By J. Patrick Coolican | Editor-in-chief
Good morning, Reformers.
Some morsels:
-A Democratic pollster told me this week that nationwide the median age of Democratic primary voters is 55. Think about that: Half are older. Despite the hoopla, young, overeducated socialists are not deciding elections, even if elections have been going their way. Smart question from reporter Madi McVan: Does all the Twin Cities and suburban organizing around resistance to Operation Metro Surge lead to a younger electorate in the upcoming primary — and what impact does that have on the U.S. Senate race? A chance to plug Max Nesterak’s profiles of U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.
-Retired journalist turned rabble rouser David Brauer posted about the animosity this Senate primary has evoked, and notes that Minnesotans just haven’t seen a competitive DFL Senate primary like this since … 1978, when Bob Short, a conservative Democrat when that was a real thing, eked out a win against Don Fraser. The divisive primary probably didn’t help in the fall, when David Durenberger, a moderate Republican when that was a real thing, crushed Short.
-A bit more about that wild cycle from this older piece from the recently deceased Doug Grow: There were two U.S. Senate elections in Minnesota that year because of the death of Hubert Humphrey, which led to the Short-Durenberger contest. In late 1976, Gov. Wendell Anderson resigned so Lt. Gov. Rudy Perpich could become governor and appoint Anderson to the U.S. Senate, replacing Vice President-elect Walter Mondale. That’s called hubris. Running for the full term in 1978, Anderson got crushed (by Rudy Boschwitz), as did Perpich, in what became known as the Minnesota Massacre. At the time of the election, neither DFL U.S. senator nor the DFL governor had attained their office through an election, and Wiki tells me that Republicans ran billboards that read, “The DFL is going to face something scary — an election."
-St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her has embarrassed herself and her constituents with reports that she sent wildly inappropriate sex pesty text messages to the police chief and other subordinates. As the Star Tribune story notes: “While (former Mayor Melvin) Carter worked to shelter police from cuts and defended excess overtime spending, Her has not shown the same deference as she forms the 2027 budget proposal.” (Emphasis mine.) Also (Minnesota) interesting: The Strib and the New York Times published similar stories minutes apart, and Chris Madel, who is a police superlawyer, appears in both.
To the Reformer:
Mike Lindell speaks at the Minnesota Republican Convention in Duluth, Saturday May 30, 2026. (Photo by Glen Stubbe/Minnesota Reformer)
By Ria Gupta
From domestic violence allegations to his “fake” bankruptcy to unpaid taxes, the Reformer has been uncovering scoops about the GOP frontrunner since our founding in 2020.
Our summer intern takes you on a fun tour of the pillow mogul’s highly eventful six years.
By Michelle Griffith
Republican primary voters who want to know how pillow mogul Mike Lindell is spending his campaign dollars won’t have much to go on based on the final pre-primary campaign finance report, which was released Tuesday by the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board.
The campaign’s last reported expense for the MyPillow CEO’s campaign was on June 30 — $545 to reimburse mileage, according to the campaign’s pre-primary finance report. It reported no expenses in July.
Lindell and his running mate, Phillip Parrish, told Michelle that the campaign has spent about $200,000 recently, but it only got billed for the charges in the past few days — after the campaign finance reporting period. The $200,000 in expenses should show up in the next campaign finance report, Lindell said.
Meanwhile: Sen. Amy Klobuchar has raised over $9.3 million since launching her bid for governor at the end of January. The Klobuchar campaign has about $4.5 million cash on hand.
By Michelle Griffith
xAI, which developed the Grok chatbot, argues in the lawsuit that the law — which goes into effect Saturday — is too broad and infringes on free speech. Minnesota’s evenly divided Legislature was the first in the country to enact the ban on accessing or using technology that creates sexually explicit images or videos of a person without their consent. The bill passed the House 132-1 and the Senate passed it 65-0.
Nudication technology is an increasing trend in school cyberbullying, and many young girls have been targeted by deepfake, sexually explicit images depicting their likeness.
Gov. Tim Walz responded today: “See you in court, creep.”
By Joshua Thoreson
The author has visited Haiti for service projects, joining thousands of Minnesotans who’ve engaged in similar work.
He implores Minnesotans to stay true to the principles that led them there:
“Many Minnesotans most connected to Haiti are Christians, including evangelicals. One example is Minnesota-based Healing Haiti, which describes years of mission work, school support, feeding programs, medical care and job creation.
That record of compassion should become a call to consistency. White evangelicals remain one of the strongest bases of support for President Trump, according to Pew Research Center. That does not require evangelical Christians to abandon their politics. It does require them to ask whether sending legally working Haitian families back into danger reflects the faith they carried with them on those mission trips.”
Also, read our D.C.-based immigration reporter Ariana Figueroa on Haitian immigrants bracing for the end of Temporary Protected Status.
Never forget JD Vance’s evil opportunism in calling down a pogrom on his own constituents in Springfield, Ohio.
IN OTHER NEWS
Courts issue conflicting rulings on Trump executive order restricting vote-by-mail | Reformer via States Newsroom
The war is back on | Bloomberg gift link
OH BY THE WAY
It’s summer travel season, and here’s a good song as you pack: “Travelin’ Light” by J.J. Cale and a slower version from Widespread Panic.
Have a great day all! JPC
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