Good morning. The A/C vacation will end this weekend. Get ready to sweat.

The man who killed House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and shot Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Judge John Tunheim sentenced Vance Boelter, the assailant, to two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years with no possibility of parole. “This is truly a life sentence,” Tunheim told Boelter during the hearing at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis. “I would say also that the people of Minnesota are victims of your crimes as well. Violence will never triumph over justice.” The sentence came after a series of heartbreaking victim statements from the Hortmans’ family and friends, the Hoffmans and others targeted by Boelter about the hole left in their lives since the Hortmans were killed and the trauma with which many live following the shootings. Our colleagues Estelle Timar-Wilcox and Cait Kelley have the full dispatch here.

As part of the sentencing hearing, some voiced criticism at the acting U.S. attorney general and Department of Justice for accepting a plea deal, rather than going to trial. Mark Hortman’s father J.C. Hortman and older brother Lee Hortman said a trial would have answered questions around why first responders weren’t dispatched sooner to the Hortmans’ home and why police who did arrive didn’t immediately try to stop Boelter. They said it also would have put the option of the death penalty on the table. Lee Hortman said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche “took the easy way out. He’s going to reward this piece of garbage.” Blanche addressed the sentence on X saying, “This murderer will spend the rest of his life behind bars for his heinous acts of violence against public servants and their families. This Justice Department will continue to hold accountable anyone who seeks to harm public officials and their families to the fullest extent of the law.” 

MPR News will host a debate Monday between two DFL Senate candidates: U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. It will be the second debate in the intense primary matchup. The two debated on TPT’s Almanac in June. Brian will moderate the discussion, which will be carried live on MPR, and streamed on MPRnews.org . It is one of the more competitive primary races for a U.S. Senate seat in many years, pitting two well-known DFLers against each other as they vie for the seat that Democratic Sen. Tina Smith is leaving after this term.  

Trump-endorsed candidate for governor Mike Lindell held a long rally for a small crowd Wednesday in Sauk Centre. At the podium in the Sauk Centre high school auditorium for a town hall, Lindell spoke four about four hours to 100 people about his past dealing with addiction, his relationship to Trump and some policies he’s running on, such as cutting taxes in hopes of making life more affordable for Minnesotans. “That's our number one thing because otherwise people are leaving,” said Lindell. “We all have to deal with the price of groceries and all that stuff that's done at pretty much at the federal level. But what we can do here is make ourselves so that we don't have to be taxed.” MPR’s Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval reports that Lindell and his running mate, Phillip Parrish, vowed to steer away from climate alliances with other governments and shared their opposition to Sharia, the religious law of Islam.

A new KSTP poll finds that President Trump remains unpopular in the state, and Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. Amy Klobuchar have lost a little ground since last year. The poll looked at approval for the president and several Minnesota politicians . Those strongly oppose to Trump make up a large share of his 58 percent disapproval figure. His 38 percent approval has risen a tad since his all-time low in the poll one month ago. For the outgoing governor, 39 percent of people polled strongly disapprove and 14 percent somewhat disapprove. Walz has lost about 4 percent of his overall approval since the last poll. Klobuchar remains slightly more popular, with 48 percent polled either strongly or somewhat approving, but KSTP reports that she was a +26 last June, and is now at a +9 overall approval rating. The poll found that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has gone from a +10 approval rating in December, but was at -3 in the most recent poll.