Good morning, and welcome to the Thursday before the election.
Nearly one in four Republicans running for the Minnesota Legislature this year have rejected or questioned the outcome of the 2020 election, according to an analysis by MPR’s Dana Ferguson. The GOP candidates could determine which party controls the Minnesota House and Senate next year, and they could have a strong role in crafting election law in Minnesota. MPR News combed through candidates’ public comments and actions, social media posts, campaign websites and legislative track records to determine how many questioned the integrity of the 2020 election in Minnesota and elsewhere, despite evidence the election was sound and that allegations of extensive fraud were unfounded. The review found that out of 183 Republicans currently running for the Legislature, 43 — 20 running for Senate and 23 running for the House — have rejected or questioned President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020. The candidates are running in districts around the state, although most are in greater Minnesota communities that favored President Donald Trump in 2020. Nine of the candidates are running in competitive legislative races, while two are unopposed. Another 23 are in districts that Republicans are favored to win.
And MPR’s Brian Bakst looks at the closing days of the campaign : Political parties and candidates are in mobilization mode. The name of the game is activating the likeliest supporters and making sure they actually vote. It’s playing out through airport hangar and college campus stops, phone banks and on voters’ doorsteps. In the governor’s race, Republican nominee Scott Jensen and his running mate Matt Birk have been trying to reach all corners of Minnesota with fly-arounds and rallies. They’re getting crowds in the hundreds but also hoping for local news coverage that can pay dividends, too. "This election coming around - as much as anything - this is about hearts and minds,” Jensen told a rally earlier this week where he appeared with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. “This election is about we've got to dig deep. We need to recognize that we are not going to win because we have the machine Tim Walz has. We don't have the money Tim Walz does.” Jensen added, “What we have is a movement.” Walz has also spent the week on the road. He made stops in northwestern Minnesota, held voter turnout events in Duluth and plans to be on a DFL Party bus swing into the weekend. “These elections are going to be close. But the choice is very clear,” Walz told students on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus. “It's not policy choices. It's democracy versus not. It's women's autonomy versus not. It’s funding education versus not. It's addressing climate change versus not. So the ballot is pretty simple on this. I hope we've earned your vote.”
It doesn’t get much closer than Senate District 14 in the St. Cloud area.MPR’s Kirsti Marohn reports the last few elections for the seat have been nail-biters, with just a couple hundred votes separating the candidates. "It is really one of the few places in Minnesota that has remained competitive,” said Jim Read, a political science professor at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University, and a previous DFL legislative candidate. Read called St. Cloud “the center of the disappearing center in Minnesota politics." It’s very common for state legislative races in St. Cloud to be close enough for a recount, he said. This year DFL incumbent Sen. Aric Putnam is facing a challenge by Republican state Rep. Tama Theis, a retired business owner. Theis spent a nearly decade in the House before deciding to run for the Senate. The newly redrawn District 14 is more urban and diverse than many other parts of greater Minnesota. It includes St. Cloud, Waite Park, St. Augusta and parts of St. Joseph and Sauk Rapids. The district’s closely divided nature means the candidates can't rest on their laurels. Both Putnam and Theis say it's important to connect with voters face to face and be responsive to local concerns.
MPR’s Elizabeth Shockman has a look at some of the most contested races this year, the ones for school boards: In this year’s election, more than 1,000 school board seats will be on the ballot. And more than 1,600 people are running to fill them. In some districts, the competition for open seats is in the double digits. And the amount of money being spent on school board races this year has skyrocketed. Some of the attention is because of a statewide group called Minnesota Parents Alliance which treats discussions of racism in schools as “controversial,” and offers parents opt-out forms to give to teachers, requesting a heads up ahead of classroom teaching on race, gender, politics and social-emotional learning. Minnesota Parents Alliance was founded in part by Cristine Trooien, a mother from Mound, who started homeschooling her children during the pandemic, but then decided to continue keeping them home when she saw her district implement programs focused on equity. The group’s three person board includes Ron Eibensteiner and John Hinderaker, the chairman and president of Minnesota think tank, Center of the American Experiment.
Some North Minneapolis community leaders say Republican candidates who are talking a lot about crime should spend more time in places where people are dealing with it the most. The Star Tribune reports: Some North Side leaders on violence prevention credit the Jensen-Birk campaign with showing at least a nominal interest in their community, even if they haven't had a consistent presence there. Few had heard from Republican Jim Schultz in the neighborhood, where Attorney General Keith Ellison enjoys deep ties and won points with crime prevention leaders by announcing his office would investigate violent hot spots Merwin Liquors and Winners Gas Station. "Do you trust Keith Ellison to keep you and your family safe?" Schultz asks in one political ad. On Thursday, he tweeted, "We're leading in this race because Minnesotans know Keith Ellison has been MIA on public safety." The Schultz and Jensen-Birk campaigns did not respond to questions about their outreach in high-crime neighborhoods.
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