Good morning. Minnesota is home to a new national championship. Congrats to the women on a team with no name.
The chairman of the Minnesota DFL Party is calling on state Sen. Nicole Mitchell to resign in the wake of the Woodbury Democrat’s burglary arrest last month. DFL chair Ken Martin issued a statement Thursday morning, saying that Mitchell’s “continued refusal to take responsibility for her actions” has become a distraction for her district and the Legislature. Martin noted that Mitchell provided her district representation at the Capitol through the end of the legislative session. But now that the session is over, he’s calling on her to step down. In a statement last month, Mitchell said she would not resign, saying all the facts about the alleged break-in at a relative’s home were not known. She faces ongoing ethics proceedings in the Senate. If she resigns by June 8 it would trigger a November special election aligned with the regular election.
Jury deliberations are underway in former President Donald Trump’s hush money case. After about four and a half hours yesterday, the jury was sent home for the day. As the deliberations proceed in secret, jurors can communicate with the courts through notes that ask the judge for legal guidance or to have particular excerpts of testimony read back to them. They sent multiple requests to the judge yesterday, including an ask for a reading of certain testimony and another recitation of the jury instructions. Both requests should be fulfilled today. There’s no time limit for how long a jury can deliberate. The jury is tasked with evaluating 34 counts of falsifying business records and to convict Trump, all 12 jurors must come to that decision unanimously. Trump is required to be in the courthouse throughout the deliberations. Again, no matter what gets decided, it will be politically monumental.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has rejected calls to sit out cases on Trump and Jan. 6 because of the controversy over flags that flew over his homes. In letters to members of Congress on Wednesday, Alito said his wife, Martha-Ann, was responsible for flying an upside-down flag over his home in 2021 and an ”Appeal to Heaven” flag at his New Jersey beach house last year. Both flags are similar to flags carried by rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. Supreme Court justices decide for themselves whether to sit out on a case. The only potential consequence for refusing to do so would be an impeachment by the House of Representatives, which has never happened in American history.
For some Minnesota Democrats, a fear of another Trump presidency will send them to the polls. As a part of an ongoing series by MPR News correspondent Mark Zdechlik that explores how voters of all philosophies perceive today’s political environment, candidates and the election, Mark spoke to Democrat Jimmy Kouba. Kouba’s support for Biden is not only driven by his administration’s efforts to bolster the nation’s infrastructure and clean energy production, but also out of a fear of what another Donald Trump presidency could look like. He’s not alone. For many Democrats, the nervousness is palpable. Biden is wobbly in polling, particularly in the swing states he relied on to push past then-President Trump four years ago.
Other longtime Democrats in the state say it might take four years of GOP control at the federal level to spur an international reckoning around war in the Middle East. Activists at odds with President Joe Biden over his stance on the ongoing war in Gaza say they'll make their frustrations heard this weekend. Ahead of the Minnesota DFL Party convention in Duluth, the group Abandon Biden plans to send at least two busloads to the gathering. Kevin Aldwaik says he's a long-time DFL supporter but he wants to see the party voice stronger opposition to U.S. support for weapons used against Palestinian people. "All the DFLers, I always voted for the party lines, you'll never get my vote again until I see a change in trajectory with acknowledgement of our American values: equal rights for all, respect for international law," he said.
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is launching a Black voter outreach effort. Black voters were essential to Biden’s win in 2020, but that support shows signs of fraying . Among Black adults, Biden’s approval has dropped from 94 percent when he started his term to 55 percent in a poll conducted this spring. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris launched the outreach effort on Wednesday in Philadelphia, visiting a predominantly Black boarding school and a small business to speak with members of the Black Chamber of Commerce. Turning out Black voters could be pivotal to the Biden campaign’s success in some of the most closely contested states - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The Office of American Indian Health was ceremonially launched at the Capitol yesterday. Although the office was created by law in 2022, it took a while for the Minnesota Department of Health to get it up and running. Tribal members and health officials held an event to mark its debut. The office is charged with improving the health and well-being of Native communities in Minnesota and addressing health inequities. American Indians have lower life expectancies and are at a higher risk for chronic diseases than the general population. | 