By Max Nesterak | Deputy Editor
Good morning, Reformers.
We have stories on the gubernatorial candidates’ education plans, the Senate race, and Trump’s quest for voter information.
First, some developments on the federal immigration investigation into U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. The New York Times reports federal agents issued subpoenas to Omar’s sister and at least one other relative in an apparent effort to gather evidence about possible crimes.
It’s unclear exactly what wrongdoing the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security are trying to uncover. The Times reports the investigation may concern whether Omar improperly received citizenship through her father’s naturalization application, if he was ineligible. Reuters, also citing an unnamed source, reports the probe concerns paperwork her father filled out when she was a child. The New York Post dug up years-old allegations from a political rival that Omar may have been 18 years old when she was naturalized, and thus ineligible to pursue citizenship through her father’s application.
Omar says the Trump administration is targeting her with “baseless lies and smear campaigns,” calling the raid on her Washington home a weaponization of federal law enforcement.
The search, coming so close to an election, would seem to violate Justice Department norms and has infuriated Democrats. Norm Eisen, who served as special counsel to President Obama for ethics, filed a complaint with the Democracy Defenders Fund alleging the Trump administration violated the Hatch Act, which limits political activities of federal employees.
“This unprecedented raid … appears to be timed to influence voters in the upcoming midterm election,” he and three co-authors, including Minnesotan Richard Painter, wrote in a letter to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
(Photos by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
By Melissa Whitler
Minnesota’s next governor will face multiple education challenges when they take office, and few aspects of the job are more important. Funding for public schools comprises nearly 40% of the state budget and is the single biggest line item. That funding accounts for about two-thirds of all spending on public schools in Minnesota.
Under Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota’s students’ academic assessments declined significantly following the pandemic, with the number of students meeting grade-level expectations in reading and math down about 10 percentage points. Unlike students in some states, Minnesota students have shown no sign of academic recovery. Minnesota has long suffered one of the nation’s worst opportunity gaps between white and Black and Native children, which has continued during the Walz years.
Melissa dug deep into the plans from Republican nominee Lisa Demuth and Democratic-Farmer-Labor nominee Amy Klobuchar, who both put academic achievement at the top of their education agenda. Neither responded to Reformer requests for interviews to talk about their plans, however.
By Melissa Whitler
Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams said she would no longer recommend closing any schools next school year, less than a month after first proposing closures. Board Chair Collin Beachy said that he would not allow any resolutions to close schools for the 2027-28 school year to be placed on the board agenda this year.
The state’s third-largest school district runs 59 school buildings for approximately 29,000 students. The district recently analyzed buildings and determined more than half are considered “under-utilized,” or 70% of capacity or less. The district operates its buildings with significantly fewer students per building than other large Minnesota districts.
The announcement surprised some board members, including Director Sharon El-Amin, who said she was “blindsided” by the superintendent’s announcement at the beginning of the meeting.
By Max Nesterak
Michele Tafoya just got what most Republican candidates crave more than anything: President Donald Trump’s endorsement. She demurred.
“I heard about that,” Tafoya said when asked about it.
Tafoya’s tepid response to the endorsement reflects Trump’s toxicity in a state still reeling from his deadly immigration crackdown.
Tafoya, who was speaking at a press conference to unveil a public safety plan following a string of suburban shootings, worked in a couple of barbs at the Trump administration. Notably, two of her five points are solutions for problems exacerbated by Trump (speed up federal prosecution and improve coordination between local and federal law enforcement).
While she’s been lukewarm on Trump in campaign ads, calling herself an independent thinker, she also just sent a fundraising text asking donors to help protect the “President’s Senate majority.”
By Jonathan Shorman
Three weeks before Election Day, the Trump administration’s sprawling project to send sensitive personal information on millions of voters to the Department of Homeland Security has been declared illegal by a federal judge.
The blistering court decision comes after the Department of Justice pressured or sued states for their voters’ information and then, according to court records and federal documents, turned over the data it obtained to Homeland Security Investigations — a sub-agency of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
The decision, issued late last week, marks the latest rebuke of the Trump administration during more than a year of legal confrontations with dozens of states and voting rights groups over Trump’s efforts to assert authority over voting ahead of the midterm elections.
IN OTHER NEWS
Judge sides with 3 news outlets banned by White House, allowing access for now | Reformer via States Newsroom
Correspond: [email protected]
Thanks for reading Daily Reformer. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.