Good morning. Minnesota’s cannaversary, or canniversary if you prefer, has arrived.
One year ago today, it became legal for adults 21 and up to use, possess and grow their own cannabis in Minnesota. Wide-scale sales won’t be permitted until early next year. Behind the scenes, the Office of Cannabis Management is getting ready for a lot more supply to hit store shelves. It’s been a whirlwind year for OCM. The Legislature established the office in 2023 and it instructed staff there to make the rules for the new legal industry. “We’ve gone from one person rattling around at the Department of Agriculture to a staff of more than 75 people who are helping us as we continue to build this plane while we’re flying it,” OCM interim director Charlene Briner said. Read the full report from Dana Ferguson here.
Vice President Kamala Harris is the only Democrat to qualify for the virtual roll call that begins today that will determine the party’s presidential nominee. The Democratic National Committee announced that the vote will start Friday and be open until Monday. But since Harris is the only candidate to qualify, the outcome is hardly in doubt. The nominee will deliver an acceptance speech to close out the party’s national convention in Chicago that concludes on Aug. 22.
Sometime on or before Tuesday, Harris intends to announce her running mate. As we’ve been reporting, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is in the mix. He’s the latest in a line of Minnesotans to get a look for that job, a couple of whom actually got it. Mark Zdechlik takes us on a trip down memory lane with some choice quotes along the way.
Harris’s campaign is pressing Wall Street donors to get donations in as soon as possible, citing a securities financial rule that seems to bar contributions to tickets featuring a sitting governor. First reported by Axios, the campaign request could signal that Harris plans to pick a governor as her Vice President, narrowing the veepstakes down to Gov. Tim Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. Harris will announce her running mate by Tuesday, when she will hold her first rally with her VP in Philadelphia.
Republican nominee Donald Trump, the former president, sat for an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago that got combative early and produced some jaw-dropping comments on race. Trump sparred with moderators , evaded some of their questions and questioned the ethnicity of Vice President Kamala Harris. She is the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother, both of whom came to the U.S. as immigrants. Trump’s answers were filled with falsehoods and the entire appearance left even some Republicans cringing about how he will make inroads with people of color this fall, something he says he’s aiming to do. Trump also repeated his pledge to pardon some people convicted of crimes on Jan. 6, 2021, while trying to block congressional certification of his loss in 2020.
Voter registration in Minnesota surged in the week following President Joe Biden’s announcement he was ending his presidential campaign. According to the Secretary of State's Office, in the four weeks before Biden dropped out, an average of 1,500 Minnesotans registered to vote each week. In the week following Biden's announcement, more than 5,000 Minnesotans registered to vote. Voting rights organization Vote.org reported 40,000 people across the country registered to vote in the 48 hours after Biden announced he was suspending his reelection campaign.
Meanwhile, two minor-party tickets have so far qualified for Minnesota’s presidential ballot. They are: the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-led “We The People” ticket and the Claudia De La Cruz-led ticket of the “Socialism and Liberation Party.” Minor party candidates have until Aug. 20 to submit their signature petitions for ballot qualification. The DFL and Republican parties have until Aug. 26 to get their paperwork into the Secretary of State’s office. In 2020, voters had nine options and a write-in line for president (97.68 percent chose either Democrat Joe Biden or Republican Donald Trump). In 2016, there were also nine tickets plus a write-in line (91.36 percent went for Trump or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton). | 
