Good morning. The primary is in one week. More than 100,000 ballots are already in.

A residency challenge of sorts has been lodged against Mike Lindell by his own party, another sign that there is a sense he’s strongly positioned in next week’s primary. Typically, you don’t punch down, and there have been increasing signs of nervousness among state party officials that Lindell could lead the ticket and possibly create additional headwinds for the party this fall. KSTP’s Tom Hauser obtained a letter to Secretary of State Steve Simon contesting that Lindell has established the requisite residency to hold the office of governor. Lindell moved back to Minnesota from Texas, but the question is when that became official and whether it’s in time to satisfy a one-year standard. In the GOP chair’s letter to Simon, a DFLer, he asks for guidance on whether that applies to when someone would win the office or take the office. Plechash said if the Republican Party didn’t seek the clarity he believes the DFL would formally contest Lindell’s residency. “It is essential that Minnesotans know the correct standard prior to the Primary Election Day,” Plechash wrote in the July 30 letter. Simon's office responded that it's a matter for the courts. Lindell provided KSTP pay stubs and said it's a continuation of a Republican Party attack on him since President Donald Trump endorsed him.

We were unsuccessful in booking a debate among the three frontrunners vying for the GOP nomination for governor. But they each sat for interviews with All Things Considered Host Clay Masters. The first one, with Republican Party-endorsed candidate Kendall Qualls, aired yesterday . Qualls dismissed a question from Clay about backing another candidate if Qualls doesn’t win, saying it was “La La Land” to think that it would go like that. The Qualls segment will be followed by extended sitdowns with Lisa Demuth, the House speaker, (it’s on today) and Mike Lindell, the pillow salesman with the president’s backing (that’s on Wednesday). If you miss them on the radio, there is an accompanying video that will post this week to the MPR News YouTube page and website, so watch for that. 

Eleven state legislators are facing primary challenges next week to hang onto the offices they currently occupy. Dana has this dispatch from Senate District 46 that’s pitting a two-decade incumbent against a former St. Louis Park City Council member. There was no local DFL endorsement in the contest and local officials are split on who would best represent the district. Sen. Ron Latz has been campaigning on his record restricting access to firearms at the Capitol and working to add more guardrails to federal immigration officers who are in the state. He says voters should value experience in the matchup. His challenger, Lynette Dumalag, is campaigning on bringing additional housing to the area and has picked up backing from local leaders, including Reps. Larry Kraft and Cheryl Youakim, as well as the mayors of Hopkins and St. Louis Park. Dumalag was very involved in organizing the local response to the federal immigration enforcement surge over the winter and says she’s got her finger on the pulse of the community. She’s among a handful of DFL incumbents, including others in the suburbs, with primary challenges. In greater Minnesota, six Republican legislators are under internal pressure. The race to watch there is Sen. Paul Utke’s contest with state Rep. Mike Weiner, who snagged the GOP endorsement.

In an election year, the state auditor’s office is often overlooked as candidates vie for U.S. Senate, governor or attorney general seats. Peter reports that the auditor’s office has served as a launching pad for some ; both Minnesota Govs. Arne Carlson and Mark Dayton held the office and others tried to climb from that spot. It is also the state constitutional office that Republicans came closest to winning in 2022, losing by just 8,435 votes. Next week, three GOP candidates are vying for the seat: GOP-endorsed Nate George, the mayor of Braham; family physician Scott Jensen who was the party nominee for governor in 2022; and Will Finn, who ran for the office on the Grassroots Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota ticket in 2022. 

The admitted killer of Melissa and Mark Hortman appeared in state court yesterday for his first hearing on murder charges related to that shooting and the one at the home of John and Yvette Hoffman. Vance Boelter is already serving life in prison on similar federal charges. A Hennepin County grand jury indicted Boelter on two counts of first-degree murder in the Hortman attack and the attempted murders of DFL Sen. Hoffman, his wife, their daughter Hope and DFL State Rep. Kristin Bahner. Matt Sepic reports that Boelter asked Judge Juan Hoyos if he could compel U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar to testify. The 59-year-old also said that his rights were being violated because he hasn't been allowed to physically meet with a pastor and law enforcement wouldn't take his statements. Federal prosecutors said last month that in messages to friends, Boelter had expressed concern about Republicans losing control in the U.S. House and repeatedly searched for information about the narrowly divided Minnesota Legislature.

GOP-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Adam Schwarze says he’s surprised that he’s been left out of the Farmfest Senate candidate forum. Schwarze, a former Navy SEAL, is not among the candidates on the list for the senate forum Wednesday. The current lineup includes four other candidates: Democrats U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Republicans Michele Tafoya and Royce White. The annual agriculture industry event kicks off today in Redwood County in southern Minnesota. Schwarze was told by organizers that candidates have to have at least 15 percent support in publicly reported polls. "Who really misses out are the voters,” he said. He said leaving him off the stage is a clear advantage to Tafoya, and he wants the opportunity to be able to debate the issues. Schwarze said his campaign and supporters are lobbying for him to be part of the forum. He's hopeful that he'll be added to Wednesday's lineup.

The national Democratic calvary is coming to Keith Ellison’s defense in what is likely to be another tough and close attorney general’s race. The Democratic Attorneys General Association dropped $1 million on Thursday into a political fund called We All Do Better (check out last Thursday’s CapView for more on that group). Republicans are also heavy into the race in support of GOP attorney Ron Schutz. There has been seven-figure activity on the GOP side with various groups trading money and the result being scalding ads over fraud attacking Ellison. He’s no stranger to nail-biting races. Recall that in 2018 he won the office in a strong DFL year by just shy of four percentage points, behind the 11 percentage point top-of-the-ticket edge. Four years later, Ellison won by less than a percentage point, also far off the top-of-ticket pace.

More drama divides the DNC: The man who wrote the Democratic National Committee’s 2024 election autopsy says party leadership hid a key chapter. For months the DNC resisted releasing a report about what had gone wrong during the 2024 election until relenting in May. Now the author of that report, Paul Rivera, is accusing the DNC of withholding a key chapter titled “What Happened in 2024” that questions Joe Biden’s decision to run, analyzes the party’s loss of support among voters of color and criticizes senior Democratic strategists as out-of-touch with voters. Rivera says though he turned in this chapter later, he personally handed it to Ken Martin, the party’s chairman. Martin says that’s false and he never received the chapter. Shane Goldmacher with the New York Times explains that the he-said-he-said drama surrounding the report threatens to become a distraction for the party less than 100 days before the midterm elections. Dive into the messy conflict between Rivera and Martin and check out the missing chapter for yourself here.

Minnesota’s Sentencing Guidelines Commission has established new harsh penalties for Medicaid fraud. Among other anti-fraud measures, the state Legislature upped the penalties for Medicaid fraud above $100,000 and $1 million this spring. The Legislature can set the maximum sentence for criminal offenses, but it's up to the state’s sentencing commission to decide the recommended sentences for felonies. Judges can rarely depart from those recommendations. At a meeting last month, commissioners decided Medicaid fraud that tops $1 million should require at least four years behind bars. Commissioners cited bipartisan support at the Capitol for increased fraud penalties and a push from Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is running for reelection, in their decision. They also said Medicaid fraud is uniquely harmful because it diverts money meant for vulnerable Minnesotans and the program’s reputation suffers. “When you have fraud on this scale in a welfare program, it tends to discredit the program — so that hurts the victims, the recipients even more,” law professor and commissioner Richard Frase said. The commission’s latest sentencing guidelines went into effect Aug. 1.

The Trump administration is wielding a Civil-War-era statute against ICE protestors in Minnesota and beyond. As Meg Anderson with NPR reports, since President Trump took office last year, the Justice Department has charged more than three dozen people with conspiracy to impede or injure an officer. All the cases involve protesting federal immigration enforcement. Before 2025, most of the recent cases using that statute involved charges against far-right groups involved in the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, which were dismissed or pardoned when President Donald Trump resumed office. Some legal experts warn the increased use of conspiracy charges in nonviolent cases could be an attempt to intimidate those who disagree with the Trump administration’s agenda. Check out the full story to learn more about one of the 15 Minnesotans indicted on conspiracy charges in June and how her story mirrors cases in Washington and Illinois.