Capitol View for November 4

Good morning and happy last Friday of the 2022 campaign.

On the radio at noon we’ll feature a debate between 3rd District DFL Rep. Dean Phillips and his Republican challenger Tom Weiler. Then I’ll talk to Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller and Sen. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul about the campaign for control of the Senate. I hope you can tune in.

Groups who don’t think the 2020 election was fair have been recruiting election judges for 2022, according to a story from MPR News and APM Reports. And one group in the Rochester area may have tried to get election judges to take steps that violate the law. A group called Olmsted County Election Integrity emailed one election judge urging him to rename his smartphone to masquerade as the Wi-Fi network of the polling place where he’d be stationed on Election Day. The goal, it said, was to capture data being sent over that network and expose an imagined security vulnerability. The emailer also asked him to photograph vote counting machines and various documents and forward it all to the group’s leader. The election judge, Jim Anderson, notified city election officials, worried the group was encouraging election judges to break the law. Anderson didn’t know that Rochester police were already investigating two members of the group who served as election judges in the August primary.

MPR’s Dan Kraker caught some of the campaigning for legislative seats on the Iron Range: Last week, one of the largest solar manufacturing plants in the country celebrated a major expansion — not in California, or Texas, but on Minnesota’s Iron Range. U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith were there to celebrate. So was the local DFL Rep. Dave Lislegard, who reminded the assembled crowd that the solar plant is built on the old tailings of an iron ore mine, and very near to what could be a new wave of mining in the region. "You're standing here on the Iron Range, where we have one of the world's largest deposits of copper nickel mining,” he said. “When we talk about solar, and we talk about wind and we talk about electric cars, we have the ability to do the right thing, the right way, right here! Made right. Made Minnesota. Made in America." Lislegard is the kind of Democrat who not too long ago would likely have coasted to reelection on the Iron Range. He's a former iron mine worker and past mayor of the town of Aurora. He argues he's pro-mining, pro-labor, pro-jobs: bread and butter priorities that resonate in this working class region. Yet as he seeks to retain the District 6B seat, he finds himself in a tight contest with Republican Matt Norri, a political neophyte who boasts important name recognition. For years his family owned a beer distribution business on the Range. "The party that I'm running with, the platform is very, very positive for mining here in Minnesota,” said Norri, adding that mining is his top issue, and what he hears about most frequently from voters. “My opponent's party, the majority of their caucus does not want mining here,” Norri said. “I mean, you can be as pro-mining is you want, but when you don't have the backing to get it done, it's just not gonna happen."

Gov. Tim Walz is again floating the idea of a special session, this one focused on public safety after the election no matter who wins. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports Walz met with a group of suburban mayors in Edina today Thursday to hear about what they would do with extra dollars from the state. A $400 million public safety proposal stalled in the Legislature along with other tax and budget bills. Walz said he wants lawmakers to free up the money as soon as possible and that he’s in favor of a special session no matter how next week’s election goes. "Cities are asking for this money. It's a simple plan. It just simply moves the money to them,” Walz said. “So I think what's different about this the leverage over, ‘let's wait and see what happens in the election’ is gone, and then it becomes ‘do your job.’" Only the governor can call a special session, but they seldom do it without an agreement on what will come up for consideration.

Both Walz and Republican Scott Jensen said again Thursday that they will abide by the results of the election. Jensen said it on WCCO Radio, and Walz repeated his position after that forum with mayors. “However this turns out I will accept the results of this election and I will work to help either our administration move forward or the new administration move forward to succeed for Minnesota,” Walz said. “I’m confident because I trust Minnesotans, I trust our voting system and I believe we’re going to get the numbers.” Both Walz and Jensen will kick off closing weekend rallies today with the chairs of their national parties. DNC Chair Jamie Harrison will join top DFLers on a bus tour. RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel will hold a rally at the Capitol with Jensen.

And as we head into the weekend where we have to set clocks back an hour, there’s this from Reuters:A push in the U.S. Congress to make daylight-saving time permanent, which was unanimously passed by the Senate earlier this year, has stalled in the House, with a key lawmaker telling Reuters they have been unable to reach consensus. In March, the Senate voted to put a stop next year to the twice-annual changing of clocks, which supporters say will lead to brighter afternoons and more economic activity. U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee that has jurisdiction over the issue, said in a statement to Reuters the House is still trying to figure out how to move forward. "We haven’t been able to find consensus in the House on this yet. There are a broad variety of opinions about whether to keep the status quo, to move to a permanent time, and if so, what time that should be," Pallone, a Democrat, said, adding that opinions break down by region, not by party.

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