Good morning, and welcome to Wednesday.
Today is a fundraising reporting day for statewide campaigns. The Tim Walz-Peggy Flanagan campaign said that it has raised more than $4.4 million since January 1st and has more than $3.2 million cash-on-hand heading into the final weeks of the election. MPR’s Brian Bakst tells me that means the campaign has raised and spent about $1.7 million since the last report in July. On the Republican side, Scott Jensen and Matt Birk say they raised $1.8 million in the last two months and have about $916,000 cash on hand. That likely includes a $584,000 public subsidy for the Jensen campaign because Walz did not abide by spending limits.
Ramsey County elections officials are asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to step in after the name of a recently-deceased Republican candidate was printed on ballots for a St. Paul state house race.MPR’s Matt Sepic reports that after the death of GOP candidate Beverly Peterson, Minnesota Republicans nominated Scott Hesselgrave to run in House District 67A on St. Paul's east side. Ramsey County elections officials say the Secretary of State's Office notified them of the change on August 29, but the county says because of a clerical error, Peterson's name was sent to the printer. Staff discovered the problem on Friday, the first day of early voting. Under state law, only the supreme court has the authority to fix such mistakes, and officials filed a petition asking the justices to sort it out. But until there's a resolution, the county must continue to issue the erroneous ballots. Hesselgrave is facing DFLer Liz Lee in the race. Lee beat DFL incumbent John Thompson in the August primary.
Judy Moe is trying to get more politicians to pay attention to the needs of people with disabilities. As MPR’s Dana Ferguson reports, Moe held an event in Richfield this week to spread the word: Moe’s organization handed out a 33-page guidebook to candidates. And she told several candidates at the event that they should consider three of the most pressing issues for the community: the shortage of affordable accessible housing, workforce shortages that impact caregiver staffing, and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. “Really, all of these issues boil down to people with disabilities having the right to choose where they live and work, and the staffing and support they need to make that happen,” Moe said. At a local level, Moe said she’d seen improvements in candidates’ efforts to get to know the disability community and advocate for efforts that mattered most to them. Richfield Mayor Maria Regan Gonzalez said she’d learned from the partnership during her time in office as a city council member and as mayor. She encouraged other candidates to work with Minnesotans with disabilities as they campaign and once elected. “There are tons of concrete, tangible improvements made in our community and within our city, because of the work of RDAP leaders,” Regan Gonzalez said. “We need more candidates to embrace this, to connect with our community members and support our community in leading their own solutions.”
A look at the campaign for control of the state Legislature from MinnPost: In the races that will determine which party controls the Minnesota House and Senate next January, the DFL thinks the top issue is abortion rights; Republicans think the election should be about crime and inflation. DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman said she expected the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 1977 decision in Roe v. Wade. “But when the decision came down it is hard to express in words the rage that I felt at losing constitutional rights as a woman in America in 2022.” Republicans were knocked off message after the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. But they have settled on the argument that there is little the next Legislature or governor can do to change abortion law in Minnesota, because a state Supreme Court case found a right to abortion in the Minnesota Constitution. “I think the Democrats were hoping it was going to be an issue that was going to stick,” said Sen. Karin Housley, the Stillwater Republican who is co-chair of the Senate GOP campaign committee. “But when you can’t afford to buy your kids soccer shoes, that becomes a top priority. The public is much more concerned about public safety and affording their lives.”
The Associated Press reports:Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he will “proudly support” legislation to overhaul rules for certifying presidential elections, bolstering a bipartisan effort to revise a 19th century law and avoid another Jan. 6 insurrection. The legislation would clarify and expand parts of the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which, along with the Constitution, governs how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential winners. The changes in the certification process are in response to unsuccessful efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to exploit loopholes in the law to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden, and the violent attack on the Capitol by his supporters as Congress counted the votes. “Congress’ process for counting the presidential electors’ votes was written 135 years ago,” McConnell said. “The chaos that came to a head on Jan. 6 of last year certainly underscored the need for an update.” McConnell made the remarks just before the Senate Rules Committee voted 14-1 to approve the bill and send it to the Senate floor, where a vote is expected after the November election. The only senator to vote against the legislation was Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, one of two senators to stand and object to Biden's certification last year. | 