Amid a summer of choreographed campaign roll-outs for the governor’s office and Congress, a number of candidates are quietly preparing for next year’s legislative election, when the House DFL Caucus will look to defend its majority.
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Lillie/Kent matchup targeted by both parties
It’s not hard to see why campaign operatives from both political parties have had Minnesota’s newly drawn Senate District 53 on their radar since day one.
Read More »Teachers union may get schooled
A ferocious pushback by Education Minnesota cast the 70,000-member statewide teacher's union in the role of session bogeyman. The union and its head, Tom Dooher, fought the bill to a standstill in the end; it lost by a tight 68-65 margin in the House, and did not reach the floor in the Senate.
Read More »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.
Read More »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.
Read More »Party units spend on lege races in late going
A negative mailing arrived in Republican state Senate candidate Dan Hall's district last weekend that caught him by surprise.
Read More »Both parties stress pro-business credibility in eastern metro swing district
Prior to the 2006 elections, the people of Senate District 56, which covers much of Woodbury and north-central Washington County, had an entirely Republican delegation in St. Paul. But when the votes were counted that year, the district's Republicans - two representatives and one senator -had all been swept out of office, victims of a pro-DFL swing that averaged 11 points in each of the area's three legislative races.
Read More »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.
Read More »House GOP looks to make up ground in districts they lost narrowly in ‘08
The power divide between DFLers and Republicans in the Minnesota House may look daunting on its face, but not so long ago the GOP held a similarly imposing majority.
Read More »Public pension fixes headed for the floor
An omnibus bill that proposes to shore up public pension funds by reaching into the pocketbooks of both public employees and retirees is teed up for end-of-session floor debate.
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