Good morning. A reminder: the off-year elections are just one week away. Then come the midterms. 

Control of the Minnesota Senate is again on the line as voters in a pair of districts – one suburban and one more rural — head to the polls. After the death of a senator and the conviction of another, Democrats hold a one-vote edge in the chamber but neither party has enough votes to pass bills alone. Dana reports about the candidates vying to fill the seats representing Wright County and Woodbury and Maplewood. The districts are different — one has regularly backed Republicans and the other Democrats. But many campaign messages are the same. Republicans have honed in on the issue of fraud in state government programs and the growing state budget. Meanwhile, Democrats are centering their messages on affordability and countering the impacts of policies implemented by the GOP-led Congress and President Donald Trump. The contests offer a preview of the messages that might be served up around the state when all 201 legislative seats are on the ballot.

The state is planning to assign a new investigator to exclusively handle threats against elected officials after incidents more than doubled between 2024 and 2025. State Patrol Lt. Colonel Jeremy Geiger told the Advisory Committee on Capitol Security on Monday that Capitol Security had fielded 50 threats against lawmakers, executive officers and state offices this year. That’s up from 19 in 2024. Of the threats fielded this year, 13 had resulted in criminal charges so far, he said. “In the first part of December, we’ll be assigning and promoting a person, a sworn trooper, as a threat investigator working directly at the (Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) as a liaison to the Capitol security,” Geiger said. “The reason for that is what we've talked about in past committee hearings is the rise in threats to many on this Capitol complex.” The announcement came as part of a broader discussion about bolstering security measures on the Capitol complex after a break-in over the summer and the assassination of House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home, and the attempted assassination of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. Dana has more here.

The books are closed on the last state budget and Minnesota wound up with more on its bottom line than it anticipated — almost $1 billion more. The final tally from the Department of Minnesota Management and Budget comes for the 2024-25 budget that ended June 30. Minnesota collected $1.3 billion more in revenue than it was counting on but had $364 million in additional expenses. The result is a $941 million cushion which will create more breathing room for lawmakers worried about the potential for a deficit down the road. In an election year, they might also be able to finance some construction projects in cash or have more to apply to debt service. The extra money was due to a combination of factors, but most of it is from tax revenue that exceeded projections or money that had been tied up for a project or program that got turned back to the treasury. Of the areas where higher spending was reported, most was for education purposes. There were 1,800 more students in public school classrooms than had been estimated and slightly higher special education costs. The mismatch between projections and actual numbers isn’t unusual. Two years ago, there was an $820 million difference to the good. 

Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday that he is sending $4 million in contingency funds to tribes and food banks to help offset the effects of a pending federal gap in food stamp funding. The governor urged federal lawmakers to end the government shutdown and to fund SNAP benefits before a deadline this weekend . He also said he agreed with Congressional Democrats that Affordable Care Act tax credits for health insurance should be extended to help Americans afford their coverage. Walz said he was moving the funds to help the entities offer food aid to Minnesotans in need. “This will be a bridge. I want to be very clear, it will not make up and back fill everything that is going to drop off starting on Saturday. We do not have that capacity,” Walz said, noting the monthly amount of SNAP benefits sent out to Minnesotans exceeds $74 million. He left the door open to calling a special session to earmark additional funding for SNAP benefits. 

Four candidates hoping to lead Minneapolis for the next four years drew subtle contrasts Monday on policy but showcased sharper stylistic differences during an MPR News/Star Tribune debate. The forum comes about a week out from a ranked choice election that will determine if Mayor Jacob Frey secures a third term or if state Sen. Omar Fateh, attorney Jazz Hampton or minister DeWayne Davis step into the top city hall role. Topics covered ranged from duties of police to plans for affordable housing to the imposition of a $20 per hour minimum wage. The full debate can be viewed here. It will air on “Politics Friday” at noon on MPR News stations.

While Gov. Tim Walz has been teasing the possibility of taking the gun issue to voters, the path to that ballot question would also need bipartisan buy-in. At a town hall event this weekend on gun violence, Walz got a good deal of applause when he said he’d bring the gun restriction proposals to the voters. But putting a constitutional amendment to the voters would need a majority in both chambers to approve of the language for a proposed amendment (the governor actually gets no say on those). With an evenly split House and a Senate whose political make up will be determined next week, that could be a tough sell. At the same time, it would allow some Democrats or Republicans on the fence about supporting legislative changes to gun laws to say that voters should decide the issue. There has been no indication a special session is any closer to happening than earlier this fall when legislative leaders and Walz were in talks about a possible agenda.