Good morning, and welcome to another cold Monday. 

There’s a new candidate for governor on the Republican side. Kendall Qualls entered the race Sunday, after touring the state for months as head of a nonprofit called TakeChange MN. Qualls is an Army veteran and business executive who ran unsuccessfully as the Republican candidate for Congress in Minnesota’s 3rd district in 2020. “I’m running for governor of Minnesota because we are at a crossroads in our country. For over a decade the radical left has morphed the culture of the country where it is not recognizable,” said Qualls in a statement. “We are not going to be the generation that lost the America that we have known and loved.” calling the state “ground zero for riots, looting and the defund the police movement,” Qualls said he will  “end the anti-American agenda pushed by Governor Walz, Ilhan Omar and Keith Ellison.” He made the announcement on Fox and Friends, and joined a Republican field of about a half dozen candidates hoping to unseat DFL Gov. Tim Walz, who is running for reelection this year. Minnesota DFL Party Chair Ken Martin responded to Quall’s announcement. “Kendall Qualls endorsed and voted for Donald Trump whose policies put millions of Americans’ health care and livelihoods in jeopardy, and now, he is traveling the state pushing extreme Republican talking points in order to divide us,” Martin said in a statement. “Minnesotans in the third congressional district already rejected Kendall Qualls’s candidacy and I have no doubt it will happen again.  This move only makes the messy GOP primary messier with no benefit to Minnesotans.”

Hundreds of Minnesota hospital workers called in sick last week. MPR’s Catharine Richert reports: COVID-19 hospitalizations have dropped slightly since the fall surge, but not enough to ease worsening staffing issues. Around the state, hospitals are reporting hundreds of absent employees due to the virus. “This is the most hard-pressed the health system has been since the beginning of the pandemic,” said Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm during a news briefing on Friday. “That’s why we’re concerned about these next few weeks, that it’s going to add even more stress.” An estimated 90 percent of new COVID-19 cases are being driven by the omicron variant, according to state data. Omicron is the most contagious version of the virus to date and even fully vaccinated and boosted individuals are susceptible to infection — health care workers among them. To fill staffing gaps, Allina is hiring contract workers, providing bonuses and other incentives for people to work more hours. 

Secretary of State Steve Simon responded to a request from the Crow Wing County Board of Commissioners for a forensic audit of the 2020 election. There’s no legitimate reason to second-guess the integrity of the 2020 election in Crow Wing County,” Simon tweeted Sunday. “The county ran the election with great skill, & our office won’t engage in an impossibly broad search for unspecified misconduct based on someone’s gut feeling, hunch, or belief.” As noted here last week the Brainerd Dispatch wrote about the county’s resolution last week and the Star Tribune had a story Sunday.

Republicans in the Minnesota Senate released their proposed new maps for congressional and legislative districts Friday, reported Tim Pugmire. The Senate Redistricting Committee hasn’t met publicly in months. It released the maps in a news release. Republicans say their proposed political boundaries are more compact and would divide fewer cities and counties than the House DFL plan released last month. There are 12 Senate incumbent pairings, most of which are Democrats, and 12 open Senate seats. The proposed House districts include 15 open seats and 15 incumbent pairings, again mostly Democrats. The Senate Republican map for congressional districts is the same as the one House Republicans drew.

The Legislature has until February 15th to resolve the redistricting matter or the courts take over the job. A panel of 5 judges is already working on the issue. 

MnDOT Commissioner Margaret Anderson Kelliher is headed to Minneapolis Public Works. On Friday Mayor Jacob Frey named Anderson Kelliher as public works director. The mayor will present the nomination to the Minneapolis City Council when it meets Monday. The public works department is responsible for more than 1,100 miles of city streets, plus sewers, water treatment and trash disposal. The leadership position pays more than the commissioner’s job. The last director made $194,000 annually while the commissioner’s pay is capped at about $155,000 per year.  Anderson Kelliher has served as MnDOT commissioner for the last three years, but has yet to receive a formal confirmation vote in the state Senate. She served in the Minnesota House for a dozen years, including four as speaker. She won the DFL party endorsement for governor in 2010, but lost the primary to Mark Dayton.