The ranks of Minnesota Republicans are lower than the last time that the DFL had full Capitol power, but the GOP enters this trifecta hopeful to have a louder voice in what happens. How come? Peter Cox explores the differences between the last trifecta and this one . Republicans say they’ll take Gov.-elect Amy Klobuchar at her word that she’ll invite them to the bargaining table. There’s not as much money or pent-up demands for Democrats to work with. The broader margins will mean that both parties can afford to let members work across the aisle rather than count every nose as they demand cohesiveness. We’ll know when bills start dropping in mid-January if the pledges of bipartisanship match up with reality. 

For one incoming lawmaker bipartisanship has been a personal journey. DFL Sen.-elect Rick Olson won the former district of Republican Eric Pratt, which includes Prior Lake and Shakopee. Olson will be new to Minnesota’s Capitol and is a relatively new Democrat. In 2011, he took office in the Michigan House as a Republican. But he said over time, he drifted from the GOP, in part because of the events of Jan. 6 and his views toward healthcare. Olson is hopeful his background in both parties can help him speak with people on both sides of the aisle. A few weeks before the election, he decided to figure out who the moderates in the Senate were. “I did a ChatGPT prompt,” he told MPR News, asking “based on past history, who are the Republicans in both the Senate and the House that are most likely to be able to be worked with? Everyone that ChatGPT identified lost.” That list included GOP Sens. Jim Abeler and Michael Kreun, Olson said. “So I’ve got to start from scratch.” 

U.S. Sen.-elect Peggy Flanagan announced her first slate of staff members, including a chief of staff who previously worked with Sens. Tina Smith and Al Franken. Flanagan tapped Jeff Lomonaco for chief of staff, her former senior advisor in the Lt. Governor’s office Dominic McQuerry to serve as her state director and Aleysha Proctor will serve as deputy chief of staff. Lomonaco has served in various roles supporting members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation since 2008, when he worked with then-U.S. Rep. Tim Walz. McQuerry worked at the McKnight and Wilder Foundations before becoming senior advisor to Flanagan. And Proctor has held several leadership positions supporting the Minnesota delegation in the U.S. Senate over 23 years. Advisers to Flanagan’s campaign, Alana Petersen, Cynthia Bauerly and Alexandra Fetisoff are leading Flanagan’s transition team.

Minnesota’s tax collections are now more than $1.2 billion ahead of projections since February – the bulk of that since the new fiscal year started in July. Last month’s tally put $78 million more into the mix . So what does that mean for the broader budget outlook? It’s too soon to say with certainty. But it could be enough to head off a hole that the next Legislature and governor have to fill when they return next year to set a two-year budget. The reason for hesitation is that we know little about how spending patterns are trending. With federal Medicaid money either frozen or sliding, that’s a major consideration. As people find their household budgets tighter, more could be relying on assistance programs. Property tax relief programs could be tapped to a greater degree as those local costs go up. In other words, a lot is riding on the Dec. 3 forecast.

Case in point: the Trump administration will not refund Minnesota for at least $112 million of Medicaid costs. Since February, citing fraud concerns, the federal government has frozen a total of $550 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota. On Tuesday, the feds announced they would not be reimbursing Minnesota for more than $100 million of that. Erica Zurek reports that DHS commissioner John Connolly sent a letter to department leaders informing them the state anticipated some form of disallowance, a permanent rejection of federal funds. It’s unclear whether the federal government will disallow even more Medicaid money it owes the state and how that could impact the one million people who rely on the program. The disallowance will become final if DHS decides not to challenge it. 

Federal prosecutors indicted and later dropped charges against a bodyguard who once did work for U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, in what his lawyer says was an attempt to get incriminating information about the congresswoman. The New York Times reports that Abdullahi Mohamed was indicted early this year for lying under oath to a government official. Mohamed’s attorney told the paper prosecutors spent months trying to get Mohamed to become an informant against Omar. The attorney said the investigation was being driven by the White House. The charges have since been dropped. Mohamed, who has both Somali and British citizenship, reportedly answered no to a question he did not understand about his work history during a green card interview. Last March, federal prosecutors met with Mohamed to offer a plea deal if he could be an informant on an investigation they were doing into Omar. Mohamed’s attorney said investigators offered to intervene in Mohamed's possible deportation if he helped in that case. A former federal prosecutor described the prosecution of Mohamed as unusual and the case questionable.

An incoming St. Cloud-area representative credits perseverance for helping him land the seat in St. Paul. Abdi Daisane will be the first Somali American legislator from central Minnesota when he takes the oath in January. He won on his third try for office, once running unsuccessfully for St. Cloud city council and another time for the House seat he’ll fill. Kirsti Marohn spoke with Daisane about what he hopes to accomplish and how he kept at it since his first run 10 years ago and his last try two years ago. “I never stopped running afterwards,” he said. “I continued having conversations. I continued talking to people, and planning ahead for the 2026 election.” Daisane is already encountering strong pushback from Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer’s claims on national cable television about the new lawmaker’s operation of a childcare center. Daisane rejects the characterizations and there are no known state investigations into the center, which has received threatening messages nonetheless from provocateurs. “Those lies, those headlines that are just baseless, have consequences for people like me,” Daisane said.