Andy Welti

Oct 3, 2012

Business PACs spend to defend GOP frosh

The campaign finance reports released last week show that political action committees large and small have been funneling lots of money into legislative races.

Nov 10, 2010

Meet the freshmen: Minnesota House edition

When the 87th Minnesota Legislature convenes in January, it will seat 60 new members - the third-highest total of the past 40 years. Fifty-four of those new faces will be Republicans.

Nov 5, 2010

How the lege was won

In many cases, DFLers simply got caught in an undertow in districts that are fundamentally split in their political allegiances; in some, like rural Senate District 16, they handed back control of districts no one had expected them to win in the first place; in others, it appears, they failed to take steps to protect incumbents who faced discernible pockets of Republican opposition.

Nov 3, 2010

Legislature sees a DFL drubbing for the ages

Republicans pummeled DFLers in the suburbs and greater Minnesota on Tuesday night to take control of both chambers of the Legislature for the first time since the modern partisan era started in the early 1970s.

Nov 3, 2010

November surprise: Top five state Leg upsets

Few political prognosticators believed the Republicans had much chance of winning majorities in both the state House and Senate. But when the electoral smoke cleared early Wednesday morning that's exactly what had occurred. The GOP established a 37-30 majority in the Senate and a 72-62 hold on the House (barring any changes via mandated recounts).

Sep 24, 2010

Independent spending on lege races heats up

While the governor's race may be the marquee feature in this year's campaign season, the large number of swing districts in play at the Minnesota Legislature are the object of lower-profile but no less intense campaign spending machinations by a number of groups.

Sep 10, 2010

Dayton taxes nerves of swing-district House DFLers

DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton met with about 20 DFL House caucus members at the Minneapolis Club just before Labor Day weekend. Many in the group, which included a number of House DFL rank-and-file supporters of vanquished DFL endorsee Margaret Anderson Kelliher, had yet to sit down with their party's standard-bearer, and treated the event like a meet-and-greet.

Jun 6, 2008

Convention: GOP taking aim at DFL lead in the House

Liberal, labor PACs target many of the same races The campaign finance reports released last week show that political action committees large and small have been funneling lots of money into legislative races. Business PACs seem to be concentrating their firepower on the defense of freshman GOP legislators in competitive races, with a secondary emphasis ...

Jun 26, 2006

Rochester rematch

Liberal, labor PACs target many of the same races The campaign finance reports released last week show that political action committees large and small have been funneling lots of money into legislative races. Business PACs seem to be concentrating their firepower on the defense of freshman GOP legislators in competitive races, with a secondary emphasis ...