Good morning. Writing you from the steamy yet scenic Northwoods, where the lake water is refreshing, the weekend blueberry festival had Ely hopping and there might have been a birdie or two at Giant’s Ridge.
While many Minnesotans are busy enjoying the height of summer, the campaign for president landed back in Minnesota in visible fashion. Former President Donald Trump and his vice presidential nominee JD Vance had a St. Cloud arena filled and many supporters waiting outside on Saturday. Trump served up the Republican favorites and slammed his new chief challenger, Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump painted a grand vision for the country without saying as much about how he’ll convert on it. He said he’d be the first Republican nominee to win here since 1972. “If we have an honest election, we’re gonna blow it out in Minnesota,” Trump said. Mark Zdechlik recaps the event and what’s happening as the race moves inside of 100 days. Vance stuck around Sunday and met with a friendly audience at a Waite Park diner, the Star Tribune reports.
Security for the Trump rally was understandably tight after the mid-July assassination attempt of Trump. Late last week, the FBI moved to put to rest suggestions that Trump was injured by flying glass or some other projectile rather than the bullet that grazed his ear before he took cover. “What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” the agency said in a statement.
Democrats are primed to open a virtual roll call this week that will most likely result in Harris gaining the nomination. Thursday is the earliest party leaders say that will occur. After gaining the nod, Harris would move fast to select a vice presidential nominee. As we have been reporting, Gov. Tim Walz is on the list of contenders. Bloomberg News reported over the weekend that he was in the top three. Walz led a Democratic canvassing kickoff on Saturday and declined to address the reports he was being vetted. Ellie Roth asked him about his place in the discussion and he said: “I'm honored to be in this conversation.” He said he was most heartened to have several Democratic governors being mentioned.
America has gone nearly 250 years without a woman in the top job. Monday morning at 9 a.m. on MPR News host Angela Davis will discuss women in leadership and the Black women leaders who paved the way for Kamala Harris’ candidacy. One of her guests is Duchess Harris, a professor of American studies at Macalester College who is part of “The Kamala Harris Project" which is tracking all aspects of her tenure as the nation’s first woman of color to serve as vice president. Tune in here.
KSTP offered the first Minnesota polling look since President Joe Biden left the race and endorsed Harris. The KSTP/SurveyUSA poll had Harris up 10 over Trump, but we’ll need more data to know whether what had been a tighter contest has really broken open or if the Harris boom could be, as one expert surmised, a “temporary sugar high” fed by media coverage of her sudden ascent. As always, you can keep an eye on polling trends and other data on the presidential race and other contests from our APM Research lab.
The Olympics can be a great unifier in our divided times. A lot of Minnesota athletes or athletes with Minnesota ties are in Paris for the next couple of weeks. Among them is Suni Lee, a gold medalist from the prior summer games. State Sen. Foung Hawj, who like Lee is Hmong, said he wouldn’t miss the chance to see her compete. | 