| Many of you probably know that our colleague Clay Masters spent a long time covering Iowa politics before making the move north last year. And today, he retreads the truly wild last four years that shaped a once-in-a-lifetime presidential race — beginning with the Iowa caucuses, spanning through the assassination attempts on President-elect Donald Trump’s life, a late shake-up on the Democratic ticket, Gov. Tim Walz’s bid for VP, and ending with the election results and what it will mean for Minnesotans. Check out Clay’s mini documentary (mini-mentary?) during Friday's episode of Politics Friday. Will he mention Nebraska? Listen and find out. It’s our last episode of the season — don’t worry, though, we’ll be back in January.
Republicans will return to Washington holding all three levers of power. The Associated Press officially called the tight contest for the U.S. House of Representatives, which means the GOP will hold the White House and both chambers of Congress come January. Republican leaders said the legislative trifecta would allow them to secure key priorities for the Trump Administration like securing the U.S. border with Mexico and lowering prices of household goods.
Trump nominated anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. That puts RFK Jr. in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and Medicare and Medicaid. Kennedy ran in the presidential race as an independent, but stepped down and endorsed Trump with the promise he would have a role in health policy in the administration. Also, Trump said Thursday night he will nominate North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be secretary of the Department of the Interior. A formal announcement is supposedly coming today.
Any Trump cabinet appointments will need to be approved by the Senate, which will have a Republican majority next session. But lawmakers from both parties are already expressing concerns with some of Trump’s selections. U.S. Sen. Tina Smith told Nina Moini on Minnesota Now that she doesn’t believe some of Trump’s appointees are qualified for the job. She also said some of her Republican colleagues have deep concerns about the nominees.
A tie vote in any election is rare. But two in a single election, in a single jurisdiction? That’s what officials in Carlton County are navigating after two local races, one for mayor of Wrenshall and the other for a city council seat in Kettle River, ended in dead heats. When an election ends in a tie in Minnesota, the canvassing board responsible for declaring the results of that race must determine a winner by lot. The mayor of Wrenshall was decided by drawing a name out of a hat. The Kettle River city council race was decided by drawing cards. Dan Kraker has more.
No, this one is not satire: The Onion will buy InfoWars. The Onion, a satirical digital website, won the auction to purchase Alex Jones’ conspiracy theory site InfoWars on Thursday. Families who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting said the sale, along with the dissolution of Jones’ assets, was the “justice we have long awaited and fought for.” Jones owes the victims’ families more than $1 billion after calling the fatal shooting a “hoax” on his platform. | 