Rep. Angie Craig said she will forgo the DFL State Convention in her run for Minnesota's U.S. Senate seat.
Her opponent, Lt. Governor Peggy Flaganagan (sic), claims this comes as Rep. Craig faces an "insurmountable lead" with DFL delegates.
Rep. Craig pointed to "hardworking DFLers who don’t have the financial resources or time to participate outside of the August primary" as part of her announcement to forgo the party's endorsement process.
She also shared the following remarks:
"I’m a proud DFLer. Every letter has meaning to me … But the DFL endorsement process just doesn’t reflect the full scope of the party that we are. And the purple state that we have become. This is no ordinary moment. Donald Trump and Republicans are attacking Democracy itself, gutting the voting rights act, gerrymandering and threatening to interfere with elections… But the truth is the only way to stop them is by winning elections. The only way we save democracy is through democracy — where every voice is heard, not just a few."
How important is the DFL endorsement? Why, just ask Gov. Erin Murphy and Attorney General Matt Pelikan.
Oh wait.
Yes, the fact of the matter is the DFL endorsement has hardly been a crowning moment for candidates whenever there have been open statewide races. In 2010, Margaret Anderson Kelliher was the endorsed candidate for governor, only to be bested by Mark Dayton in a primary. Then in 2018, endorsees Murphy and Pelikan fell short in their primary battles against Tim Walz and Keith Ellison, respectively.
I don't really have a good feel how Craig will fare against Flanagan in this cycle's primary election, but the result will give us a good indication if Minnesota Democrat voters are indeed lurching more left than in previous years.
- New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart appeared at a rally for GOP Congressman Mike Lawler. His appearance culminated with introducing the keynote speaker for the evening - President Donald J. Trump.
Upon learning of this interaction, Dart's teammate Abdul Carter expressed incredulity over Twitter.
Naturally, Carter was roasted on Twitter for this take.
The fact of the matter is NFL players who have been the most outspoken against Trump during his time in the White House have been given huge platforms within mainstream media. But even tacit support of Trump triggers some of the more visceral and unhinged reactions.
Carter's response to the backlash over his tweet was stunning in its lack of self awareness.
Uhhh....*our* narratives???? This would have been little more than a footnote were it not for Carter himself reacting to it in the manner he did. Clearly he was not pleased with his teammate associating with Trump, so I'm not really sure why he seems taken aback to the reactions.
Realizing he was out of his depth, Carter ultimately deleted both tweets.
Offseason workouts for the Giants are slated to resume on Wednesday. No doubt that new coach John Harbaugh will answer all the inevitable inquiries about this flap and then look to move on ASAP.
The candidate himself seemed proud of this particular excerpt of the story.
He is largely unknown to the general public. A February poll of Minnesota Republican primary voters released by the campaign arm of Senate Republicans found nearly 60% had never heard of him.
Yet he’s now a front-runner to win the Republican endorsement this weekend at the party’s convention in Duluth, a remarkable development for a candidate facing two rivals with wider name recognition.
Hmmm. This feels like an implementation of Mitch Berg's Eleventh Law of Inverse Viability, which states "The conservative progressives “respect” for their “conservative principles” will the the one that has the least chance of ever getting elected."
The fact of the matter is the leading GOP candidate, Michele Tafoya, is a legit moderate who may have trouble locking in staunch right wingers but appeal to moderate Dems and Independents in a way no Minnesota Republican has since Gov. Tim Pawlenty. And who was the last GOP candidate to win a statewide race in Minnesota???? Why, that would be Pawlenty.
As a staunch conservative myself, I would guess my ideological bent more closely aligns with Schwarze over Tafoya. But I would give far better odds to Tafoya to win a statewide race. And the Strib legitimately fears that as well, which is the answer to the question of why they would seemingly prop up a "Trump conservative" like Schwarze.
- Another incumbent GOP Senator loses his primary battle. Just over a week ago it was Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. On Tuesday, it was the senior Senator from Texas.
BREAKING: Trump ally Ken Paxton defeats Sen. John Cornyn in Texas’ bitter Republican primary war.
Trump targeted Cornyn as "VERY disloyal" as he backed Paxton, a MAGA firebrand, in the final days of the runoff campaign.
The victory for Paxton may be red meat for MAGA-ites, but it puts the GOP Senate majority in more jeopardy than if Cornyn remained the candidate. The reason being is a significant number of MAGA members are low propensity voters, essentially only showing up when Trump is on the ballot. So while I believe Paxton likely prevails over the kooky Talarico, it's going to take a lot more financial resources for Republicans to defend this seat. And that means less cash to unseat incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) as well as make a play for open Dem seats in Minnesota and Michigan. Also, Republicans are playing defense in Maine (incumbent Susan Collins is in a tight race) and North Carolina (Democrat Roy Cooper, who was very popular two-term governor, is prime to flip this open seat), but, again, they may not be prioritized as a result.
So for all you MAGA-ites celebrating these victories, I would advise you to keep that same energy through the general election. These primary election wins aren't a culmination but rather the very beginning.
The Twins completed a three-game sweep of the BoSox this series. It would be the last time they'd sweep a series in Fenway Park until literally this past weekend.
Once again I will be off the air today for radio show The Closer. However, the show is in good hands as NASCAR Kelly Gunderson will be taking the reins of today's broadcast, 1-3 PM Central Time.
So please call (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to weigh in on any of the topics Kelly plans on addressing.
You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 or, if you're near downtown Minneapolis/West Metro area, 107.5 FM on your radio dial. In and out of the Minneapolis-St Paul area you can listen to the program on the Internet by clicking this link, or check us out via iheart radioas well as Amazon Alexa (just say "Alexa, play The Patriot Minneapolis"). If you're unable to tune in live, please check out my podcast page for the latest show post.
And if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter at #NARNShow or "Like" our Facebook page.
At the age of 39 years and 161 days, Nationals pitcher Alex McColl became the oldest pitcher to have tossed his first career complete game, a record which still stands today.
I have obligations to fulfill for my day job, so former MN State Senator Dave Osmek has been called on to fill in on today's edition of my radio show The Closer. The 2-hour barn burner (how Osmek is promoting it) will get started at 1:00 PM Central Time.
So please call (651) 289-4488 if you'd like to weigh in on any of the topics Dave plans on addressing.
You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 or, if you're near downtown Minneapolis/West Metro area, 107.5 FM on your radio dial. In and out of the Minneapolis-St Paul area you can listen to the program on the Internet by clicking this link, or check us out via iheart radioas well as Amazon Alexa (just say "Alexa, play The Patriot Minneapolis"). If you're unable to tune in live, please check out my podcast page for the latest show post.
And if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter at #NARNShow or "Like" our Facebook page.
Many Democrats of the Civil Rights era would stage sit-ins in areas where black people were not allowed to be present. Today's Dems (specifically elected Minnesota DFLers) also prefer to participate in such activities, but this time to *undermine* civil liberties.
Minnesota Democrats continued to stage a sit-in on Friday in the House chamber to protest the lack of a vote on gun control measures.
On Thursday night, a procedural motion to force a vote on a gun control package passed by the state Senate earlier this month failed along party lines following hours of debate. Republican Speaker Lisa Demuth then adjourned the House until noon Saturday.
House Republican leaders called for Rep. Aisha Gomez, DFL-Minneapolis, to be removed as the Democratic co-chair of the tax committee after a verbal altercation with Rep. Elliot Engen, R-Lino Lakes, that Republicans claim included threatening language.
Rep. Engen verified this via his Twitter account.
Can confirm.
Didn’t have multiple Democrat colleagues yelling at me to “go f’ing shoot myself” on my bingo card… https://t.co/veol1CXzxT
In the aftermath of legislative colleagues Rep. Melissa Hortman and Sen. John Hoffman (as well as their spouses) being shot by a crazed gunman last year, Minnesota legislators of all stripes made a vow to be more unified and tamp down divisive rhetoric in the aftermath of such horrific incidents. Sadly, I wasn't terribly optimistic those sentiments would be sustained. And, as always, these people lived up to my low expectations.
The 2026 session officially ends Sunday night, which isn't nearly soon enough.
