Good morning, Money pours into Minnesota legislative races The battle for control of the Minnesota Senate could see one or more races with a record $2 million in total spending, as money pours into elections around the state and country.
As of Oct. 19, five different Minnesota Senate races had seen more than $1 million of spending, between candidates and outside groups — hotly contested races that could determine control of the Senate, where Republicans currently have a slim two-seat majority.
All five of the Senate races with the most spending are currently held by Republicans facing well-funded Democratic opponents.
The most fiercely contested race is the District 34 race in Maple Grove, where longtime Republican Sen. Warren Limmer is being challenged by Democrat Bonnie Westlin; that battle has already seen $1.75 million in total spending with more time remaining before the election. Take a deeper dive into spending by district with MPR News reporters Brian Bakst and David Montgomery
House races to watch House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., leads a 232 to 197 Democratic majority in the House heading into the election. There are five current vacancies and one Libertarian, former Republican Justin Amash, R-Mich., who left the party in 2019 in a clash over his plan to vote to impeach President Donald Trump.
Democrats hope to keep, and possibly expand their House majority in 2020 by riding a rush of anti-Trump sentiment surging in cities and suburbs across the country. Recent polls have prompted political analysts to shift a number of close House races in favor of Democrats, who have sustained a significant cash advantage this election cycle.
Republicans hope to win back some seats in 2020 by targeting the 30 Democrats representing districts where President Trump won in 2016. Of those seats, 22 are held by freshmen Democrats who were part of the 2018 midterm wave that swept Democrats into power in the House.
Minnesota DFL Rep. Collin Peterson leads the list of GOP targets.
Mille Lacs County board race highlights old tensions Bradley Harrington, who serves as the state tribal liaison for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, says he hopes to set a new, less divisive tone. Dave Oslin, is seeking his third term and looks forward to a federal court decision that could resolve a long-running boundary dispute.
Almost five months after a majority of the Minneapolis City Council stood on a stage with large letters in front of it spelling out “DEFUND POLICE,” some see the effort as a failure, blaming the sentiment for boosts in violent crime and the council for inaction.
While it remains to be seen where those efforts to vastly reimagine public safety will land, an MPR News survey of Minneapolis council members show that there’s still significant common ground among them for changing the city’s relationship with the Police Department, including transferring police responsibilities to social workers, leaving police to focus on responding to and investigating crime. Whether Minneapolis was aiming to defund, reform or abolish the police has been an area of bewilderment for many city residents and the public at large. MPR News submitted a list of six questions about the issues around defunding the police to all 13 Minneapolis council members.
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