Good morning. The general election campaign has begun and will ratchet up quickly over the next 83 days.

Minnesota is in for a historic election no matter what. Barring an unforeseen shakeup, women will take the lead in the fall campaign. In the governor’s race it’s Amy Klobuchar versus Lisa Demuth. Either would be the first woman to hold the job, moving Minnesota out of its minority status among states to never elect a female governor. In the Senate race , Peggy Flanagan and Michele Tafoya are in for a stark-contrast race of their own to fill the seat of departing Sen. Tina Smith. Dana Ferguson sets the stage.

Voters turned out in record fashion for a Minnesota primary. While the percentage of voters won’t reach the 30 and 40 percent range of the 1950s and 1960s, the sheer number of ballots shattered past primary records. Some counts were trickling in as of this 1 a.m. writing, but there were already more than 1.1 million ballots in the tallies for the parties combined. Democrats accounted for at least 700,000 of those. That’s a measure of enthusiasm that should worry Republicans headed into November.

But Republicans also have reason to perk up. The donor class and those who prize electability got their two top choices in Lisa Demuth for governor and Michele Tafoya for Senate. This is the year when the GOP endorsement spell got broken in a big way. Only Tad Jude for Secretary of State made it count. Ron Schutz was unopposed for the attorney general nomination. Kendall Qualls finished third in the governor’s contest, Adam Schwarze was way back in the Senate race, Nate George got blown out in the auditor’s race by Scott Jensen. The Tafoya and Demuth nominations could matter in attracting outside money to build a turnout infrastructure the party often lacks. Even if they don’t get across the finish line on top, that would no doubt help lift up legislative candidates. Then again, Republicans are on defense around the country so promises of money now could get tested if the party is forced to triage. 

Early is easy and apparently very popular. About 250,000 Minnesotans voted early this year, a strong showing that suggests both interest in the high-profile August primary this year and comfort with options to cast ballots ahead of Election Day. The statistics from the Secretary of State's Office are a record for a non-presidential primary year. It would be an all-time record if not for the surge in remote and early voting in 2020 during COVID-19. Minnesota has expanded its early voting options over the last couple of decades. Voters used to have to claim a legitimate excuse for requesting an absentee ballot, ranging from health reasons to work travel to military service to acting as an election judge outside of the precinct. Now Minnesota has no-excuse absentee balloting. There are also more in-person voting options at local elections offices, which have been expanded in this election, too. 

If this is a throw-the-bums-out year, the primaries mostly didn’t that reflect that. All but one legislative incumbent facing a primary challenge in Minnesota prevailed in Tuesday primary elections. The exception, in unofficial results, was GOP Sen. Paul Utke in northern Minnesota who was 192 votes behind state Rep. Mike Wiener, who had the party endorsement heading into the primary. Utke’s race was one of 11 where a sitting lawmaker was facing a candidate or candidates from within their own party. Five other state senators came out on top. Five House members fended off challenges. That encompassed incumbents in both parties. Most were dominating victories so the left or right flanks didn’t deliver on attempts to oust lawmakers they didn’t think measured up. All 201 seats in Minnesota's closely divided Legislature — and the House and Senate majorities — are on the line this November.

Minnesota campaign finance regulators are inclined to give a break to some campaigns that missed a report filing deadline. A discussion item for an upcoming meeting shows that Minnesota Campaign Finance Board staff acknowledge there were issues with the board’s system that caused some campaigns to file pre-primary reports later than the July 27 deadline. A memo points to repeated system crashes that day and that staff “responded to hundreds of phone calls and emails on the problems” with the system. A blanket waiver of penalties is under consideration. “It was very obvious to board staff that treasurers were trying very hard to file reports on time, but eventually some treasurers could not spend any more time waiting for the application to stabilize enough for the committee to file a report.” The memo says 159 reports came in a day late and 29 more arrived by the end of the week. The waiver would cover those that filed reports by July 31. 

There are also a couple of requests that could have more weighty implications. That’s because affidavits of contributions — affirming that a qualifying number of contributions were raised — are required to qualify for public campaign subsidies. DFL Auditor candidate Zack Filipovich asked the board for leniency because of the filing glitches. Almost $100,000 is on the line for his campaign. “It is clear, based on the widespread outage and the repeated attempts to complete the filing, that the failure to submit the report and affidavit on Monday, July 27, 2026, was not caused by any action or inaction of the committee,” Filipovich attorney David Zoll wrote. A board memo notes that the candidate affidavits can come in as soon as thresholds are met and don’t have to be done in conjunction with the pre-primary reports. DFL House candidate Abdi Daisane, who is running for an open St. Cloud-area seat, is similarly situated but with less money at stake (about $6,200), according to the board staff. An Aug. 18 board meeting will determine the next course of action.

A working group considering creating a new state park in St. Paul named for a slain DFL leader will meet for the first time today. The proposed memorial park would honor former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. The Hortmans were assassinated in their home last year. During her tenure, Hortman had proposed creating a state park on the Capitol grounds. Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, wants that too. "We have a beautiful Capitol grounds. We're going to plant some more trees, and I do think this is a fitting way — not just to recognize what we've experienced, but to honor her vision," Murphy said. Lawmakers renamed a highway in Hortman's district in her honor earlier this year, along with a garden outside a Capitol complex building that houses state representatives' offices.

ICE officers were shown to have used racial slurs in many sweeps, including in Minnesota, as the agency undertook a massive deportation campaign. The monthslong ICE surge in Minnesota pushed some voters to the polls Tuesday. The New York Times reports that evidence emerging in lawsuits nationwide showed many instances in which it seemed that race or ethnicity were factors in stops and arrests. In one case, officers chased a “dark skinned Latino man — while ignoring his light skinned co-workers” despite the man being a U.S. citizen. The story echoes complaints made during the winter immigration crackdown in Minnesota, in which several people said they believed agents targeted them based on appearance rather than any evidence. The Times reports that Homeland Security pushed back against allegations that officers used racial profiling. Civil rights groups argue arrests or stops based on racial profiling are unconstitutional, but cases on the issue have yet to be resolved.