Good morning and happy Friday.

On the radio at noon I’ll be broadcasting from the Republican state convention in Rochester. I hope you can tune in. And watch MPRnews.org over the weekend for convention updates.

Let’s start with the convention and MPR’s Brian Bakst:The official business is to endorse candidates in three key races: governor, attorney general and secretary of state.  A fourth race, state auditor, has only a single Republican candidate who is set to win endorsement by acclimation. Republicans sense that voter frustration with inflation, crime and other hot-button issues will carry them to their first statewide victory since 2006. But Democrats are intent on holding back a wave to protect their incumbents, having stockpiled campaign money and touting the positive aspects of the economy. Six contenders are hoping to win the governor’s race endorsement, which for Republicans in modern times has meant the eventual party nomination.  They are: former state Senator Scott Jensen, Senator Paul Gazelka, business executive Kendall Qualls, former Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, dermatologist Neil Shah and Lexington Mayor Mike Murphy. None is believed to have the 60 percent delegate support needed to win the endorsement outright on the first ballot. Trailing candidates will eventually fall off the ballot, leaving a scramble to persuade their supporters. That kind of instability can mean candidates in the second or third position at the outset vault past the early balloting leader. The eventual nominee would face DFL Gov. Tim Walz and third-party challengers in November. Republicans last held the governor’s office in 2011, after two terms by Tim Pawlenty concluded.

MPR’s Mark Zdechlik reports that suspicion about election integrity is one of the unifying themes of the convention: The suspicion that the last election wasn’t fair is an echo of former President Donald Trump’s ongoing contention that he was robbed by Democrat Joe Biden, an assertion Trump has been unable to prove in court.  The Republicans competing for the party's endorsement to run against incumbent Democrat Steve Simon don't seem to be going as far as Scott Jensen when he suggested Simon should be imprisoned, but they are calling for big changes in the way elections are run.  In a recent message to Republican activists, Secretary of State candidate Kelly Jahner Byrne  said she would work to require that Minnesota voters show photo identification before casting ballots. She also has other proposals she says would make elections more secure. “We have to get our voter ID addressed,” she said in a video. “We need to have our provisional ballots, and we can only have US citizens voting and deciding American elections. Being married to an immigrant, I understand that firsthand, only eligible US citizens voting in our elections." That sounds bad, but there's no evidence that voting by non-citizens, which is illegal, is a major problem in the United States. Byrne did not agree to an interview. The other Republican candidate for secretary of state, Kim Crockett, has also suggested elections are flawed and that big changes are needed. The relentless campaigning by Republicans on the concern riles Simon, who’s been Minnesota’s secretary of state for eight years and is seeking a third term this year. “At some point, we have to point out the lie that the 2020 election was anything other than fundamentally fair, accurate, honest and secure,” Simon said in an interview.

A KSTP/SurveyUSA poll shows Walz leading in head-to-head matchups with the Republican candidates, but his support is in the mid-40s, not above 50 percent. His lead ranges from 5 points (over Scott Jensen) to 12 points (over Kendall Qualls). The poll finds a significant portion of people are still undecided. 

The Star Tribune notes that unlike in other states, former President Trump has not weighed in with an endorsement in Minnesota. From the story: "He hasn't seen a compelling reason to reward or punish," said David Sturrock, a former Minnesota Republican Party official and a political science professor at Southwest Minnesota State University. "He's big on both." Trump's absence in Minnesota isn't keeping GOP contenders from trying to attach themselves to him before Republican delegates gather in Rochester this weekend to make an endorsement in the governor's race at the party's state convention.

Via press release: On the eve of the convention gubernatorial candidate Mike Murphy named Lacy Johnson, former Republican nominee and President Trump endorsed candidate in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, as his running mate. 

The Minnesota House passed a bill Thursday night that legalizes betting on sports, but there’s no sign the Senate will follow. MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports the bipartisan vote in the House was 70-57. Under the bill, sports wagering would be allowed in American Indian casinos and through online apps run by the tribes. Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids, the chair of the commerce committee, said the vote was a big deal. “It would be the biggest change in our gambling laws really in 40 years or 30 years really since the tribal compacts were first signed in the late eighties,” he said. “A lot of time and energy has gone into getting to this point, a lot of conversations, a lot of engagement, a lot of thinking.” Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller said this week the Senate wants horse racing tracks and charities involved too. “There’s not support in the Senate to do sports betting for tribal casinos only. That’s what the House bill does. So, the House bill is sports betting exclusive to tribal casinos. That does not have the support to pass in the Senate,” Miller said.

Minority Democrats in the Minnesota Senate tried and failed to pass a series of abortion rights, health and family leave bills.Dana Ferguson of Forum News Service reports Democrats sought to move the proposals from committees to the floor for a vote, citing an urgent need to address the bills due to the impending U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion. The minority caucus members said they hoped to debate the bills on the floor since few had received a committee hearing in the GOP-led chamber. "We are under attack when it comes to our privacy rights. Roe v. Wade is just the beginning," Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen, DFL-Edina, said. "We are just very concerned with the lack of urgency in this body to move these bills forward." None of the bills received the 41 votes needed to be taken up on the floor and they were set aside one by one after they failed to meet that threshold. Republicans in the chamber voted against motions to bring them to the floor without comment.