Good morning, and happy Thursday. There’s some more election news to pass on, so here we go.
Jacob Frey won a second term as Minneapolis mayor once the second round of ranked choice balloting was counted. The final tally Wednesday afternoon had Frey winning with 56 percent of the vote and Kate Knuth coming in second with 44 percent. Frey thanked supporters, and said he would get to work changing the culture of the Minneapolis police department. “We are well poised for the progress we need to see,” Frey said. He celebrated the passage of the ballot measure that would give the mayor’s office more power, which he says would break open deadlocks at city hall. "This is indeed a founding mothers and founding fathers moment right now. We can set up a government that is more responsive, that is more effective, that is more collaborative." The debate over police changes will continue despite the defeat of the public safety ballot question as MPR’s Jon Collins reports. And the passage of rent control measures in Minneapolis and St. Paul has not ended the debate on that issue either, as MPR’s Matt Sepic reports.
The Minneapolis City Council will have a number of new faces next year. Sahan Journal noted that for the first time a majority on the council will be people of color. Among the new faces are Elliott Payne in Ward 1, Robin Wonsley Worlobah in Ward 2, Michael Rainville in Ward 3, LaTrisha Vetaw in Ward 4, Jason Chavez in Ward 9, Aisha Chughtai in Ward 10 and Emily Koski in Ward 11. Payne defeated incumbent Kevin Reich. Wonsley Worlobah beat incumbent Cam Gordon. Rainvile knocked off incumbent Steve Fletcher. As I noted yesterday, Vetaw beat incumbent Phillipe Cunningham and Koski defeated incumbent Jeremy Schroeder. Chughtai and Chavez won open seats. Incumbent Jeremiah Ellison won a close race, while incumbents Jamal Osman, Lisa Goodman, Andrea Jenkins, Andrew Johnson and Lin Palmisano had easier victories.
Candidates running for school board seats as conservative groups mostly came up short Tuesday, and voters in many districts approved measures to raise taxes for school funding.MPR’s Elizabeth Shockman has the story : “Statewide, it was a good night for schools,” said Greg Abbott, the spokesperson for the Minnesota School Boards Association. Voters gave district funding requests a higher than average approval rate. Of the 55 districts asking for local taxpayer funding for day-to-day operating costs, three out of four got approval. That’s far above last year’s 51 percent passage rate. Bond referenda and capital project levies — to pay for school technology and building projects — didn’t fare quite as well. There was a 59 percent passage rate, which is still better than the average 55 percent passage rate schools see normally in the state. Dozens of districts also had regularly scheduled board elections this year. But an even higher number had special elections to fill vacant seats that opened unexpectedly. Close to 70 school board members quit this year, triple the resignations in a normal year. “There were a few districts where incumbents were defeated by challengers, but for the most part, most of the incumbents got back in,” Abbott said. The South Washington County school district saw a heated race this year. Nine candidates competed to fill four seats. Four of those candidates chose to group themselves together to run on a similar platform. They described themselves as conservative on their shared website, opposed mask mandates in schools and expressed concern about critical race theory — not taught in their district. But only one of those candidates, Eric Tessmer, won a seat. Incumbents took the three other open positions.
Minnesota politicians are offering competing appraisals of statewide elections in Virginia and New Jersey and what that could mean here in 2022. Republicans won the open governor’s race in Virginia and made the Democratic incumbent sweat in New Jersey. Both states went heavily for Democrat Joe Biden just a year ago – by an even bigger margin than the president had here. Minnesota Republicans say it shows Gov. Tim Walz is beatable in a state where their party hasn’t won statewide since 2006. State Sen. Michelle Benson drew comparisons to Glenn Youngkin, who will be Virginia’s next governor. “My campaign, like Glenn Youngkin, is focused on core issues like improving public safety, giving parents a voice in their children’s education, and creating a better business climate for job creation,” she said. “I am a focused, determined fighter who is best positioned to replicate his success and make Tim Walz a one-term Governor.” Sen. Paul Gazelka, another GOP candidate, called Virginia a “bellwether of America’s frustration with our current economic climate.” For his part, Walz said he isn’t reading too much into what those results mean for his re-election effort. “People of Minnesota over the next year, they’ll decide where they’re at. I’ll keep focusing on things that matter, and right now it’s this,” he said at an event to promote a new COVID-19 vaccination effort for younger children. A half-dozen Republicans are vying for the nomination to face Walz a year from now.
Most of the Republicans competing to run against Walz met in Mankato last night for a forum (Sen. Michelle Benson was not there). Trey Mewes at the Mankato Free Press has the story: There was little disagreement among the candidates on issues ranging from the Second Amendment (Minnesota should pass stand-your-ground and constitutional carry laws while banning red flag proposals) to the governor’s peacetime emergency powers (change them to give the Legislature more control). The same was true with taxation (give the state’s budget surplus back as a tax break while cutting taxes and regulations) to education (more school choice and less focus on diversity issues). On pandemic regulations, all candidates criticized Walz for his shelter-in-place orders, business occupancy rules and mask mandates over the first year of the pandemic. Though many of those rules are no longer in place, several candidates criticized workplace mask and vaccine rules. Sen. Paul Gazelka revealed that he and several other lawmakers carry guns at the Capitol. “Frankly, I wish I didn’t have to carry at the Capitol,” Gazelka said. “But the fact is I’ve had death threats. The fact is, (protesters) broke into the Senate building ... during the riots, and I felt more comfortable with the fact that I and a number of other folks carry.” Neil Shah stood out for some of his rhetoric, saying America was “under attack” by Walz and liberals. At one point, he accused Democrats of potentially creating another pandemic situation during a discussion on ending the governor’s emergency powers. While talking about the “Never Again” bill put forth by Rep. Erick Mortensen of Shakopee, he said the U.S. “can never again have another pandemic.” “I can guarantee the left is manufacturing the next one, probably in the lab in Wuhan,” Shah said. “And Anthony Fauci is probably funding it.”
Speaking of vaccines, MPR’s Catharine Richert reports there were a few tears and a whole lot of joy at the Mall of America Wednesday as some of Minnesota's youngest residents got their first COVID-19 vaccines. The shots, tailor-made for children, are now available for kids 5-to-11 years old after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved the Pfizer vaccine for this age group earlier this week. Colorful balloon arches welcomed kids and parents, who took selfies with their ‘I Got My Shot’ stickers. State officials say they've already gotten a lot of vaccine shipped in and they will be getting more shipments through the weekend. They estimate they will have a total of around 255,000 doses just in this first week or so — enough to cover about half the kids in this age group in Minnesota. | 