Good morning. Changing the name of today’s newsletter to Porch View in honor of nice spring days.
Former President Donald Trump will make his first campaign stop in Minnesota next Friday. Trump was announced Monday as the featured speaker at the Republican Party of Minnesota’s fundraising main dinner. The Lincoln-Reagan dinner is being held in conjunction with the Republican Party’s state convention in St. Paul, which begins on May 17. Trump has reportedly told donors and other associates he has a pathway to flip Minnesota, a state that Democrats have had a lock on in presidential races longer than anywhere else. Trump narrowly lost Minnesota in 2016 to Democratic nominee Hilary Clinton, but was defeated by a wider margin in 2020.
State legislators and Minneapolis council members say they have an updated wage proposal for rideshare drivers. Legislators from the Twin Cities and council members say the new proposal would provide a statewide minimum wage rate of $1.27 per mile and $0.49 per minute. That's lower than a Minneapolis ordinance set to take effect July 1, at which point Uber and Lyft have said they will leave Minneapolis. Uber and Lyft responded that the newest proposed rate still does not meet their requirements and will have to pull out if it moves forward. A hearing on the proposal is set for this morning.
Subcommittees often elicit yawns, but there will be a lot of focus on one today. The Senate Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. and will discuss whether there is probable cause to move forward with internal investigations of Sens. Nicole Mitchell and Glenn Gruenhagen. Mitchell’s inquiry relates to her felony burglary charge last month. The complaint against Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, points to a graphic video that he shared via a link in an email last year ahead of a Senate vote on a bill creating legal protections for people seeking gender-affirming care and those who provide it. Dana Ferguson has our preview.
The Equal Rights Amendment ballot measure took a step forward in the Minnesota Legislature yesterday. Clay Masters reports the ERA language passed out of the House Rules and Legislative Administration committee and heads next to a House floor vote. If approved, the House language would need to be reconciled with a differing Senate bill. Among its provisions, the House version includes protections for abortions and gender identity. Opponents and supporters of the bill packed the hearing, and those opposing the ERA based on religion and abortion-rights outnumbered those testifying in support. Republicans tried several times to send the ERA language to another committee or table it altogether. If the Legislature signs off, voters would decide the question in 2026.
Last week, our Catharine Richert detailed the political winds that have pushed Goodhue County further to the right. This week, she describes how Goodhue’s neighbor, Olmsted County, has moved in the opposite direction , trending more and more in the DFL’s favor. Once reliably Republican, the first sign of the county’s move to the left was evident in 2008, when voters threw tepid support behind former Democratic President Barack Obama. Today, this once moderately conservative regional center has become more aligned with the Twin Cities in its values and politics than with the more conservative rural counties that surround it. | 