Good morning. While you're waiting for the snow to start falling you might as well catch up on the latest politics news. Here’s your Digest. 1. GOP lawmaker Zerwas resigns for health reasons. State Rep. Nick Zerwas will resign his legislative seat early next month, a move he said Monday will allow him to refocus his career after another heart surgery and allow him to better support his family. Zerwas, R-Elk River, will depart Dec. 6 after serving seven years in the House. He called the time in office “the honor of my lifetime” but said he leaves without regret. “My recent heart surgery brought into focus the need to spend as much time as I can with my wife and three-year-old son and spend my prime working years providing the best possible life for my family,” Zerwas said in a written statement. “It is not easy leaving a job that I absolutely love, but I’m able to depart on my own terms with no regrets and with optimism for what lies ahead.” Zerwas, 38, underwent another heart surgery in October to replace a pacemaker. He was born with a congenital heart defect and wasn’t expected to survive childhood. Zerwas has undergone 11 heart surgeries in his life, including two while a legislator. MPR News 2. No consensus on responding to disinformation. Democratic Party leaders are engaged in an internal struggle over whether to explicitly disavow the use of disinformation tactics in the 2020 election. State party leaders, led by Minnesota DFL chair Ken Martin, have urged the Democratic National Committee to adopt such a pledge, but others are privately worried that it would put the party at a disadvantage against a president who has repeatedly trafficked in doctored videos and retweeted false stories since winning the presidency in 2016. Former Vice President Joe Biden is so far one of the only candidates to publicly sign a pledge not to use manipulated videos, content from fake social media accounts or other increasingly common disinformation tactics. Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has not signed a pledge, but she has personally vowed not to traffic in disinformation tactics. But the national committee has so far refused to take action. The Republican National Committee also has declined to take a formal stance. Star Tribune 3. Confronting the gender question. Amy Klobuchar does not want to run for president as a “woman candidate.” That’s never been the Minnesota Democrat’s style. But the media, public opinion polls and the addition of more men to an already crowded 2020 primary race led the three-term senator to a conclusion: Many Americans still aren’t comfortable with the idea of a woman in the Oval Office, and she needed to amplify the conversation about it. So in interviews, on the debate stage and before overflow crowds at weekend town halls in New Hampshire, Klobuchar has been talking more pointedly about gender and politics — even if she’d rather be discussing her record of winning even in Republican areas or the more than 100 bills she’s passed. “Our people want to win. And if they think, ‘Oh, can a woman really win?’ you gotta start discussing that. But it’s not the theme of why I should win,” Klobuchar said. “I want to run on my merits.” The Associated Press 4. Turning renters into buyers. As part of Minneapolis’ efforts to create and maintain affordable housing, a group of city council members are developing a proposal that would require landlords who want to sell rental homes to give tenants an opportunity to buy the property. The plan would require property owners who want to sell or tear down properties to put their renters first in line for buying the buildings cooperatively. If renters express interest, they would be able to solicit the help of the city of Minneapolis or a housing nonprofit to finance the purchase. Under the concept, the city would also provide the tenants with technical assistance — such as help filing loan applications or preparing legal documents — to see the transaction go through. “Our housing market is really well suited to this because we have so many single-family homes as the rental stock,” said Council Member Steve Fletcher, whose Ward 3 includes downtown and the Marcy-Holmes area and who is co-authoring the proposal. “We have a lot of property that could fit this model very well and good, and it could be fairly easy to finance for low-income families that haven’t had access to ownership.” MinnPost 5. DFLer Peterson still undecided about re-election run. Possible GOP rivals aren’t. Longtime U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, DFL-Minn., says he’s holding out until next year to decide whether he’ll seek another term representing Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District, a move aimed at deterring a bruising campaign a while longer. But that hasn’t stopped possible GOP challengers from entering the fray and setting up a deep bench of possible opponents to take on Peterson, one of the first Blue Dog Democrats, in the 2020 contest. So far, five Republican candidates have thrown their hats in the ring to take on the 28-year incumbent. And the news that one was in the running flipped the district’s rating from likely Democratic-leaning to a toss-up. Historically, Peterson has drawn a few challengers each cycle, but this year marks one of the largest — if not the largest — fields aiming to take him on. “People see there’s a huge opportunity to retire Collin Peterson,” Minnesota GOP Chair Jennifer Carnahan said Friday. Forum News Service
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