Good morning and happy Wednesday. 

Is Gov. Tim Walz really leading his Republican opponent Scott Jensen by 18 points? Seems hard to believe, given that earlier polls have shown the race much tighter, but a new KSTP/SurveyUSA poll shows Walz with 51 percent and Jensen with 33 percent. Back in May, a survey from the same pollster showed Jensen trailing by 5 percentage points. “The results of this current poll are nothing short of stunning,” Carleton College political analyst Steven Schier told KSTP,  and cited the barrage of TV ads criticizing Jensen about abortion and education funding as difficult for the Republican to overcome. “The Jensen campaign has no money for messaging compared to the Walz campaign and the Walz campaign allies.” Our friends at the APM Research Lab are tracking polls here. 

Hours after that poll was released Jensen announced his first TV ad of the campaign. The ad features Jensen holding his baby granddaughter and notes that he has delivered more than 500 babies during his career as a physician. He repeats his contention that abortion is not an issue in the governor’s campaign. “Abortion is divisive, and Tim Walz is weaponizing the issue,” Jensen says in the ad. “I’m running because we need safe streets, excellent schools, parental rights, and more money in the family budget. Let’s focus on the issues that matter.” Jensen’s campaign says the ad is part of a “nearly seven-figure advertisement buy for the month of September.” 

Walz on Tuesday called for lawmakers to back more public safety spending and tougher sentences for criminals after a man was shot just outside the Minnesota State Fair on Monday, two days after a person was shot at the fair’s Mighty Midway entrance. MPR’s Dana Ferguson reported  Walz said Monday night’s victim was discharged from the hospital with minor injuries and that police have a suspect in the shooting, which took place near Como and Snelling avenues just outside the fairgrounds. Walz called on judges to issue harsher penalties for those involved in shootings, and he renewed his call for lawmakers to approve additional funding for public safety. "There's too many guns on the streets, and 15-year-olds with guns shooting someone or a 20-year-old being shot last night — we have got to make it as difficult as possible for folks to be getting these guns,” Walz said. 

Politico took a look at the campaign between DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison and his Republican challenger Jim Schultz. Observers on both sides of the political aisle think Ellison may be the most vulnerable statewide incumbent in Minnesota this year. And the key issue is public safety. Some quotes from the piece: “The key for our campaign is ensuring we do dramatically better in the seven-county metro, and that means flipping a lot of the suburbs and then shrinking the gaps in Minneapolis and St. Paul and some of the … inner-ring suburbs,” Schultz said. “And the way to do that is hammering him on crime.” And:  “I will talk about what I’m doing, and I will talk about contrasts,” Ellison said. “I’m for a woman’s right to choose; he’s not. I’m for economic justice and welfare; he’s a hedge fund lawyer.” 

MinnPost has a story about Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith’s efforts to help the Democrats hold on to control of the Senate. Minnesota’s senators can afford to be generous since they have continued to raise campaign cash and don’t have to spend it defending their seats this year. As of midyear, Klobuchar reported raising nearly $4 million in her personal campaign fund this cycle and Smith raised about $1.4 million. As of June 30, Klobuchar donated more than $160,000 from her personal campaign account to other Democratic senators. She also made other donations to candidates that totaled $132,500 from her Follow the North Star Fund, a PAC established by lawmakers in bids to win support from their colleagues and increase their clout in their party. 

The Associated Press reports:A New Mexico state judge has disqualified county commissioner and Cowboys for Trump cofounder Couy Griffin from holding public office for engaging in insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. State District Court Judge Francis Mathew issued a ruling Tuesday that permanently prohibits Griffin from holding or seeking local or federal office.  Griffin was previously convicted in federal court of a misdemeanor for entering Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. He was sentenced to 14 days and given credit for time served. The new ruling immediately removes Griffin from his position as a commissioner in Otero County in southern New Mexico. “Mr. Griffin aided the insurrection even though he did not personally engage in violence," Mathew wrote. "By joining the mob and trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds, Mr. Griffin contributed to delaying Congress’s election-certification proceedings.”