Good morning. Good luck this weekend to all the runners, especially Dana. 

The first debate in Minnesota’s high-profile attorney general’s race is today on MPR News at noon. Tune in on the radio or our radio stream. Or watch it at mprnews.org as it happens or at your convenience later. Two-term Attorney General Keith Ellison, a DFLer, and trial attorney Ron Schutz, a Republican, will be on Politics Friday together for the full hour. We’ll cover many topics that are front and center in their campaign as well as matters that fall before the person who occupies the state’s main public law office. 

Republican nominee for governor Lisa Demuth says she’ll be at KSTP for a debate tonight even if she’s onstage alone. Demuth said her DFL opponent U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar hasn’t committed to participate in the televised event. Demuth said she’s hoping there will be more head-to-head chances for the candidates to air their policy differences than are previously scheduled. “I will be there,” Demuth said yesterday. “From there, we've got them (events) rolling all the way through. But I look forward to the first one tomorrow night. Minnesotans deserve to be able to see their candidates and hear firsthand the things that make sense and our stance on things.” The candidates will face off later this month in Rochester at a FOX9-Gray TV debate on Oct. 21. Other events on their agreed-upon list include an Economic Club Minnesota candidate discussion Monday where the pair will speak separately and an Oct. 19 Minnesota Chamber of Commerce business panel. MPR News has invited both candidates for an Oct. 20 live debate, for which Klobuchar accepted and Demuth has so far declined.

Another debate is on tap next week in Minnesota’s only open race for a congressional seat this cycle. That’s for the 2nd Congressional District seat now held by Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, who unsuccessfully sought her party’s nod for U.S. Senate this year. The two nominees are DFLer Matt Little and Republican Eric Pratt. Both have held multiple public offices, with the state Senate the most-recent stop for each. The district has been competitive in recent election cycles but hasn’t made the nation’s most-watched contests this year, which is evident by a scarcity in political advertising. The district spans from the suburbs south of St. Paul into greater Minnesota towns along the Mississippi River and west toward Belle Plaine and Le Sueur. 

Lisa Demuth has proposed directing local communities to put police first in spending their local government aid funding as part of a public safety plan in her governor’s campaign. Demuth said local governments like Minneapolis should focus state aid funding to law enforcement needs ahead of other priorities like infrastructure. “It should be used first for the basic services such as police. That's peacekeeping,” Demuth said. “Taxpayers from the northernmost part of our state should not be paying for woke policies in Minneapolis. A safe Minneapolis benefits our entire state, and the state dollars should go to law enforcement first.” As governor, she said she would direct more state dollars to the Minneapolis Police Department, along with Hennepin County law enforcement authorities and the University of Minnesota, to police the university community during times of higher crime. Demuth also suggested tougher penalties for repeat violent offenders and said she’d seek to roll back DFL-enacted laws that allowed for earlier prison release dates for some offenders. Demuth and her running mate Ryan Wilson said they would also sign an executive order calling for the removal of open-air drug markets and homeless encampments, which would direct the State Patrol or Department of Transportation to clear camps on state land.

New health insurance rates for next year’s privately purchased policies are out, and the steep increases are already a big campaign flashpoint. The Minnesota Department of Commerce 2027 insurance rate report, released yesterday, says every approved insurance carrier in the state is set to increase rates by at least ten percent. Nationwide, insurers offering plans on the Affordable Care Act requested a median rate increase of 15 percent. That news instantly became campaign fodder – with Democrats pointing their fingers directly at President Donald Trump’s cuts to healthcare subsidies and Medicaid eligibility. His signature tax and spending package cut $1 trillion from Medicaid last year. “Minnesota Republicans cheered Trump on, championed health care cuts right here in Minnesota, and protected Big Pharma from laws that would have cracked down on their price increases — even while their constituents are being hurt,” DFL House Leader Zack Stephenson said. Democratic nominee for governor U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and nominee for U.S. Senate Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan both said similar things online. GOP governor nominee Demuth fired back, saying Klobuchar has not done enough to lower health insurance costs and criticizing Democrats in the Legislature. “The increase in health insurance premiums we are seeing today are the fruits of the Democrat trifecta that took place in 2023-2024,” Demuth added.

Earlier this week there were many campaign statements springing from a White House announcement that a proposed $15 billion steel mill project was far down the tracks in Iowa. Turns out, there’s more to the story. Iowa television station KWQC dug deeper and found that despite President Donald Trump’s statement that “they’ve already started building,” there have been no permits pulled or agreements made in the county that would host the project. State officials told the station that a memorandum of understanding has been signed at the state level but more actions will be needed to finalize incentives and other clearances. A special session is due to convene today to begin that subsidy push. Minnesota’s regulatory climate was cited as a reason for the mill, using iron ore mined here, going elsewhere. We’ll have to watch to see if there is an attempt to turn the tide and land the project closer to the mine operation.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune will make the trip across the border to stump for Republican Senate nominee Michele Tafoya next week. Thune will join Minnesota Farm Bureau leaders in supporting Tafoya’s campaign at a Le Sueur farm. It’s a relatively rare press availability for Tafoya, who has focused her messages through ads, some national TV appearances and her podcast. A visit from Thune, the chamber’s top Republican, signals a sense from the majority leader that the race could be in play for the GOP. Thune is from neighboring South Dakota. Tafoya and Democrat Peggy Flanagan are running to fill the Senate seat now held by Democratic U.S. Sen Tina Smith. So far, there hasn’t been much outside money to flow into the general election contest, and nothing like the barrage of ads seen in places like Iowa, Michigan and even Nebraska and Kansas that happens when parties see a contest as a true tossup.

Minnesota’s Supreme Court has a new person at the top. New Chief Justice Theodora Gaïtas took her official oath yesterday to fill that spot, replacing the retiring Natalie Hudson. To backfill Gaïtas as an associate justice, Gov. Tim Walz had named Judge Reynaldo Aligada, Jr., who also took his spot yesterday. Minnesota’s Supreme Court has seven members. All have been appointed by Democratic governors. The judiciary has undergone a makeover in the last 16 years of having a DFL governor filling the seats.

Gov. Tim Walz is easing some road weight restrictions in a move he says should save haulers on fuel costs. He signed an executive order allowing vehicles hauling agricultural and forest products to carry 10 percent more than the weight limit on state and local highways. Walz says it will allow for hauling of more goods during harvest season, and cut down on the number of trips these haulers have to take. He cited diesel prices hitting a record high in September. As of yesterday, the average price per gallon was $6.39 according to AAA. Two DFL state senators facing tough reelection bids, Rob Kupec of Moorhead and Aric Putnam of St. Cloud, had pushed the governor to temporarily allow red dye diesel to be used on public highways, not just in farm fields. The rising costs at the fuel pump are also the focus of a new ad from Lt. Gov. Flanagan in her bid for U.S. Senate.

A correction from an item yesterday about the diesel-cost issue. We said there was a town hall planned by DFL state Sen. Grant Hauschild and DFL candidate Mark Legvold, a Northfield farmer. They’re appearing today but it’s a discussion geared toward news coverage and not a forum.