By Michelle Griffith | Reporter
Good morning, Reformers.
Maine’s progressive Democratic nominee for Senate Graham Platner dropped out of the race last night, days after a woman accused him of rape.
Since the news broke, prominent Democratic lawmakers withdrew their endorsements and Democratic party officials said Platner’s campaign would not receive future financial support.
Platner announced the suspension of his Senate bid in a social media video where again he said the allegations against him were false and blamed the “Democratic establishment” and the media for attacking his grassroots campaign. He was unapologetic and didn’t take accountability for the series of controversies that have plagued his campaign, including offensive online comments, a Totenkopf tattoo on his chest and earlier accusations of unsettling behavior toward other romantic partners.
The Maine Democratic Party will hold a convention to choose a new nominee by July 27. The race has garnered national attention because Democrats need to defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins if they’re going to retake the Senate majority. A Democratic majority in the Senate would be able to impede President Donald Trump’s agenda, hold accountability hearings against the administration and tie up Trump appointees, including crucial Supreme Court nominees should any of them retire or die.
Democrats had seemed to have drawn an unconventional candidate with some working class bona fides who could communicate, but they neglected to vet him well enough.
In other news, a new report offers fresh details on the problems in Minneapolis Public Schools’ finance office, reports Melissa Whitler.
Newly unredacted portions of an investigative report indicate Minneapolis Public Schools’ top accountant, Aaron Gilbert, decided on her own to improperly withhold $3 million in payments to a health care trust account.
“In sum, the evidence points to Ms. Gilbert as the decisionmaker,” reads the report from the law firm Greene Espel. The report also says she was “evasive during her interview and generally did not come off as a credible witness.”
The improper withholding, the discovery of which coincided with the departure of senior finance leadership, is among a raft of problems that beset the beleaguered district’s finance office during the past two years. The school district was also assessed millions in fines by the IRS for late filings, as first reported in the Reformer in April.
The district’s lack of internal financial controls facilitated Gilbert’s actions. The district’s annual audit — presented to and approved by the school board every year — has warned about a lack of appropriate internal controls for over a decade. The district has never had enough staff to fully segregate its accounting functions, in part because of its chronic budget deficits.
Read more about the report here.
Melissa Whitler still has more than a dozen records requests pending with the district, so I’m sure we will have more for you on Minneapolis Public Schools’ finances in the future.
Here’s what else we have in today’s Reformer:
Election officials perform an accuracy test on voting machines ahead of the August primaries Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (Photo by Ria Gupta/Minnesota Reformer)
By Ria Gupta
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon watched local election officials test a voting machine at a public event in Stillwater on Wednesday to reassure voters of their accuracy amid heavy-handed federal scrutiny of the state’s election administration.
The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to election officials in all 50 states on Tuesday threatening federal prosecution if noncitizens vote in the upcoming August and November elections.
Simon referred to this latest salvo as an “unfortunate distraction.”
States have five days to respond to the DOJ with a plan to ensure noncitizens are unable to vote in elections, even though voter fraud cases involving non-citizen voting are virtually non-existent. There have only been 100 cases of non-citizen voting in 25 years, according to a database from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
By Michelle Griffith
An early spike in applications for the state’s new paid leave program has since tapered off, and applications by the end of the year may match up with pre-launch estimates, according to the state Department of Employment and Economic Development.
DEED, which administers Minnesota’s new paid leave program, earlier this week said it approved nearly 75,000 applications for paid leave from Jan. 1 to June 30 of this year, paying out $598 million in benefits. More than 40% of the total 126,000 applications were rejected, typically due to the lack of proper certification from healthcare providers and other documentation.
The agency reports that it collected $344 million in payroll tax payments in the first quarter of the year. At first glance, it appears that benefit payments are outpacing the program’s revenue, but the $344 million is only what the state collected in the first quarter of the year. The state will collect three more payments in 2026, which means the state is on track to collect nearly $1.4 billion in payroll taxes this year.
By Alyssa Chen
South Dakota-based Sanford Health has committed to maintaining core services at North Memorial Health’s Robbinsdale hospital for two years if it successfully acquires North Memorial.
“We would have loved to say that we would make that a 25-year commitment, right? Because that’s our hope, that’s our goal. But the reality is … healthcare is incredibly challenging right now,” said North Memorial CEO Trevor Sawallish at a recent forum held by the Attorney General's Office.
The public forum is part of the office’s expanded regulatory powers over healthcare mergers, bestowed by the Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz in 2023. The office is now able to analyze and block hospital mergers if they are against the public’s interest, for example if they reduce a community’s access to healthcare by reducing the range of services historically offered by a hospital.
IN OTHER NEWS
Arrest in Minnesota COVID fraud case faces extradition hurdles | New York Times
That’s all from me. Have a great Thursday!
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