Good morning.  We try to remain unpredictable so don’t try wagering on next week’s good morning note. 

You have to go back three decades for the last time it happened: A Republican running for U.S. Senate or governor made the November ballot without the party’s convention endorsement. Is this the year the storyline gets broken? Several candidates think so. In the governor’s race, we saw President Donald Trump endorse MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell this week. House Speaker Lisa Demuth thinks she’s well-positioned to topple endorsed Republican Kendall Qualls. In the U.S. Senate race, former TV sportscaster Michele Tafoya is the better known and better funded candidate than the endorsee, Adam Schwarze. Dana Ferguson trailed Tafoya and Demuth, who seem to be running an unofficial tandem campaign, as they look to defy history. She was also in Brainerd this week as Qualls and Schwarze worked to push back on the challenges (more to come on that next week). 

The barrage of ads so far in the DFL U.S. Senate primary race is a sign of things to come this fall. If you’ve looked at a screen — any screen — over the last month, chances are you’ve seen a political ad. Peter reports that U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, along with their supporters, have been firing ads back and forth . Some ads, mostly from the campaigns, focus more on the positives of the candidates. While others, mostly from political action committees, assail the opponents of their candidate. Millions of dollars have been spent, both by the candidates themselves and also by PACs. In that area, Craig has a clear advantage, with one PAC spending around $9.4 million (and counting) so far. Flanagan has criticized Craig for taking money from and getting support by those groups. To which Craig has responded that this is the reality is the primary winner will take incoming attacks from the GOP nominee and allies this fall that are far harsher than what’s on air now. 

Twin Cities television viewers will soon see a batch of ads for a candidate across the border. A political action committee promoting a Wisconsin Republican congressional candidate is getting ads up. The group, calling itself the Northwoods PAC, is working to elect Jessi Ebben to a northwestern Wisconsin district being vacated by Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor. It’s a contested GOP race. Northwoods says it will air messages that are “pro-life, pro-gun, pro-Trump.” Wisconsin’s primary is also on Aug. 11. 

Most of the major party U.S. House candidates have filed their required campaign finance reports electronically. Some are lagging. But here’s where we’re at as of 9 p.m. on Thursday.

Candidate	District	Party	Begin Cash	Receipts	Expenditures	End Cash
Brad Finstad*	HOUSE 1	GOP	$833,714	$543,899	$166,809	$1,210,804
Jake Johnson	HOUSE 1	DFL	$571,155	$650,362	$264,293	$957,225
Alex Eaton	HOUSE 1	DFL	$0	$79,305	$10,233	$69,072
Matt Little	HOUSE 2	DFL	$299,090	$175,498	$219,799	$254,789
Matt Klein	HOUSE 2	DFL	$334,263	$331,094	$145,469	$519,888
Kaela Berg	HOUSE 2	DFL	$54,714	$109,390	$107,495	$56,637
Hugh McTavish	HOUSE 2	DFL	$1,780	$100,645	$50,160	$52,265
Eric Pratt	HOUSE 2	GOP	$139,692	$202,388	$73,177	$268,903
Kelly Morrison*	HOUSE 3	DFL	$337,751	$258,745	$183,475	$413,021
Quetin Wittrock	HOUSE 3	GOP	$0	$256,849	$32,801	$224,049
Betty McCollum*	HOUSE 4	DFL	$669,541	$172,017	$273,837	$568,721
Paul Xiong	HOUSE 4	GOP	$10,516	$22,737	$29,567	$3,687
Ilhan Omar*	HOUSE 5	DFL	$1,573,070	$624,776	$625,213	$1,572,633
Latonya Reeves	HOUSE 5	DFL	$1,444	$10,346	$8,211	$3,579
Julie Le	HOUSE 5	DFL	$6,240	$3,683	$936	$8,988
Dalia Al-Aqidi	HOUSE 5	GOP	$33,368	$112,469	$113,985	$31,853
John Nagel	HOUSE 5	GOP	$86,721	$357,662	$395,953	$48,430
Tom Emmer*	HOUSE 6	GOP	$4,588,674	$1,321,794	$1,374,877	$4,535,592
Michael Foley	HOUSE 6	GOP	$6,583	$15,772	$12,975	$9,379
Doug Chapin	HOUSE 6	DFL	$96,466	$159,168	$255,634	$75,437
Michelle Fischbach*	HOUSE 7	GOP	$806,897	$251,741	$155,970	$902,668
Erik Osberg	HOUSE 7	DFL	$95,665	$95,644	$77,240	$114,068
Pete Stauber*	HOUSE 8	GOP	$1,006,586	$470,764	$268,744	$1,208,605
Trina Swanson	HOUSE 8	DFL	$18,873	$225,302	$126,769	$117,406
Luke Gulbranson	HOUSE 8	DFL	$0	$175,008	$134,913	$40,095

A federal spending bill amendment for security assistance for Israel showed how the conflicts in the Middle East soured support for the U.S. ally among some Democrats and at least one Republican. The amendment from GOP U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky would have cut off security aid to Israel. Nearly half of the Democrats in the House supported the amendment, which was defeated by a 314 to 104 vote. Minnesota Democratic contingency in the House fell into three categories on the vote. U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar voted in support of the amendment, U.S. Reps. Betty McCollum and Kelly Morrison voted ‘present,’ and U.S. Rep. Angie Craig voted against it. Craig’s vote quickly became political fodder for her DFL opponent in the U.S. Senate race, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. She put out a statement that said, “A vote to send $3.3 billion dollars of taxpayer money to fund additional weapons of war to Benjamin Netanyahu is unconscionable. Enough.” Craig’s congressional office also put out a statement. “Let me be clear. Benjamin Netanyahu’s reckless policies and the humanitarian crisis he has created in Gaza have damaged Israel’s reputation on the world stage and therefore jeopardized any progress toward weakening Hamas and implementing a necessary two-state solution,” Craig said. “That said, the U.S.’ longstanding partnership with Israel is critical for maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East and a blanket ban on all foreign aid, including humanitarian programs, would not only endanger the Israeli people, but also American troops and our allies in the region.” All Minnesota Republicans voted against the amendment.

The rules for a new state license plate are now written in stone. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources just put out its parameters for designs for a new Lake Superior agate-themed license plate. It’s part of a statewide design contest for the new parks and trails license plate — a plate that requires an annual contribution and serves as a Minnesota State Parks permit. The DNR’s submission period opens on Sept. 15, so artists should turn on the theme to ‘Rocky’ (or any other rock- themed song) and begin designing their Superior-focused stone plates. The designs must celebrate both the North Shore and Lake Superior agates. More details on what qualifies — in the DNR’s mind — as the North Shore and as a Lake Superior agate, can be found on the DNR’s contest page.