Good morning. And goodbye, September. 

All 201 state legislative seats are on the ballot this fall but a smaller portion — about two dozen are expected to be competitive. Dana checked into some of the historical race trends and campaign spending in the contests and broke down the 27 Senate and House races that could be the majority makers heading into 2027. She also spoke with the legislative leaders running caucus election efforts, and the campaign themes are clear (and maybe not surprising for those who’ve been targeted with mailers and ads). Republicans are locked in on the issue of fraud in state government programs and pitching voters on a partisan shift in St. Paul to address it, while Democrats are taking aim at the Trump administration. 

And what are legislative leaders saying about their prospects? Republicans say fraud could give them an edge.“It really is at the forefront of people's minds when they are seeing the prices on things and affordability,” said Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks. “They're saying, ‘Well, I'm paying so much for this, and yet you know taxes are going through the roof, and that money is going to fraudsters across the state,’ and so it's really just a visceral thought that most people have on this election cycle.” Democrats agree there’s visceral frustration out there. But they say more of it stems from prices going up and the Trump administration. House DFL Caucus Leader Zack Stephenson of Coon Rapids said Republicans are “whistling past the graveyard” when it comes to those issues. “The people of Minnesota are focused on the thing that impacts them the most, which is rising costs, and they know that those rising costs were caused by the Trump administration and Republicans.” 

Despite all those seats being on the ballot, the GOP has 17 Minnesota House races where it is not fielding a candidate. Peter reports that most of those seats are in deeply blue Twin Cities districts, but there are also several in the metro suburbs — places that have moved leftward over the last few elections, but have had Republican representation in the last decade. Those districts include Woodbury, Plymouth, North St. Paul and Crystal. The lack of Republican candidates, especially as the House has been in a political tie the last two years, is a surprise to some. Some DFL leaders see it as a lack of excitement in a tough midterm for Republicans. But one GOP strategist says she believes the party is focusing its resources on re-electing incumbents and putting up challenges in races where the party feels it has a strong chance. 

Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Medicaid fraud charges against nine people on Tuesday. As Ellie reports, the charges totaled $3 million , and more than $2 million of that is connected to Peter Meilahn, a Duluth resident who worked as an independent contracted therapist for Franklin Family Services. Investigators found nearly 30,000 false claims for services he did not provide. Other charges included four people connected to a personal care agency that allegedly billed Medicaid $675,000 for services they did not provide. Another woman charged with fraud allegedly financially exploited the vulnerable adult she was supposed to be caring for out of $11,000.

The details of one governor candidate event have been locked in for next month. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce will host Democrat Amy Klobuchar and Republican Lisa Demuth Oct. 19 in Nisswa for a forum focused on — this might surprise you — business and the state’s economic future. KSTP political reporter Tom Hauser will moderate the discussion at Madden’s on Gull Lake. The campaigns have participated in a few policy issue-specific events on aging, housing and county relations but they’ve yet to enter into a head-to-head style debate. Klobuchar and Demuth have both accepted debate options but they’ve yet to agree on a debate venue. Our invitation to host a gubernatorial debate stands and Klobuchar has agreed to participate.

 

It’s not just statewide debates that are getting more scarce. MinnPost reports on the way League of Women Voters forums went from staples in legislative races to routinely avoided by Republican candidates. GOP officials began to discourage participation a few years ago, convinced they wouldn’t get a fair shake because some parts of the organization were more willing to get involved with issue advocacy. League officials here went ahead with candidate forums even if not all in a race participated. Meanwhile, other entities have stepped in to fill the void, ranging from civic groups to mayoral associations to local chambers of commerce. 

The federal government is working on data center regulation, but Minnesota has a head start. Before break, the U.S. House passed a law which would require data centers to cover electricity costs for their projects, which have a sizable impact on a local energy grid. Mary Murphy with Forum News Service reports that the new laws probably won't have much of an impact on Minnesotans – the Legislature passed a similar statewide data center bill last year which already applies to Meta’s hyperscale data center in Rosemount. Mary spoke to lawmakers who had a hand in Minnesota’s legislation about the new rules from the feds.