Good morning! Are you ready for some football? We hope the Gophers are. Opening game is tonight at home. If you’re not into football, Gov. Tim Walz declared today “ Team Minnesota Day.”

Keep an eye on the 1st Congressional District, where Democrats hope a candidate with hustle and a dour political mood add up to an upset. They’re putting their faith in a math teacher making his first run for office. Catharine Richert went to Fairmont for one of Jake Johnson’s 21 town halls around the district to hear what he’s saying, what he’s being asked and what might be cutting through. She also spoke to Republican Rep. Brad Finstad, who isn’t showing panic nor is he willing to be snuck up on like a parallel election year in 2006 when a newcomer named Tim Walz toppled veteran Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht in a Democratic-wave year. A lot would have to go right for Johnson to pull off a win given the district’s Republican complexion and Finstad’s past of notching double-digit victories. 

We’re not even to Labor Day yet but the ads are getting sharper in the governor’s race. A few new ones debuted this week. A spot paid for by Amy Klobuchar’s campaign and the Minnesota DFL comes at Lisa Demuth over tariffs and allegiance to President Donald Trump. It features interview clips where Demuth is hesitant to separate from Trump and concludes with a person saying “We can’t put her in the governor’s office.” In another new ad, Restore Sanity, the pro-Demuth Super PAC, torches Klobuchar over fraud and suggests she “got in on the action” and can’t be trusted to fix it. There are scenes with Gov. Tim Walz holding stacks of cash and the governor’s mansion with the famously misspelled name of a scrutinized daycare. The claims echo those used in a prior Demuth ad that Klobuchar pursued an earmark that never came to fruition. Both spots are airing in heavy rotation. Meanwhile, Demuth is up with a set of biographical ads, including one where she talks of being raised by a single mom and her family’s use of “state assistance for a short time.” It connects that experience to her focus on preventing fraud in them. “I know what these programs mean for families who truly need them,” she says. Demuth also has an ad where she teaches a pair of women in a diner how to say her last name as they talk about her as a candidate pledging to crack down on fraudsters. 

Where are the Senate ads? Television viewers got a healthy dose of Senate race ads ahead of the August primary but there haven’t been many, if any, since. Files maintained by Twin Cities stations don’t show any ad purchases by DFL nominee Peggy Flanagan nor Republican nominee Michele Tafoya in the weeks after they won their primaries. Minnesota remains below other battleground states — Maine, Michigan, Georgia and elsewhere — in the contest for U.S. Senate control. It remains to be seen if Republicans will invest much in Minnesota and Democrats are disinclined to do so unless they have to with their sights mainly on picking up seats rather than defending ones they already have.

 

There will be some final gasps in the case of the 2026 governor primary. A pair of election contest cases challenging Lisa Demuth’s victory in the Republican governor’s primary are still churning through a district court. The cases, one filed by distant second-place finisher Mike Lindell, are set for a trial that begins next Wednesday morning. Ahead of that, there is a motions hearing today that will be conducted over Zoom. Lindell filed his case — as did a Stillwater voter — at the same time he went to the Minnesota Supreme Court to ask for help getting a broad recount going. He was turned back by justices. But the election contest law requires a trial, for which presiding Judge Mark Ireland is setting aside two days. A three-judge panel will preside over the trial. An order from Ireland makes clear he won’t tolerate a spectacle: No surprise or “undisclosed” exhibits will be allowed at trial and witness lists must come in advance. Demuth’s campaign has hired GOP election lawyer/lobbyist Reid LeBeau II to defend her 45,000-vote victory. Meanwhile, Lindell is still saying he’ll go to the U.S. Supreme Court on the recount matter, but the nation’s highest court is under no obligation to hear that case.

Lisa Demuth and Amy Klobuchar spoke with KARE 11 about what their housing agendas would be as governor. Klobuchar, a U.S. senator, has made housing a central tenet of her campaign and had more specifics to share with KARE 11’s Danny Spewak in a live forum at the State Fair yesterday. Meanwhile, House Speaker Demuth includes housing in her larger affordability agenda. As Cait reports, Klobuchar said to achieve her plan of building 100,000 new homes she’d streamline regulations, maximize federal dollars and support factory-built housing. Demuth said she’d roll back regulations and policies like sick and safe time. She said housing regulations, including environmental regulations, are keeping costs high and things like paid family leave and higher property taxes are making it harder for Minnesotans to afford those costs. Watch the full interviews here.

Many Minnesotans saw their electric bills spike this summer, which could become a talking point in campaigns. As Harshawn Ratanpal discovered, the factors include an extremely warm summer and supply chain disruptions from tariffs and the Iran war. What about the impact of data centers, a hot button topic in many state and local campaigns? One expert told Harshawn that Minnesota hasn’t yet seen an influx of the hyperscale data centers that other states have, so while they’re not directly to blame for the state’s rising electricity prices, construction of data centers around the country is increasing demand for equipment that our utilities also use. 

Congress gave a one-month lifeline for hemp THC products, which were set to be banned in November. A ban would limit the amount of THC allowed in hemp-derived products like gummies and seltzers. Many hemp businesses say it would kill the industry. Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, who pushed for delaying the ban until December, told Harshan on Wednesday that it gives lawmakers more time to create regulations for hemp products. "This is a very simple thing that we can do to expand new and better ag markets, and to also support local brewers and local businesses.” The delay was included in a spending bill now awaiting the president's signature. 

The Department of Homeland Security is stepping up efforts to find non-citizens among registered voters, though there’s little evidence of widespread voting fraud issues, according to the New York Times. The Times reports that hundreds of federal agents have been assigned to look for non-citizens on voter rolls. The story says that the agents are using personal identifiable information about these voters — including dates of birth, partial Social Security numbers, to find them in state voter rolls. In some cases, investigators are filling in the personal information of voters to check on voter status, though the sites are intended for individual use. “The extraordinary operation reveals the extent to which the Trump administration is searching for evidence of fraud ahead of the November elections. The government is privately calling the effort the Unlawful Voter Initiative and is pulling agents from their normal duties, which include investigating such serious crimes as human trafficking and terrorism,” the story says.

If you’re headed to the fair and want to mix politics and fun, download our MPR State Fair Political Bingo card. Want to meet political candidates without having to talk politics? This is the game for you. Find a political booth with a campaign tote bag, look for a politician drinking a beer or wearing Minnesota State Fair merch, or spot a candidate on a tractor! There are two versions of the bingo card, one for Player 1 and one for Player 2.