Good morning. Election results in words and charts.
Gov. Tim Walz is on live at 7:20 a.m. with Cathy Wurzer. Listen on MPR News stations or at mprnews.org.
Dean Phillips has dropped his bid for Democratic presidential nomination.Mark Zdechlik and Anna Haecherl report the long-shot challenger to President Joe Biden only got about 8 percent of the vote, trailing behind Minnesota’s “uncommitted” campaign which garnered 19 percent of the vote. Biden scooped up 70 percent. “Voters have spoken,” Phillips explained to Mark. “And I am deeply grateful for our country and our political system. And when you allow voters to opine, and they do, you should take their word for it. And I have.” Phillips endorsed Biden. As for Phillips, he’s for now shutting the door to future office. “I have no intentions to seek any other public office in any state in the United States of America, I just want to make it clear that this was not some ploy to position myself for a Senate run or governor's run in Minnesota at all.”
Although most Minnesota national Democratic convention delegates are bound to President Joe Biden, there will be a decent-sized uncommitted group as well. Clay Masters reports that 92 delegates will represent Minnesota at the Democratic National Convention this August in Chicago — 75 of those delegates were at stake on Tuesday. Based on the state’s primary results, the bulk will be required to vote for Joe Biden on the first nominating ballot. But 11 of the delegates will go to the convention as “uncommitted.” That makes them free agents. Nearly 19 percent of Minnesota’s Democratic primary vote was for "uncommitted" after a push to get people to mark that line as a protest over Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Organizers of Uncommitted Minnesota say it’s a message to the White House that talk about a ceasefire in Gaza needs to turn into meaningful action. Out of the states that have voted so far, Minnesota has the most uncommitted delegates tied to the primary outcome.
As for Minnesota Republicans, 27 of the 39 delegates headed to Milwaukee for the July national convention will be bound to vote for Donald Trump. The other 12 were won by Nikki Haley, but those delegates won’t be bound after she suspended her campaign, according to state GOP Chair David Hann.
Want to see how the votes shook out Tuesday? The APM Research Lab’s Craig Helmstetter has you covered with plenty of data visualizations on how the votes came down in Minnesota.
The general election race will be a long one. Almost eight full months of Biden vs. Trump, barring some sudden withdrawal by one of them. At this stage, Minnesota is tight , according to Survey USA polling done for KSTP. Biden is at a higher percentage, but it’s within the margin of error and 11 percent told the pollster that they’re undecided.
President Biden will have a large television audience tonight as he presents the final State of the Union Address of this term. Minnesota lawmakers are allowed to have a guest tag along for the speech. Here’s who’s going based on advisories distributed as of Thursday morning:Sen. Tina Smith is attending with Tammi Kromenaker, the Clinic Director of the Red River Women’s Clinic in Moorhead. Sen. Amy Klobuchar will bring Ann Bussey from Side Lake, who is a senior citizen pushing for lower prescription drug prices. Rep. Betty McCollum has invited Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare President and CEO Barbara Joers. Rep. Ilhan Omar will be attending with Minnesota state Rep. Cedrick Frazier, DFL-New Hope. Rep. Tom Emmer is bringing Tom and Cathy Hoernemann, the parents of Maj. Jeffrey Thomas Hoernemann who was killed last year when his Osprey aircraft crashed over the coast of Yakushima Island in Japan, during a routine training mission. Rep. Brad Finstad has invited Brown County Sheriff Jason Seidl, who has worked in law enforcement for more than 30 years.
Want some guaranteed attention at the Capitol? Bring cute kitties and puppies. Ellie couldn’t resist the allure of Cupcake, an adorable German shepherd mix puppy up for adoption that the Animal Humane Society brought in yesterday. It was all in the name of promoting a bill that seeks more transparency in pet breeding. She wrote about it here. | 