undetected. This from Heidi, who saw Walz there a couple of summers ago: "Back then, when he was just Minnesota’s governor, he had a security detail of one. On Sunday, there was an entourage, complete with armed guards who cheerfully greeted passers-by, following behind the governor and his black lab mix, Scout. As they left the park, Walz said encouraging words to Scout as his entourage and some bystanders looked on."

It’s safe to say that the Nebraska area that Walz grew up in and had his first teaching job won’t be breaking for the Democratic ticket this fall. It’s heavily Republican and went big for Donald Trump in his prior runs for president. Still, there is some native-son-made-good pride across the northern reaches of Nebraska. The Star Tribune retraced his steps through the place that helped shape Walz. Lots of great anecdotes about how he carried himself as a boy, a high school athlete and later a teacher. Some residents who still remember their interactions said they might consider voting for the Harris-Walz ticket because of him, but Republicans dominate the old Walz terrain. The AP, meanwhile, goes to school in Mankato to draw out stories of when Tim and Gwen Walz taught there and the impression they left.

In case you missed it, Catharine Richert took listeners on Friday to the street where the Walz family lived and some artifacts they left behind in the home they sold after he became governor. Kudos fo the headline: “If these Walz could talk…” The buyers of the home shared a letter that Tim Walz wrote and other neighbors reflect on his lawn care.