Good morning. A taste of the presidential race and big budget news are ahead this week.
It might be hard for people to tell, but there’s a presidential primary next week in Minnesota. There have been no political TV ads, only scant campaign outreach and today, the sole campaign visit from a non-Minnesota presidential candidate when Nikki Haley drops in for an evening rally. Haley is coming off a scorching defeat in South Carolina’s primary — a state where she was once governor. Haley is turning her fading hopes to Super Tuesday states. Minnesota is as good as any to make a run in given that it went for Marco Rubio over Donald Trump in 2016 (he actually finished third that year), but even then it’s an uphill fight. All four GOP members of Congress from the state have endorsed Trump. MPR’s Mark Zdechlik will be in Bloomington for the Haley event.
Ahead of her visit, Haley swatted down any notion of teaming up with Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, who has both flirted with and retreated from suggestions he’ll break from the Democratic Party.Haley told Fox News she is a Republican running in a Republican primary. End of story. Meanwhile, Phillips tried to again clear the air about what he’s up to. He said he won’t lead a third-party ticket. And Phillips also ruled out a future run for governor or Senate in Minnesota; he was once talked about as a potential statewide candidate but burned a lot of capital on his presidential run.
As we briefly noted on Friday, Phillips is being dogged by questions about a magician’s claim that a vendor with his campaign paid him to create AI-generated robocalls manipulating Joe Biden’s voice ahead of the New Hampshire primary. The state’s Attorney General John Formella declined to comment Friday on whether investigators are looking into Paul Carpenter, a New Orleans-based magician, or Steve Kramer, a Democratic consultant hired by the Phillips’ campaign, saying only that the investigation into the robocall continues. Carpenter told the Associated Press he was hired by Kramer to use AI to mimic President Biden’s voice for the robocalls, in what authorities have said may be the first known attempt to use artificial intelligence to interfere with a U.S. election.The Phillips’ campaign denounced the calls and Kramer’s alleged actions, saying the $260,000 it paid him in December and January was for help getting on the ballot in New York and Pennsylvania.
Precinct caucuses are tomorrow. It’s the first proving ground for candidates looking for their party endorsement for the Minnesota House, U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Attendance at these is seldom high and even less so since the state moved to a presidential primary four years ago. But for the candidates and party diehards, they’re still significant. Find where your area caucus is by going to the finder link here.
We capped off last week chatting with Senate Majority leader Erin Murphy and the Republican challenging U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Politics Friday. Murphy talked about a variety of bills that have been introduced at the Legislature. She’s skeptical the North Star Act, a proposal that would enhance legal protections for immigrants, could garner the votes to pass this year. She also said an end-of-life options bill, known to many as an assisted suicide proposal, will take more time to work through and will most likely spill into another session. And Joe Fraser, the Republican who could take on three-term Klobuchar in November, talked about his endorsement for Trump (rather unenthusiastically) and his background in the Navy and the intelligence field. You can listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.
Lawmakers in Minnesota are considering whether they should shore up in vitro fertilization (IVF) protections in the wake of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling. On Politics Friday, Murphy said since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning nationwide abortion protections, the standard of care in the country is shifting, reproductive rights are central to a constitutional amendment Minnesota lawmakers will consider this session: “I would have to look through that language and think through the impact on IVF, but the point of that legislation is to make sure we’re saying in Minnesota we have the right to make those choices for ourselves.” The DFL-led Legislature could approve a broader equal rights amendment this year for voter consideration in 2026. And on Friday. Gov. Tim Walz told reporters that Alabama’s IVF ruling will be “as big as Dobbs in our elections.” If GOP candidates “think they’re escaping the Alabama Supreme Court,” Walz said, “they are sadly mistaken. That cake is baked.”
Minnesota lawmakers will also be closely watching a budget report out this week. MPR’s Clay Masters previews the economic forecast due Wednesday. It’s the one that will determine whether lawmakers have more money, about the same or less than what they thought they had coming into session. Senate Finance Chair John Marty told Clay that no matter what the report says, he still wants the Legislature to be cautious about new spending this year. “Don't take the dollar sign at the bottom of the budget line when they come up with the new forecast and say, ‘oh, we've got all that money and we can use it,’” Marty said. “It has to factor into the process and how we do it in a rational way.”
It’s a distant memory to many by now, but the fumbled appointment of the first Office of Cannabis Management director created many questions about vetting, scope of the role and more. In September, when we and others reported on red flags in Erin DuPree’s past, we fired off open records requests to try to ascertain if and how the trouble spots were missed. Some of those questions were answered in a recent legislative auditor’s report . But six months later, we’re also getting more of our data requests back. One question Brian had was if DuPree supplied the state with all prior names, which were the keys we used to unlock some parts of her business and tax past. Turns out, she indeed offered up two prior names she had and gave consent for those to be queried as part of the background check. She was also fingerprinted, which was part of the process for finalists. A BCA background investigator said the agency had spoken “with other companies DuPree had business dealings.” Today is the final day for people to apply for the cannabis director job, which the governor’s office hopes to fill by late spring or early summer. | 