Good morning. Hope the weather pattern is a bit quieter today.
Gov. Tim Walz says he is open to a potential special legislative session to address funding concerns related to emergency flooding relief. Walz says there is currently about $26 million in the state's Disaster Assistance Contingency Account. That fund was recently replenished. But he says the account may not have enough money to help with public infrastructure costs tied to flood damage. He says the conditions will only ramp up as the week progresses. "We could be looking at, depending on what happens over the next week and in the forecast, on what grade of significant and historic flooding events that we're seeing start to play themselves out across the state, especially in southern Minnesota now. So we certainly stay open to that. I think the legislature would be open to that, too." Only governors can summon lawmakers back. Walz says he remains interested in passing a construction projects bill after lawmakers failed to get one done this year. One wrinkle is that the Senate is now tied 33-33 after a DFL senator resigned to run for Congress. Some state legislators are urging Walz to call a special session anyway.
State leaders and emergency management officials are keeping close tabs on an old dam in Blue Earth County that’s being pushed to the brink. The Rapidan Dam is southwest of Mankato and is under immense strain from raging waters and debris. Failure could lead to widespread flooding and possibly evacuations in the area, as MPR’s Hannah Yang reports.
Walz also defended his latest appointments to the Minnesota Racing Commission. Clay Masters reports on some of the reaction to the late Friday picks of Melanie Benajmin and Johnny Johnson, both longtime leaders of tribal communities, to the entity that oversees the state’s horse tracks. The operators of those tracks say it doesn’t make sense to have industry competitors regulating them. Walz says both are qualified. It comes after a controversial move by the commission this spring to approve new games that the tracks pushed for; the Legislature reversed the authorization.
Former President Donald Trump and the national Republican Party are reportedly opening several campaign offices in Minnesota as they work to pull it into the GOP column. CBS News reports on an internal campaign memo that says the process of establishing leases for eight Minnesota offices has begun. It follows Trump’s 2020 effort to flip the reliably Democratic state and earn its 10 electoral votes. Democratic nominee Joe Biden won Minnesota by about seven percentage points, extending a party win streak that goes back to 1976. The Biden campaign has already transferred a lot of money to the state DFL this year to shore up a ground game in Minnesota.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren will be in Minneapolis today. She’s appearing on behalf of President Biden’s campaign and will appear with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and other local Biden backers. The campaign says she’ll be “highlighting the threat Donald Trump poses to democracy.” These surrogate visits are sure to pick up in coming months as both nominees keep Minnesota on their list of possible battleground states. The presidential candidates are going to be spending a lot of their time in other higher-rung swing states, including Wisconsin and Michigan.
Reminder: We’ll have our debate preview show at 9 a.m. This is a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, who had feisty debates in 2020. But this is the first debate either has been in since then given that neither took the debate stage during the primary season. MPR News guest host Brian Bakst talks with presidential scholars and a former presidential candidate about what it takes to prepare for a presidential debate and how Thursday’s debate could impact both campaigns over the next few months.
Finally, this is one of the more unusual political candidate stories you’ll see this year. A Hennepin County commissioner candidate was jailed over the weekend and faces a misdemeanor charge for fifth-degree assault. It involves a thrown tarantula and her contention she was dealing with a squatter. Lou Raguse of KARE 11 has the details. | 