Capitol View for August 20

Two Democrats who know a lot about facing former Republican President Donald Trump were featured speakers in the convention’s opening night, which ran deeper into the night than expected. Outgoing President Joe Biden entered to more than four minutes of a standing ovation and sustained applause. He ran through what he regards as top administration accomplishments, disputed the idea the country is in decline and laid out his guiding principles. "You cannot say you only love your country when you win," Biden said. He went on, "Democracy has prevailed. Democracy has delivered. And now democracy must be preserved." He declared his love for the job, "but I love my country more." There were pro-Palestinian protests in the convention hall, but they were drown out by pro-Biden chants. And 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke about breaking through that glass ceiling she cracked but couldn’t bust through. “We have him on the run now. So no matter what the polls say, we can’t let up. … Because you know what, it still takes a village to raise a family, heal a country, and win a campaign.” One moment you’re sure to see over and over is when the crowd chanted “lock him up” when Clinton talked about Trump’s criminal convictions, turning the chant used against her eight years ago on its head. She smiled but moved on with her remarks without saying another word about that.

A Minnesota politician spent a decent amount of the first night at the Democratic National Convention microphone. It was Peggy Flanagan, the lieutenant governor who would move up Minnesota’s political ladder if her party keeps the presidency this fall. Flanagan was appointed a convention co-chair, which gave her a revolving role in introducing segments and speakers. And she put in some plugs about her own biography — she said her traditional name in the Ojibwe language stands for “speaks with a clear and loud voice — and for her current governing partner, Gov. Tim Walz, as he makes his case for vice president this week. Of Walz, Flanagan said, “I've seen how hard he's worked for Minnesota to be the best place for kids to grow up. He does it all with a big heart, a buffalo plaid jacket and a bottomless bag of snacks, Nutter Butters, cheese curds and Diet Dew. Every time we meet, he brings something for me because he's always got my back, and when he's vice president, he will always have yours.”

Tuesday is the traditional roll call of the states. The formal roll call was done online in early August to cement the Democratic nomination for Kamala Harris as the party presidential candidate. Harris selected Walz as her vice presidential nominee. The state-by-state roll call will be filled with the usual hoopla and each delegation trying to outdo the other in voicing home-state pride. MPR’s Mark Zdechlik has a dispatch from the first activities of the Minnesota delegation, which included statewide party leaders touting the ticket and the addition of Walz to it. As Sen. Amy Klobuchar joked at the delegation breakfast: “We’re a state where the women are strong, where the men are good looking, and where all the vice presidents are above average. We’re the state where moms bounce their babies on their knees and say, ‘One day you can grow up to be vice president.’”

Walz made plenty of stops at the DNC in Chicago yesterday. The vice presidential candidate made surprise stops at the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin delegate breakfasts yesterday (his recent visit to a Sheetz gas station prompted cries of “Wawa” — an arguably more popular gas station/hoagie restaurant chain). He also popped in on special caucus meetings for Democrats from Native American, Black and Asian Pacific Islander backgrounds, as well as an LGBTQ+ caucus meeting (where, according to Axios reporter Torey Van Oot, Walz was introduced as the governor of Wisconsin). According to reports, Walz highlighted Minnesota’s new flag at the Native American caucus meeting as a sign of responsiveness to tribal concerns in Minnesota. Security for Walz at the DNC is understandably much different than his typical state Capitol entourage.

Walz has been formally invited to address the Democratic convention after delegates gave him a ceremonial backing for vice president last night. The vote was a formality because Walz had been earlier certified as the running mate of Harris. Democratic National Convention Chair Minyon Moore presided over a voice vote on Walz. "I'm thrilled to proudly reaffirm Tim Walz as the Democratic nominee for vice president,” Moore said to cheers. Walz will speak in primetime on Wednesday. He'd be the third Minnesota politician to serve as vice president if Democrats win the White House race in November.

As Walz prepares for the biggest speech of his career, many parts of his personal story remain under scrutiny. That now includes the infertility treatments that helped he and wife, Gwen, have children. That treatment was not in vitro fertilization, known as IVF, but intrauterine insemination, or IUI. The latter is a more common treatment and, as The New York Times reported yesterday , “Unlike IVF, IUI does not involve creating or discarding embryos. And so anti-abortion leaders are not trying to restrict the treatment.” Tim and Gwen Walz have discussed more openly in recent years how they spent many years trying to conceive, and he has described their journey as using “treatments like IVF” in speeches and other statements. The Harris-Walz campaign has had to clarify while some groups built around IVF advocacy have also had to clear up the record. Gwen Walz spoke to Glamour magazine about the course of treatment. In that interview, she said, “the anxiety, the agony, and the desperation that can eat away at your soul” and she hopes “other families find solace in our story.”

Hope and Gus, the Walz children, joined their parents in the VIP box on the convention’s opening night. Gus, 17, landed a windmill handshake on Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, drawing a “did you really just do that” look from Gwen Walz. Hope, who is 23, could be seen snapping pictures with one of those old-fashioned disposable cameras. She got a chuckle out of Vice President Harris when she took a frame of her and Tim Walz. Film, folks. She also mouthed to her father, “Did you know?!” when Harris made an unannounced appearance on stage earlier in the evening to greet the amped-up convention attendees. Both children razzed their dad, too, making the bunny ears gesture behind him as he spoke to media members stationed in front of the box.

Fleeting flag flap? Minnesota’s new state flag took flight outside the Aon Center in Chicago after the venue initially raised the old one. State Rep. Mike Freiberg, DFL-Golden Valley, is a delegate to the DNC and was a staunch supporter of swapping Minnesota’s former state flag for a newer model last year. He and other Minnesota delegates flagged the outdated banner for venue officials Sunday and it was swapped out for the current one yesterday. The new design also flew outside of and on the big screen at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, despite blowback from Minnesota GOP leaders who’d opposed the redesign campaign.

Results of last week’s primary election should become official today. The State Canvassing Board is due to meet this afternoon to certify the results, which will help crystalize the November ballots. The only thing left to determine is the presidential line. Today is the deadline for minor party candidates to submit their information and nomination petitions containing at least 2,000 valid signatures required of them to appear on the ballot (so far there are four candidates who have done so). Democrats and Republicans have until Aug. 26 to get their candidates and electoral college slates in.

In yet another example of how AI is being used in this year’s election, Trump shared AI images of a fake Taylor Swift endorsement. In a Truth Social post, Trump shared a group of images of the famous singer that were created using artificial intelligence. “I accept,” Trump wrote in the post. One of the AI images showed Swift dressed up as Uncle Sam with the headline, “Taylor Wants You to Vote for Donald Trump” and the others depicted a crowd of young women wearing matching “Swifties for Trump” shirts. Swift has not made an endorsement in the 2024 race. In 2020, she endorsed President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Last fall, Taylor Swift posted a short message on Instagram, encouraging her 272 million followers to register to vote. Over 35,000 people registered to vote the same day, according to Vote.org.

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos, whose time in Congress was marked by controversy from the start, has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges. The New York Republican is likely to spend time in prison after his plea yesterday . The 36-year-old whose reputation as a fabulist preceded the criminal charges and his expulsion from Congress apologized in court for betraying the public trust. His crimes stemmed from misuse of campaign money and other transgressions. Santos will be sentenced in February and is looking at years behind bars.