The last batch of state campaign finance reports before the election dropped Tuesday — and the numbers are staggering. More than $55 million has flowed into the races for governor and attorney general alone. As Ellie reported, outside groups have spent more than $18 million so far in the governor’s race. The biggest chunk, more than $9 million, was spent by Restore Sanity, the group supporting Republican Lisa Demuth that got most of its money from a national group largely funded by Wisconsin manufacturing magnate Richard Uihlein. But Democrat Amy Klobuchar’s campaign vastly outraised and outspent Demuth. Klobuchar raised more than $18 million, spent more than $16 million and still has around $2 million in cash. Read more about the money flooding into the AG race and top legislative races here.  

GOP Senate nominee Michele Tafoya says she will accept the outcome of Tuesday’s election, despite President Donald Trump’s social media post that pre-questioned the outcome if Tafoya does not win. Trump posted an endorsement of Tafoya Monday, and called into question the state’s election integrity and the outcome if Tafoya does not win next week. Tafoya, during a meeting with suburban women in White Bear Lake Tuesday, said she will accept the “results on Tuesday.” She did not answer any questions about Trump’s second endorsement of her within a week, instead saying the only endorsement that counts is from voters on Election Day. When asked if she’d campaign with Vice President JD Vance if he were to campaign in Minnesota before the election, Tafoya said: “I haven't been invited to any event like that, so we've got our plans for the week, and they are busy.”

Minnesota’s campaign finance board dismissed a complaint filed by Minnesota Democrats over mailers attacking Sen. Amy Klobuchar. As the Star Tribune reported , the ads were sent by a group incorporated in Delaware called Citizens for Public Safety Transparency. The return address on the mailers is an office and storage property in Walker in northern Minnesota, where the property’s owner says the anti-Klobuchar group has no lease or office there. The DFL Party complaint was tossed before a full investigation because the campaign finance board said Klobuchar wasn’t identified in the mailings as a candidate for governor and they didn’t advocate for her defeat. “While recipients may interpret the mailers as suggesting that they refrain from voting for Senator Klobuchar, the electoral portion of the mailers is not unmistakable, unambiguous, and suggestive of only one meaning, and reasonable minds could differ as to whether the mailers encourage actions to defeat Senator Klobuchar or encourage some other kind of action, such as calling Senator Klobuchar’s office to express a particular viewpoint,” King Banaian, the campaign board’s vice chair wrote in the dismissal. 

Lawmakers in both parties at Minnesota’s Capitol want Gov. Tim Walz to pause the process of hiring staff for the new Office of the Inspector General. The top official for that office hasn’t been selected yet and won’t be final until the Legislature returns next year. The application window for that position closes on Friday. DFL and Republican lawmakers involved in establishing that watchdog unit said other high-level jobs in the unit shouldn’t be posted for applicants. “Governor Walz's involvement with the Office of Inspector General ended when he signed it into law. He has no role in this independent office now, and he will not have one as he finishes his term,” said DFL Sen. Heather Gustafson. Added GOP Reps Jim Nash and Tom Sexton in a joint release: “This overreach is a deliberate attempt to paper over his legacy of fraud. With the process for appointing the Inspector General still unfinished, this is a calculated attempt to circumvent the independence of the office.” Members of the committee vetting the people seeking to lead the office said they were informed about the possibility of other job postings. The new office is unlikely to be fully staffed months into 2027 given the confirmation process that awaits the eventual nominee for the main post. 

The family of Alex Pretti, the man killed by federal immigration agents in January, says federal officials are shielding the agents that shot him. Pretti’s parents — Michael and Susan Pretti — said the U.S. Attorney’s office has not given them any information about the federal investigation. And they said federal officials lied about the killing and misled the public. “We don’t want to be on TV and we don't want to become political activists,” Susan Pretti said. “All we want is justice for Alex. We are here today to simply request the federal government to treat us with the dignity and respect our son deserved.” The Department of Justice defended its process. You can read  more here.

That Hermantown City Council meeting on a proposed data center still hasn’t happened. Dan Kraker reported the meeting was first postponed Monday night after opponents of the proposed Google server farm began loudly chanting outside the city council chambers shortly before it was set to begin. They kept up the chants for two hours. Eventually city officials pushed back the meeting to Tuesday night for safety reasons. But Hermantown officials said yesterday that the meeting was canceled amid concerns that it could impact early voting that takes place in the council chambers. Plans to reschedule the meeting have not been announced.

Former Republican state Sen. Arlene Lesewski of Marshall is being remembered as a hardworking, collaborative legislator. Lesewski , who died Oct. 22 at the age of 90, served from 1993-2002. Former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, who served as Lesewski's campaign manager in the 1990s, said he learned important lessons about campaigning from her. "We would go to bars and restaurants, and she would say, 'I don't just want to talk to the owner. I want to talk to the waitress. I want to talk to the truck driver sitting at the counter.'"