Klobuchar, Qualls win party endorsements for governor

Good afternoon, Reformers. 

The Reformer reported from state political conventions Friday and Saturday, when DFL and GOP delegates gathered to endorse a candidate for governor, U.S. Senate and other statewide positions.  

Sen. Amy Klobuchar got a bit of a scare Friday night when Kobey Layne, a 26-year old trans activist and former legislative assistant, ran an insurgent campaign at the DFL convention in Rochester and got the crowd on their feet. Klobuchar was visibly shaken by the experience, Michelle Griffith reported. Klobuchar went on to win endorsement on the first ballot with 68%. 

The other major endorsements were also mostly unopposed, so no surprises: Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan was endorsed for U.S. Senate. Attorney General Keith Elllison and Secretary of State Steve Simon were endorsed. 

Flanagan’s chief rival, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, didn’t show up to the DFL convention in Rochester after announcing earlier in the week that she’d forgo the endorsement in the face of all but certain defeat, going right into primary mode instead. 

I was in Duluth on Saturday with Republican activists, who had a longer list of names to choose from for their endorsement for governor. The list was quickly whittled down to three favorites — House Speaker Lisa Demuth, perennial candidate Kendall Qualls and 2020 election conspiracist and pillow mogul Mike Lindell — and then two: Demuth and Qualls. 

Qualls won endorsement on the 10th ballot after securing just over the necessary 60% of the delegate vote. Five hours into voting, delegates were interrupted by malfunctioning voting devices, which set off a heated debate among delegates of the self-described “party of election integrity” on whether to continue the endorsement.

Demuth, who questioned the validity of the day’s voting, seemed to leave open the possibility of continuing on to the August primary, despite going into the convention committed to dropping out if she didn’t win the endorsement. If she does continue, the August GOP primary looks to be almost as crowded as the endorsement race, as Lindell and two other candidates also plan to run despite losing the endorsement. 

On Friday, former Navy Seal Adam Schwarze won over party activists, beating former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya in the crowded race for the U.S. Senate seat. Tafoya announced she’s continuing onto the August primary.

Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill into law enacting new guardrails for Minnesota children on social media platforms including Instagram, TikTok and SnapChat, Michelle reported. 

Christian Castro, the ICE agent who’s been charged with shooting a man in the leg during Operation Metro Surge and lying about it, was arrested on Friday in Texas, Max Nesterak reported. 

Minnesota led the country in farm bankruptcies during the first quarter of 2026, Betsy Froiland reported. Eight Minnesota farmers have already filed for bankruptcy this year, double the amount for the entire year of 2024, reflecting farmers struggling from high fertilizer and fuel costs and low crop prices. 

Xcel customers in Minnesota could receive millions in refunds under a new rate settlement if state regulators approve it, Brian Martucci reported. 

Reformer contributor Peyton Haug found a rifle magazine with at least a dozen live bullets abandoned by federal immigration agents in January, after then-Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino and heavily armed agents confronted residents in Minneapolis’s Mueller Park with pepper spray and a mysterious green gas. In the months since then, she set out to find out more about the junk left behind by ICE, which proved difficult. Read her findings here. 

Dwight Hobbes, Twin Cities journalist and essayist, wrote about the history of the service of Black veterans, starting with the famed Buffalo Soldiers garrisoned at Fort Snelling in the 1880s. Through World War I and World II, Black soldiers were in segregated units, and then struggled to win the GI Bill benefits they were owed after the latter, Hobbes wrote. 

Former president and dean of Mitchell Hamline School of Law Eric Janus argued that the state is squandering over $100 million every year locking up sex offenders after they’ve served their prison sentences through the Minnesota Sex Offender Program.  

Sue Abderholden, the former longtime executive director of NAMI Minnesota, advocated for dropping the 48-hour rule, which requires that people deemed incompetent to stand trial and who have been committed to be admitted to state hospitals, but doesn’t address the long waiting list for a state hospital bed.

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