Among Republican gubernatorial candidates, Rep. Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, had the greatest name recognition.

At the GOP’s state central meeting in Blaine last Saturday Saturday, Johnson proved himself the most popular candidate among roughly 400 Republican Party activists in an early, nonbinding straw poll for the governor’s race. But Johnson’s appeal among activists has been building for years, most recently through his position as RNC committeeman and as one of the lead players in an audit of the party's post-Tony Sutton finances.

Johnson, a Hennepin County Commissioner, and Ortman, a state senator from Chanhassen, placed first in candidate straw polls cast by Republican Party of Minnesota activists gathered at the National Sports Center in Blaine on Saturday. Johnson beat five other Republican candidates for governor with 35 percent of the vote, with state Sen. Dave Thompson coming in second with 27 percent of the vote.

Former U.S. representative and senator Rod Grams, who rose to politics after years as a television anchor, died on Tuesday at the age of 65. Grams, who suffered from cancer, had been in hospice care at his home in Crown, Minnesota for the last several weeks.

Republicans plan to beat the tax drum once again when the Legislature convenes to pass $5M in local storm aid

After rising to speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives in the wake of the 2010 election, Rep. Kurt Zellers was stung two years later by his caucus’s demotion to minority status. The Republican from Maple Grove struck an unassuming profile at the Capitol this past spring.

The Republican fields for the 2014 governor and U.S. Senate races expanded last week. St. Louis County Board Chair Chris Dahlberg announced he’s running for U.S. Senate, and another Northlander, Rob Farnsworth, a special education teacher from Hibbing, joined the governor’s race.

Farnsworth, a special education teacher who lives in Hibbing, has worked on political campaigns and served as a local and state-level party delegate.

The loss of projected collections from the agriculture tax will remove $29 million in revenue toward the DFL majority's budget, and the warehouse tax would take away an additional $90 million.

Republican leadership has used Dayton's openness to additional topics to push for a repeal of the business-to-business warehouse tax.