Good morning. The Minnesota Senate is up for grabs.

Coming next week: The latest MPR News/KARE 11/Star Tribune Minnesota Poll. It will look at voter sentiment toward the 2024 presidential race, Donald Trump's conviction, Israel's war with Hamas and other top issues. Watch for stories on the results beginning Monday morning. 

This will be a blockbuster of a state Senate race. DFL Sen. Kelly Morrison of Deephaven is resigning her seat in the 34-33 Democratic-led chamber. She’s the nominee for the party in the open 3rd Congressional District for an open House seat. The timing of her departure assures the seat is decided in November, rather than a lower turnout special election later this year or early in 2025. But it allows Republicans a chance to win one seat and the Senate majority in a single swoop to have at least a Capitol foothold for the next two years. The Lake Minnetonka-area seat had once been reliably Republican but has swung more to the left in recent cycles. Morrison won the seat in 2022 with 57 percent of the vote. In any event, expect a hard fought and expensive contest given the stakes.

A Democratic challenger to Rep. Ilhan Omar is trying to draw her husband’s business dealings into the campaign.  The lawsuit in question alleges Omar’s husband Tim Mynett and another well-connected political consultant swindled investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, which they deny. Former Minneapolis City council member Don Samuels alleges Omar’s payments to her husband as a political consultant has given his businesses access and credibility. A spokesperson for Omar’s campaign calls Samuels’ attack politically motivated and reeking of desperation. Omar received the DFL’s endorsement last month. Samuels came just two points from beating her in a primary two years ago. 

A government watchdog group has filed a Federal Elections Commission complaint against Republican U.S. Senate candidate Royce White. The complaint by the Campaign Legal Center alleges that White violated federal campaign finance laws and deprived voters of vital information during a prior campaign for Congress. There have been numerous reports on questionable campaign spending during a prior White campaign that could lead to more legal troubles down the road. White’s spending from a past run for Congress, including on luxury items and strip club bills, has come under scrutiny . His endorsement at the GOP convention last month was a bit of an upset. A more traditional candidate, former U.S. veteran Joe Fraser, was favored by some party figures. Nevertheless, party leaders who haven’t said much about the swirl of stories around White now seem to be standing with him – literally. The Minnesota Republican Party posted a photo of Chair David Hann and White, with a message that the party needs “all hands on deck this summer to defeat Democrats up and down the ticket in November.” White will face an August primary challenge against Fraser, a businessman and former Navy officer.

A disclosure law meant to clamp down on possible insider trading by members of Congress has had a side effect: Some brokerages are promoting the stock holdings of lawmakers because they tend to perform well.NPR reports that professional traders “believe that information provides an edge on the market, and companies are selling access to tools that track those profitable lawmaker trades.” The STOCK ACT was passed in 2012 and requires that legislators routinely disclose transactions above $1,000 as a way to limit the possibility they use (or abuse) non-public data to inform their trading habits. Now-Gov. Tim Walz sponsored the stock-trading legislation as a member of the U.S. House, celebrated its passage in 2012 and used it as a messaging point in his 2018 campaign for Minnesota’s top office.