The much-anticipated debate is here between Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance, the two vice presidential candidates who are hoping to avoid slip-ups and make a memorable impression. Dana Ferguson reports on the leadup to the only debate between the two. They’ll come together in a 90-minute debate inside CBS News studios in midtown Manhattan, standing at podiums but with no audience in the room to react to what they say. Both candidates are lesser known to the American people than their running mates – Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump. Aides say Vance intends to highlight Walz’s role in enacting laws in Minnesota that Vance views as too liberal. Walz plans to focus on the Democratic ticket’s “new way forward” and contrast it with the Project 2025 blueprint that the Trump campaign has sought to disavow.
The pre-debate jockeying was in full gear yesterday by everyone but the candidates. In a debate preview call with the Trump campaign and members of the RNC, Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer called his home-state leader as a shapeshifter, referring to Walz as, “Gavin Newsom in a flannel shirt.” Emmer has been standing in for Walz during Vance debate practice sessions. Minnesota Democrats, in offering their own debate preview, said the Trump-Vance campaign is the one trying to reinvent itself. “Vance may lie to our faces about Project 2025,” said Minnesota state Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley. “But make no mistake: Trump and Vance have a plan to give Trump unprecedented unchecked power to roll back reproductive rights, raise the cost for middle class families and threaten our democracy.”
Want to sound off on the debate? Tune in at 9 a.m. on Wednesday for a special call-in show. MPR’s Angela Davis will recap the debate with guests and take calls. Did what you hear chance your stance or just reinforce it? Did someone say something that made you laugh or just grit your teeth? Call in at 651-227-6000 or 800-242-2828!
If you’re still unsure of which candidates to select on your ballot for U.S. Senate and U.S. House races, we’ve got a tool for you.It’s a quick quiz to match your preferences with the candidates running for office based on answers they gave to a questionnaire.
At least a dozen employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs improperly accessed medical records of JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz this summer. VA officials notified both campaigns about the security breaches after discovering the unauthorized viewing at the Veterans Health Administration, the agency’s massive healthcare arm. Investigators are trying to determine whether the VP nominees’ health records have been shared. The motives of those who looked at the information, which includes a physician and a contractor, are under investigation.
More than two decades since the first East African refugees settled in St. Cloud, some community members are seeking a more active role in government and politics. But their political views are varied. Kirst Marohn reports that St. Cloud’s population has become increasingly diverse in recent years. Its Black population grew from about 1,700 in 2000 to nearly 15,000 in 2020. Some Somali Americans in St. Cloud have broken with their traditional allegiance with the Minnesota DFL. When former President Donald Trump visited the city this summer, Somali-Americans were in the crowd. Most Somali Americans came to the U.S. by applying for asylum through the refugee process and might be influenced by Trump’s talk of a border crackdown. Some also believe another Trump presidency could bring more jobs and employment.
A judge in Georgia struck down that state’s ban on abortions, allowing them to resume beyond six weeks into pregnancy. The law took effect in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Georgia was one of four where the abortion ban kicks in after about the first six weeks of pregnancy, which is often before women realize they are pregnant. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his order that “liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.” The state is expected to appeal the ruling.
It’s been a year since Minnesota Drivers’ License for All law went into effect.Sarah Thamer reports about 700 immigrants have taken the written exam and 200 have passed. The law allows people to apply for a driver’s license regardless of their immigration status. According to data from DPS, there have been nearly 110,000 requests for tests written in Spanish since the law passed, an increase of more than 500 percent compared to previous years.
Happy birthday to a prominent centenarian. Former President Jimmy Carter turns 100 today. The 39th President of the United States, who remains in hospice, celebrated in the same south Georgia town where he was born in 1924. To mark the occasion locally, a group of about 1,000 volunteers took part in a Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project yesterday on a site in St. Paul. Sarah Thamer was there for it. | 