Good morning, and welcome to the Monday after the Republican state convention and the last week of the legislative session.
The governor and Minnesota legislative leaders have a deal on how much money from the big projected budget surplus will go to cut taxes, give a boost to schools and be used to enhance public safety. The agreement comes with one week to go in the 2022 session. Many specific details will still have to be sorted out, but the signed framework will devote $4 billion over three years to tax cuts, $4 billion to new spending and leave about $4 billion unspent in case the economy sours. Of the new spending, $1 billion will go each to education and programs in the area of long term care and social services. Another $450 million is bound for public safety initiatives. Lawmakers are pressed for time to complete the bills needed to make it all happen. They must pass everything by early next Monday morning. The proposal also calls for a construction financing package of about $1.5 billion. “With an unprecedented surplus, we have the ability to make significant investments in the things that will improve Minnesotans’ lives, like health care, public safety, and education, while also providing tax cuts and putting money in Minnesotans’ pockets,” Gov. Tim Walz said in a statement Monday morning. Republicans who control the state Senate have been pushing for permanent tax cuts the entire session. Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, said the deal includes them. “Getting money back to the people has been a top priority for Republicans this session and I'm very happy we were able to accomplish this with permanent ongoing tax relief for hardworking Minnesotans, families, and seniors,” Miller said. “In addition to giving money back, this bipartisan agreement delivers targeted investments in public safety, education, nursing homes, and core infrastructure projects.” And Democrats who have the majority in the House wanted more spending for schools and early childhood programs. House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said the deal does that too. “House DFLers have been working all session to reduce costs for families, support workers, and improve public safety,” Hortman said in a statement. “We have reached a bipartisan agreement on a budget framework that makes strong investments in families' economic security, education, health care, and public safety to address the challenges Minnesotans are facing. These investments are in addition to the budget we passed last year and the frontline worker bonuses that we got across the finish line last month. ”
News of the deal comes on the heels of some big endorsements at the Republican state convention over the weekend.Scott Jensen won the nod for governor after nine ballots. Jensen started his campaign in March of 2021 as an opponent of COVID-19 restrictions who bucked conventional wisdom about the pandemic, contesting CDC estimates of the death toll, resisting vaccination requirements and promoting alternative treatments. While Democrats and others accused him of spreading disinformation, his statements and appearances in conservative media drew wide attention on social media and attracted money to his campaign. More recently, he has suggested that DFL Secretary of State Steve Simon should be jailed for his role in easing absentee ballot rules for the 2020 election. Jensen repeated that at the state convention in Rochester Saturday, and said rules around voting have to be tightened. “I’ll shut down government in order to get election security,” he told delegates from the convention stage. “We are going to have photo ID.” Jensen also apologized to delegates for co-sponsoring a bill when he was in the Legislature that angered 2nd Amendment supporters because it would have expanded background checks for people purchasing firearms.
Jensen’s toughest competition for the endorsement came from business executive and Army veteran Kendall Qualls. Lexington Mayor Mike Murphy, who led the race on one ballot earlier in the day, had to drop out after the sixth ballot and threw his support to Jensen. Murphy called Qualls a “sellout,” and said Qualls had offered him the position of running mate but then took it back. Qualls denied that, but Murphy showed delegates texts from Quall’s campaign staff and said he had recordings of a meeting with Qualls. After Jensen won the endorsement, Qualls left the arena without making any public comments. For a time it was unclear whether he would go on to a primary. But Qualls issued a statement Saturday night making it clear he will not: “ I loved every moment of my run for governor and meeting all of the great people around Minnesota. They deserve better than Tim Walz and DFL leadership. Sheila and I thank you as we transition back to private life.”
A trio of lawyers won the GOP endorsement in their statewide runs: Jim Schultz for attorney general, Kim Crockett for secretary of state and Ryan Wilson for auditor. Schultz is a Harvard Law graduate who has been in private practice doing civil litigation. He had support from a statewide police officers’ association, an important nod given that crime will be a top campaign issue. Schultz said he’s ready for a tough race with DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison. “We’re going to go after Keith Ellison every day of the week. Minnesotans deserve a fighter because there’s a lot to be fought for,” he said. Schultz defeated three other candidates who sought the endorsement. That includes the party’s 2018 nominee Doug Wardlow, who said he wouldn’t move his campaign forward once Schultz was on the verge of a win. Another candidate, former state Rep. Dennis Smith, has said he would run in an August primary. Filing for the ballot opens next week. DFL Chair Ken Martin called Schultz “a hedge-fund lawyer with no experience in a Minnesota courtroom,” who “has pledged to use the office of Attorney General to criminalize abortion and jail women who seek one, and waste the office’s time and resources by targeting transgender youth and chasing election conspiracy theories.”
More than 1,000 people took part in a rally Saturday in St. Paul in support of abortion rights,KARE 11 reported. Speakers included Sen. Tina Smith and Lt. Gov. Flanagan. "As long as I have this job and Governor Walz has this job, abortion will be protected in the state of Minnesota," Flanagan said. The vast majority of the crowd supported a woman's right to choose. A smaller rally countered the large crowd's cries, saying they were rallying for life beginning at conception. Similar rallies in support of abortion rights were held around the country on Saturday.
U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum won the DFL endorsement for another term on the first ballot Sunday. She’s being challenged in the DFL primary by Amane Badhasso.
Jeff Ettinger won the DFL endorsement for Congress in the 1st District. The former Hormel CEO won on the second ballot Saturday with 68 percent of the vote. “I’m honored to have earned the support of DFLers from every corner of the district,” Ettinger said in a statement. “Our victory today exemplifies strength in our shared DFL values and the broad appeal of our campaign across southern Minnesota. With this endorsement, my campaign moves forward in a strong position to win the primary in May, the special election in August and the general election in November. This victory also exemplifies the effectiveness of a campaign centered in southern Minnesota values.”
The West Central Tribune reportsMinnesota Democrats endorsed Jill Abahsain of Sauk Centre to run against Republican Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach in the 7th District. In a video to the convention in Willmar Saturday, Abahsain pledged to fight hard on the campaign trail. “It will be the beginning of taking back our CD7 seat,” she said. Collin Peterson had held the seat for 30 years until his defeat by Fischbach in the 2020 election. Convention organizers said Abahsain was assisting a friend in hospice in British Columbia, Canada, when she agreed to seek the endorsement and could not attend the convention. In her video, Abahsain said rural health care needs, education, and the advancement of small-town life, rural communities and family farms will be among her primary themes in the election.
The Star Tribune reports:Former Hennepin County Chief Public Defender Mary Moriarty clinched the county's DFL endorsement for Hennepin County Attorney over the weekend, beating out a slate of candidates, including the party's own House Majority Leader. DFL House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler was runner-up. On Sunday, Winkler confirmed that he is carrying out his campaign for the August primary. Maj. Dawanna Witt also earned the endorsement for Hennepin County sheriff. She's the high-ranking Hennepin County Sheriff's Office administrator, supervising 500 employees as the major in charge of the courts and jail.
And Former state Rep. Erin Maye Quade said she will run for a state Senate seat in the August primary, after she left a DFL endorsing convention because she was in labor this spring. Maye Quade left the April 23 party gathering to give birth to a daughter. DFLers eventually gave the District 56 party endorsement to her rival, Justin Emmerich, provoking complaints from Maye Quade's supporters that the convention should have been suspended or rescheduled to accommodate the birth. Emmerich said in a later statement he would have agreed, but no one asked to halt the proceedings. | 