Good morning! And happy Constitution Day to those who celebrate. Bells will ring in commemoration this afternoon at the Capitol.

The U.S. House has left Washington until after November’s election. Yes, it’s still mid-September. Majority Republicans canceled the last planned day of votes, which were to occur today. That means not a whole lot more will get done legislatively until after the midterm. Consider the policy cake baked. “It’s time for our members to go home to their districts to make the case to the American people,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in announcing the early exit. There has been some reporting that Republicans sent lawmakers home early to avoid a vote on a measure to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Minnesota-born Pentagon leader who is a leading figure in the war with Iran. The Senate remains in session but bills on that end of the Capitol appear to be sputtering. October might be about acting on confirmations of appointees to executive offices and the judiciary. 

Minnesota is in for a Washington shuffle no matter how November turns out. Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig is exiting the House and will leave her spot as the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the DFL nominee for governor, would give up the ranking member title on the companion Senate Agriculture Committee if she wins her race. Sen. Tina Smith, who is retiring, had held ranking member positions on a couple of Senate subcommittees. Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber is looking to move up the ladder. He is currently chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources but is looking to be the top Republican (either chair or ranking member depending on which party has the majority) on the full Committee on Natural Resources. The current chair must step aside due to term limits. The dean of Minnesota’s delegation, Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum, is her party’s top figure on the Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations and would continue in that role if reelected, a spokesperson for her confirmed. The most-visible Republican Minnesota has in Washington, Republican Rep. Tom Emmer, also has a lot riding on November given his role as House majority whip.

While Michele Tafoya doesn’t have a political record to run against, she does have a long-running podcast that is beginning to get scrutiny. Punchbowl News reported on the GOP U.S. Senate nominee’s podcast in which she defended and supported multiple people arrested for participating in the Jan. 6th riots. In one example, Tafoya called Siaka Massaquoi, a man who was arrested for his participation in the riot as her “J6 brother” and one of the “really good people” who were caught up in the shuffle during the riot. In other cases, she called others who were arrested and prosecuted as political targets or victims of mistreatment by the justice system. DFL nominee Peggy Flanagan’s campaign immediately shared the story, calling Tafoya a “January 6th apologist” and as someone “who used her platform to defend the thousands of insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol.” Tafoya responded to Punchbowl’s reporting in a statement. “I’m a journalist who’s recorded hundreds of interviews. It’s easy to take things out of context,” Tafoya said.

The race for state auditor often gets lost in the shuffle of higher-profile races but lately has wound up among the closest on the ballot. Briana Bierschbach of the Star Tribune takes a look at how Republican nominee Scott Jensen is working to make it all about fraud in state government despite the limited role the office has in policing state spending and programs. Her lede is quite catchy . DFL nominee Zack Filipovich acknowledges that voters often ask him about fraud and his main task is reminding people that the auditor’s office is concentrated on monitoring more than $50 billion of local finances. A third party candidate, Jay Reeves of the Forward Independence party, is in the race, too, and could factor prominently into the outcome.

Year one of legal retail cannabis sales in Minnesota has been a quarter-billion dollar enterprise. State regulators say $150 million in adult-use cannabis products have been purchased in the last 12 months and $100 million is tied to medical cannabis purchases. The Office of Cannabis Management only has tax revenue data for 10 of the months, which totalled $45.6 million. Measuring how close that is to projections when the marijuana legalization law was under consideration in 2023 is difficult for two reasons. First, the initial gross receipts tax rate has changed since the projection was made (it was 10 percent when the law was passed, which is lower than the 15 percent it is now). The distribution of those proceeds also changed. Second, we’re lacking a full year’s worth of data. There’s no denying that the industry is building out, with new retail venues opening still. Eric Taubel, the executive director of OCM, says more than 300 businesses have launched. There are 369 licensed cannabis businesses. One critical part of the pipeline are cultivators. The state has seen a 575 percent increase in the number of plants growing, which feeds into flower products as well as edibles and vape concentrates. The industry is still dealing with early-phase logistical issues, including a shortage of licensed testing facilities that has slowed some products getting to market.