| While all seats in the Minnesota House are on the ballot this fall, just a fraction are taking up the focus and much of the fundraising of major parties. The results could determine what new taxes or tax cuts take hold in Minnesota, as well as where lawmakers prioritize state funding for schools, public safety, health care programs and more in next year’s budget-writing session. While most districts feature head-to-head battles between candidates, just a fraction are viewed as competitive. Those contests in politically purple districts have drawn the most money, time and attention from the major political parties and independent organizations that can put forward resources that can boost or oppose candidates in those races. Dana Ferguson has the 14 races to watch this year.
Given that the House majority hinges on a small number of seats, flaws in candidates' pasts are resurfacing as parties and groups jockey for an edge that can decide key races. This is the time of year when the dirt gets shoveled in pivotal legislative campaigns, which are far enough down the ballot to be mostly obscure to many voters, but are collectively crucial to determining the direction of state government. Political parties and outside entities with keen interest on who controls the House next year are looking for anything in a candidate’s past that could make them unpalatable to voters, from the professional to the personal. Ellie has the story on how that all plays out in key legislative races.
As the Kamala Harris campaign looks to cut into Donald Trump’s edge in non-urban areas, Gov. Tim Walz unveiled a plan to improve the lives of rural voters in Pennsylvania. The plan has a large emphasis on rural health care, which includes loan forgiveness for doctors and nurses, expanding rural telehealth services and expanding ambulance services, problems Walz’s home state has been experiencing for a long time. The rural policy agenda also covers faster internet and farm safety net programs that the Harris campaign says they would implement if elected. Speaking on a family farm in western Pennsylvania, Walz says that Republicans are more talk than action on rural economic security. “Been a lot of talk about outsiders coming in, coming into rural communities, stealing our jobs, making life worse for the people who are living there. Those outsiders have names. They're Donald Trump and JD Vance,” Walz said. Pennsylvania is a linchpin state in the presidential race and the reason the campaigns have both spent a significant amount of time there in recent weeks. The Trump campaign countered by saying the Biden-Harris administration has imposed regulatory hurdles that have harmed small towns.
In Chicago, Trump used an interview yesterday to promote tariffs. Appearing before an audience at the Economic Club in Chicago, the Republican presidential nominee repeatedly said tariffs are misunderstood as an economic tool. “To me the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff,” Trump said. “It’s my favorite word. It needs a public relations firm.” Many mainstream economists say tariffs amount to a tax on the American consumer and can result in higher inflation. If elected, Trump said he would propose a 60 percent tariff on goods from China and a 20 percent tariff on everything else the U.S. imports.
A Trump campaign town hall event in the Philadelphia suburbs turned into an impromptu dance party on Monday, causing Harris to question whether her rival is slipping. During the event , Trump was interrupted twice by medical emergencies in the audience. Following the second incident, the usual signal of Trump's exit — “Y.M.C.A.” by the Village People — blasted through the loudspeakers. Instead of leaving, he remained on stage, telling the crowd, “Nobody’s leaving. What’s going on?” For roughly 40 minutes after, Trump bopped and shimmied to a wide variety of songs. Trump finally exited the stage to “Memory” from the musical “Cats.” Harris responded to the Trump display with four words: “Hope he is OK.” | 
