By Alyssa Chen | Reporter
Good morning, Reformers.
The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election analysis publication, shifted its rating of Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race from “likely Democrat” to “leaning Democrat” yesterday.
The report still favors Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan to win, but Michele Tafoya, a former NFL sideline reporter and conservative podcaster, appears to be gaining some ground in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican to a statewide office in two decades.
ICYMI, the two had their only debate on Friday, during which Tafoya tried to tie Flanagan to Gov. Tim Walz and his oversight (or lack of oversight) of fraud in the state’s safety net programs, while Flanagan argued Tafoya would be a rubber stamp for President Donald Trump. They’ve each tried to distance themselves from those men, who are inconvenient baggage in their campaigns. (Read the debate report from Max Nesterak.)
This morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that, in a 2016 legislative hearing, Flanagan lied about graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Minnesota. The report cites a commencement program (in the form of a scanned PDF) from Flanagan’s graduating class, and in response to the reporter’s inquiries, Flanagan’s campaign said that she never belonged to Phi Beta Kappa but was nominated.
The report of one elision of truth from a decade ago reminded me of Katie Zacharia, Trump’s five-day press secretary who called herself a lawyer despite failing the bar exam. That case felt clearly more extreme, in part because Zacharia called herself a lawyer repeatedly. It’s a question about interpersonal relationships that I’ve also been dwelling on since watching You Can See Everything yesterday (the Nathan Fielder/Lance Oppenheim documentary on convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes): at what scale of a lie do you lose trust in a person, or a politician?
Rahul Koranne, the president of the Minnesota Hospital Association, speaks at a Capitol press conference alongside rural hospital executives Tuesday Oct. 20, 2026. (Photo by Alyssa Chen/Minnesota Reformer)
By Alyssa Chen
Minnesota hospitals had a record high of over 2 million emergency department visits in 2024. That year, more than a quarter of hospitals lost money on operations.
The Minnesota Hospital Association painted a bleak picture of Minnesota healthcare Tuesday in a new report titled “A Statewide Crisis of Care.” The hospitals are gearing up for what could be a bruising budget year at the Legislature in 2027, as efforts to counteract federal Medicaid cuts will run into the state’s own long-term fiscal challenges.
At a Capitol press conference, executives of rural hospitals spoke of the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s impact on what they described as already weakened hospital financials.
By Osahon Akpata-Tanious
The executive director of Foster Advocates shares a new report the advocacy organization developed with Wilder Research and urges state and county leaders to use the report to implement changes:
“Minnesota’s response to the new findings should start with taking fosters seriously when they say something is wrong. When a young person says they feel unsafe, or do not know where they will sleep, or cannot stay where they are — that should be enough to begin helping. We should not require a shelter stay before offering support or punish a young person for trying to get safe.”
IN OTHER NEWS
Lisa Demuth is running as a moderate. Her record is conservative. | Star Tribune (gift link)
Black Unemployment in Minnesota Hits 10.5% | Spokesman-Recorder
Young Men Who Helped Get Trump Elected Are ‘Blackpilling’ Out of Politics | Bloomberg (gift link)
Trump Approval Hits New Low Two Weeks Before Midterms, Poll Finds | NYT (gift link)
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.