Politics Friday: Thousands attend Minnesota caucuses to weigh in on issues, governor candidates

This is Politics Friday on NPR News. I'm Brian Baxt. Welcome back to a fresh season of the show. There's a legislative session right around the corner, so you'll hear plenty about that right here in the weeks ahead. The session will convene as Campaign 2026 picks up steam. It's where we'll focus today, the race for governor in particular. Precinct caucuses drew many thousands of voters to those neighborhood gathering spots. They had a chance to explore their opinions on the state of affairs and cast a preference ballot in the race for governor. Here's some of what it sounded like. Primarily, I would like to see a gubernatorial candidate that is willing to completely turn the state around. We are headed in absolutely the wrong direction. Our education, we've gone from some of the top in the nation down into the bottom of the barrel. You know, she's got the name recognition. She's won statewide. Some of the polling that I've seen, she's high up there against the Republican candidates that are out there at this time. So yeah, I think she is a really good choice. We'll have more caucus sound and voter voices later in the show. We'd hope to hear from the top Democratic candidate, Amy Klobuchar, and the Republican straw poll victor, Lisa Dameth. We offered both of them taped and live options this week, but each declined. The second place finisher, Republican Kendall Qualls, did want to speak to our statewide audience. He's running for governor for a second time. Qualls was the runner-up to eventual Republican nominee Scott Jensen at the state party endorsing convention in 2022. Qualls and I started off by talking about how his straw poll showing this year was much improved over the last time. I finished fourth last time around and narrowly missed the endorsement at the convention last time. So this time, yes, I finished second. And I'm really feeling good about where we are, actually. Strong number two overall. But when you look at the segmentation, what the delegates are really looking at, and when you look at how they're divided, you have a delegation that's clearly appreciated Lisa Davis' experience, her time as Speaker, her time in the House. But two-thirds of the populace, two-thirds of the delegate populace are looking for a political outsider, and I lead that contingent of our party. Yeah, I want to touch on that, this insider versus outsider lane. Why does that matter? What matters in a big way? Look, you know, what's been going on in St. Paul with the fraud, the culture of fraud? That's been happening literally for 10 years. With both parties president, we haven't really done anything to address it. It's only coming to fruition now because we're getting on the national stage. And there's a lot of people in our party and across the state that believe we need business people, leaders from outside of politics to fix the politics in St. Paul. So going forward, as we think toward the convention here, what's going to be more pivotal to you? Is it going to be potentially flipping those supporters of Lisa Dameth or consolidating that non-Dameth contingent? Well, it's going to be a little bit of both, actually. A Texas two-step, consolidate the lanes as it relates to the political outsiders, those that have an appeal for business leader, but one that, you know, spent time in the military, led troops, served the country, but also has the innovative and creativity that comes from the business side and the market that actually can bring that to the Capitol. But here's the contingent of what I believe that we can capture from Lisa Damus' group, is that we have this message. I have a message personally, actually, that can appeal more so to swing voters that we're going to need. growing up in poverty in the inner city of Harlem with my mother, my divorced mom, her five kids from first grade to fifth grade. I've seen it all from the crime, the corruption, the, you know, having to eat powdered eggs and all of that, just, and seeing it in the frustration and anxiety of my mom's eyes. And then living with my father from fifth grade onward in rural Oklahoma and having to spend time in the summers between New York City and Oklahoma. I've lived that kind of life, and I was able to get an education, work hard, serve our country, and have a successful life with my family now. My wife and I have been married for 40 years. We've raised five kids. They're now raising their children here in Minnesota, and we want them to stay in Minnesota. And that's the message I want to bring, that there is an opportunity to have that Minnesota back again, where people that are born not of means can still experience that American dream. What's your appraisal of Lisa Damath as a lawmaker? You know, she's been effective. You know, not just her, all of them. I mean, Kristen Robbins, all have been very effective. But again, at this juncture where we are in our state, we are literally at the precipice of losing Minnesota to become a permanent one-party state. We've had so many people leave the state, so many businesses leave the state, that if we don't win at this time, we're going to become a permanent one-party state. So the distinction is we need a leader, not a legislator. That is going to be the clear differentiating differences between the choices, not only with Lisa Davis, but also between me and Abel Klobuchar. Abel Klobuchar represents nothing but the steady-as-you-go status quo Minnesota, which we're going to lose economically if it continues, and a clear outside opportunity. Any chance you'll continue on in this race without the endorsement if the convention goes for another Republican? No, I've already committed to the endorsement. I did it last time to ensure that the party was not divided. We need to be unified, and it's imperative that that happens with all the candidates, to be quite honest with you. You spent a lot of money last year leading into this one. Have you ruled out any kind of self-financing? Say that again, stealth? Self-financing, like putting some of your own resources into it. I've already put some skin in the game already. So if you look at the campaign finances, I put some money in behind this race already. And if I need to do so moving forward, you know, we'll do that as well. But I tell you, we have a lot of support behind our campaign. We're going to have the funds. People are donating. I have people that have never written a check to a candidate before willing to support our campaign. Same thing with yard signs. Never had a yard sign in their yard. They said, give me one as soon as I'm allowed to have it. Let me know. I'll have one. First time ever. But we're going to get the support. I'm not concerned about the finances. As we look at this campaign going forward here, pocketbook issues or social issues, what do you think is going to resonate more with voters this year? Economic issues are number one, and that's what we're driving. And these are swing voter issues. Economic policy is number one, and here's why. Economic growth or household income growth for Minnesotans across the board, because we're ranked number 46th in the nation out of 50 states in income growth in the last 10 years. We're at the bottom. However, our taxes are at the top of the nation. Businesses, personal taxes, property taxes increased for Minnesota on average last year 8.1%. That's not sustainable. So as costs are going up, our incomes are shrinking in the state. So economic is number one. Number two is the crime issue in Minneapolis. We can't be a great state without a great Minneapolis. Crime stats are trending down, though. Well, you know, they're not trending down. It is what period of time you're looking at. Here's what I can tell you, Brian. In October 2009, Minneapolis was rated the number one safest city in the country with the best quality of life. And that's according to Forbes magazine. They rated 40 different cities. We're far from that now. And when Tim Walz came into office, crime rates were nothing like they were this year, last year, or the year before. According to FBI crime statistics, violent crime is up 46% since he'd been in office. Did Minnesota House Republicans do the right thing in working with some of those social media influencers to highlight the fraud here, given that what followed was this federal immigration campaign that has pretty much pushed that into the public's focus for the last month and a half, not fraud? You're asking two different things. Number one, should it matter who they worked with if there was wrongdoing and fraud of billions of dollars or taxpayer dollars? But Minnesotans' money, again, they're working just as hard, earning less and paying more in taxes. It shouldn't matter how that information came about. It's fraud, and their money is being stolen. So however that's revealed, that needs to happen. But how about where it took the conversation? You know, you've had the fraud prosecutors leave. You've had the fallout from the immigration campaign here. Yeah, the prosecutors left. It wasn't over how the fraud was revealed. Understood, but they're now gone, and so the fraud prosecutions are sputtering a bit. They're having to kick-start it because they have to get new prosecutors. I get it. The cases don't go away. The problem doesn't go away. There's still $9 billion that was last reported that Minnesotans were off the hook for that were taken away. So that is a problem under the watch of our leaders in St. Paul. Again, why we need an outsider. And this has been taking place over the last 10 years. And so what we're finding is that many people knew about it, regardless of party, and there was no steps taken. Again, you've got to remember, no one's been fired for this. No one that Tim Walz works for has been fired over this fraud issue. Do you expect Donald Trump to endorse the head of the convention? And if he does, is the candidate who gets that going to have the overwhelming edge? Yeah, I'm not sure. You know, where President Trump is on this, you know, from what I've seen for highly contested races like this, he kind of really kind of stays out until, you know, the delegates decide or, you know, the Republicans decide at the local level. but when he does endorse you know usually you know it has it has a tailwind to go with it so have you or will you ask for his endorsement yeah you know what absolutely you know here's the thing with any sitting president you would love to get their endorsement it comes with the the office of the president of the united states and why wouldn't you well kendall quals thanks for coming back on politics friday and good luck down the trail all right thank you Next, we're going to turn to someone who wasn't on Tuesday's caucus ballot, but could be an important figure on November's ballot. His name is Mike Newcomb, and he's running as an independent. He's aligned with the Forward Independence Party of Minnesota. Welcome. Well, thank you, Brian. Happy Friday. You too. There are always third-party candidates who get their name on the ballot for governor here in Minnesota, but few are really factors. Why do you think you'll be? Well, I'm not just your everyday third-party candidate who's getting on the ballot. First of all, I'm endorsed by the Forward Independence Party, which is now a national brand. Right now, they are still in minority or, I guess, minority status within Minnesota. And that's only because over the last handful of elections, they've not been able to garner a percentage to be automatically on the ballot. But the difference is now with this party with Andrew Yang and Christy Todd Whitman this is a brand the forward brand that is definitely spreading across the country So it not as though I running by myself You put about behind your campaign last year How far does that go and how much deeper might you dig? Well, so I've invested $200,000. And what was fantastic is within the first four weeks of launching the campaign, we raised just under another $40,000. And so far this year, we've already raised another $10,000 with zero efforts being put out there. So the runway I have right now will definitely get me into the summer months, but we anticipate not only some more donations coming in, but once things kind of settle out with the other two parties, we're probably going to see a lot more movement heading toward us, especially from the Republican side. I know we're in the depths of February weather here, but give me your parade pitch that you'll be making to people who you just have 10, 15 seconds to introduce yourself. Sure. What I tell people is the reason I'm running for governor this go-round is because we no longer have a government that's by the people and for the people. It's now by the political party and for the political party. And due to generations of that partisan political mismanagement of our state, we have been left wide open for the waste, fraud, and abuse that we are currently witnessing. And I don't see the solution as going back to the same well that delivered this train wreck to us. Minnesotans are looking for a common sense problem solver and somebody who's willing to work in a collaborative manner. And that's what our campaign's all about. We're not going to be name-calling or finger-pointing, and we're going to work with both Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to get things done on behalf of Minnesotans. That's what my campaign brings to the table. Did the dropout of Tim Walls and step in by Amy Klobuchar change your calculus at all? Not at all, because here's why. I was never running against Governor Walls. I've been running against a broken system that the governor happened to be part of. And the fact that Senator Klobuchar has now stepped in, to me, I think it helps our campaign. And here's why. While I have nothing but nice things to say about the senator personally, I just don't think somebody who's been in Washington for arguably the last 20 years, which have been the most divisive and partisan in American history, is the right answer as a fresh new start to bring that same kind of partisan toxicity, lay it on top of an already broken partisan government we have in Minnesota. I just don't think Minnesotans, when they actually start to think about it, they're going to say, you know, the senator is the new fresh solution to all the problems we have. And that's why our campaign is resonating with Democrats and Republicans. What about how that Republican side is shaking out? You know, I think it's shaking out exactly how I would have perceived it. Like most of these parties, there's already somewhat of a coronation of who they want to have as their endorsed candidate. And I think what you're seeing right now, whether it be Kendall Qualls, who I think is a very quality individual, by the way, as an outsider, or Lisa Damis, but I think the inside track for the party was they wanted Lisa Damis. And a lot of Republicans don't like that, because what they're recognizing is they don't actually have a voice in this endorsement process. And you can tell because a lot of these candidates in the Republican field, they're going to go to a primary. And when they go to that primary, the Republicans could end up with a candidate that barely garnered 25% of Republican primary voters. And to me, the people who are sitting on the sidelines kind of waiting to see how things shake out, they're going to say the only viable statewide candidate is probably Mike Nucco. And that's why our campaign is resonating with a lot of people. Well, a lot of people in Minnesota and around the country have been watching the Trump administration's immigration crackdown here. What's your take on how it's being carried out? Well, I was the first person running for governor before we had either of the two tragedies. That was calling for a de-escalation and a cooling down period. I had said that we needed federal agents to go back to their quote-unquote barracks to allow the peaceful protesters to go home and to get rid of agitators on both sides of the equation. And tragically, tragically, it wasn't heated. And we had two deaths of two Minnesotans that was 100% avoidable. So we can have two truths during this. Number one, most Minnesotans, actually all Minnesotans could get behind the fact that getting rid of violent, criminal, undocumented people was not a bad thing. But how it was done was just as important. And having federal agents run around our streets with masks on and infringing on the civil rights of citizens, that didn't sit well with a lot of Minnesotans. Well, it has served as something. And myself, by the way. It has served as something of a galvanizing moment for Democrats. Do you worry that the conditions for a third party campaign have become more difficult? Well, no more difficult than it's been for generations. I mean, the two parties, the only time you're ever going to see the two parties actually come together is when there's a viable third party option. And so this galvanizing, I think with, you know, if you want to speak of the Democrats, I don't think they're galvanized against a common sense third party option. I think they've galvanized themselves against Republicans who stood by until the president actually came out and said, you know, we might have made a few mistakes. They stood by and said nothing about what was taking place in our streets when it comes to the civil liberties of people of color or non-Caucasians being stopped and asked to prove that they're citizens. That didn't sit well with me. It didn't sit well with a lot of Republicans, but the Republican establishment in this state, they sat by there until Washington, D.C. told them when they could actually come out and say, hey, you know what, maybe we should deescalate. That's the difference between me and them. Is there any realistic scenario in which you don't file as a candidate when that paperwork is due in June? Not one. I'm in this to win it. We have a great campaign staff and team in place. Our message is true, and Minnesotans are starving for a viable third-party option, and that's what my campaign is bringing to them. Mike Newcomb, a Ford Independence Party candidate for governor. Thanks for your time. Hey, thank you so much, Brian. Have a great Friday. You too. You're listening to the Politics Friday podcast. We'll be right back after this short break. Hi, I'm Stephanie Curtis, Director of Programming at NPR News. Our winter member drive begins February 9th, but it's going to sound different. We won't disrupt programming for fundraising beyond short messages, because our newsroom is focused on covering the stories affecting our community. When it matters most, we can't step away from keeping Minnesota informed and connected, but we do need your support. please start or increase your monthly gift or give what you can at nprnews.org. This is Politics Friday on NPR News. I'm Brian Baxt. Minnesota's election lineup really has it all this year. An open governor's race, an open U.S. Senate race, an open congressional race in a swing district. Both chambers of a tighter than ever legislature are on the line. For voters, it could meet an ugly slog to November with ads and campaign contacts galore. For our next guest, it's a political dreamland. They'll have plenty to analyze as, well, political analysts. Preya Samsandar does that for Republicans advising candidates in her political party over the years. Thanks for coming in. Thanks for having me. And Todd Rapp keeps tabs on Democratic politics and offers analysis for us on election night and other key points in the year. Welcome back, Todd. Good to see you, Brian. So, Preya, I want to start with you. If you're looking back at the Republican straw poll over the last several years of the last four, actually, two of the straw poll winners went out of the nomination. Two did not. So it's kind of a coin flip. Which way does that coin fall this year? You know, I think it remains to be seen, right? Like you have to look at the endorsement process. And that's where every candidate and every Republican's eyes are focused on is what is going to happen at the end of May, early June at convention for Republicans. As we know, getting to convention is a slog if you are a delegate. You have to go through convention after convention, starting at your local Senate district convention, going up to the congressional. It takes a lot of investment. It takes a lot of time. It takes effort to run for these races. And so there may be a lot of folks who go to caucuses, but only a few of those guys are going to actually make it out to convention. And so at the end of the day, we have to really pay attention to who's going to be there. Well, many of these Republicans are saying I'm primary bound no matter what, more than usual, perhaps. Well, and I think that's because we saw in 2024 that in some respects, the endorsement process is a little bit broken. Obviously, you know, Royce White was was the Senate candidate that did not bode well for any Republican, as we saw play out throughout the 2024 presidential or throughout the 2024 cycle. excuse me. And so I think for a lot of Republicans, they saw that this is not what is best for Republican victories. This is not best for us as candidates. And so I think that's why you see a lot of candidates that are bypassing the convention altogether. But as somebody who has been burnt by the convention process as well, I'll tell you, the reality is, is that we have not seen a candidate who has not been endorsed by the convention since 1991, make it through the primary. And so you got to play the game at the same time, even if you are going to go to primary. And Todd, for your party, the Democrats, Amy Klobuchar was just dazed into the race. She apparently cruised to victory, although your party hasn't really released much in terms of actual numbers out there. What are your impressions of whether she's got a smooth ride or a bumpy ride? I think she'll have a pretty smooth ride. I mean, remember, Democrats, it's for them going to a caucus and debating about issues is really the core of why they're there. I mean, the governor's race looks like it's settled. The Senate race is two strong candidates. They'll be finding it out for a while. So a lot of delegates traditionally go to the caucuses as uncommitted delegates, and they gradually work their way through the system and start making their commitments based on the conversations that they had. So, you know, in the end, Amy Klobuchar went in, got, what, 78% of the vote? We think. It took a while, but I'll tell you, Brian, I ran that for a couple of years for the party. And it is so difficult with a set of volunteers, 4,000 precincts, to get that data in sometimes. We eventually just shifted to grabbing 150 test precincts and using those results so we could get them out in time. I'm not surprised it takes a while for it all to come together. Prea, Todd brought up the Senate race. The GOP establishment in D.C. seems to be coalescing around Michelle Tafoya in that contest for Republicans. Is it her nomination to lose? I absolutely think so. Look, we saw obviously the NRSC poll that came out this week. It shows that name ID is very – National Republican Senatorial Committee. Yes, yes, yes. That's how you tell I've been doing this for far too long. We saw that the poll came out. It definitely shows that name ID is the name of the game right now. Royce White came in at second place with 11 percent. Michelle Tafoya at 35 percent. The reality is if you ask anybody just on the street, do you know who Michelle Tafoya is? They absolutely say yes. And so she has what Republicans need to be competitive in this state. I'm sure that the National Senate Republicans are also looking at the fact that she comes from a place of prominence, and that means money. That means donor money. Money they don't have to spend to boost her. Exactly. And so they're looking at this from multiple different angles. And so it absolutely is her race to lose. And Todd, there's much more unpredictability on the DFL side. Who do you think has the edge Well I think going into the caucus night I mean it very clearly that Peggy Flanagan was positioning herself so that she could bring the most progressive delegates behind her campaign And it wouldn't surprise me at all if, as we move into the Senate district and county unit conventions, if that she has an advantage there. Having said that, this party's unpredictable. It really isn't. Conventions are all about a variety of discussions that go on. And Angie Craig said that she probably is going to go to a primary no matter what. Exactly. And I would be very surprised if this race did not eventually go to a primary with these two candidates. Well, how much has this immigration issue right in our own backyard upended that race? As I watch it, what has worried me about it is that both candidates have used this as an opportunity to attack each other. And I'm not sure that's the right plan right now for either one of them to put themselves in that position. Let's break that down for the audience here. So Peggy Flanagan is saying that Angie Craig has been too permissive about immigration policy sought by the Trump administration. That's right. And then Angie Craig has turned around and said that Peggy Flanagan didn't do enough on fraud. That's right. And I think this is probably not a top Senate race. It's, you know, if you look at the Republicans, number 56 or number 57 on the list for them to win. But having said that, Democrats have done a good job at points in the past of tearing each other up in this primary process and then losing a Senate seat that they probably should have won. 1978 is a great example of that. And I think the candidates should be a little cautious right now of remembering that the real issue that even the convention is going to want to talk about is who is going to be the best person to take on Donald Trump for two more years and carry a more progressive agenda. Prey, you heard me asking Kendall Qualls about this, about immigration in general. It's knocked fraud off the front pages, led to prosecutor resignations and left Republicans. Maybe a bit unsteady about how to respond. How is it changing the landscape for Republican candidates? Look, I think obviously, you know, we can say that two things are true at the same time. What has happened with the immigration enforcement here in Minneapolis in terms of tactics by the federal government? Not a great thing. You know, I'll be the first person to say it right off the bat. It has hurt Republicans, especially when you look at their decades long attempt nationally, even here in the state when, you know, Donald Trump was trying to win Minnesota, flip Minnesota in 16 and 20. it has hurt our ability to re-engage with communities of color that we've been working very hard and have seen success in bringing those folks into the fold. I don't think that this is an end-all be-all discussion, however, because the reality is at the end of the day, this immigration enforcement and the crackdown that you've seen, this would not have taken place if Democrats had simply done their job in the first place. This isn't just about the fraud issue and the fact that We have a lax state government that's been run by the DFL for the last 20 years that has allowed fraud to be permissive in our state to a point where we have no idea how deep it goes. But this is also about the fact that this state government and state Democrats have gone out of their way to poke the administration in the eye over and over again, not just with sanctuary city policies, but by offering free driver's license, health care, college to illegal immigrants and creating an environment that welcomes them into the state. I want to bring up something Chris Madel, who was a very promising candidate for governor, who entered just in December, was out by the end of January and said this. The national Republicans have made it nearly impossible for a Republican to win a statewide election in Minnesota. It is a simple fact. Is he right? I don't think so, because the reality is that elections change. I mean, we've seen just in the last two months how much politics and the environment, the political environment in the state has changed. You know, Republicans went from fraud being the number one issue with Tim Walls being the candidate that we are running against. And that's what our focus was on to to now being a situation where Amy Klobuchar is now the gubernatorial candidate. And we have, you know, a little bit of the aftermath of what's going on. I think the administration understands that they went very too far in how they handled it and how far their tactics have gone. That's why you see Tom Homan in the state. I think that has calmed some of the situation now. And we are moving in the right direction. The reality is, at the end of the day, like there is still an argument to be made that this is a referendum on Democrats and 20 years of leadership that has failed this state time and time again, over and over again. And at the end of the day, they are still responsible to some extent for what has happened in the last few months. Todd, going into this election year, we thought it was going to be the referendum of Walls versus the referendum on Trump. Walls is out of the picture, but to Preya's point, is it still a referendum on the prevailing party here? Well, the tactics of ICE took fraud off the front page. Now, whether it can come back on the front page when Amy Klobuchar is leading the ticket for governor, I'm not so sure. She's been in Washington now for nearly 20 years. The real problem here, I think, is that the president has taken almost any significant issue that he ran on. inflation, the economy, foreign policy, now with immigration because of how things have been handled here in Minneapolis. He's taken all those issues and he's underwater on them. But the problem when you run in the Donald Trump administration is that you have to pledge your loyalty to him. So the candidates who are running for governor and for Senate on the Republican side, they've got a very difficult choice they have to make right now. What issues can they frame up a better position from their perspective, one that can break them away from the Donald Trump negatives without losing his potential support. And prior to that point, we've seen Republicans at least start to tiptoe up to that line in breaking with the president. Just today with some social media posts that were widely panned as racist from the Trump account, that there were several Republicans in Washington who broke from the president, said, take it down and apologize. Whereas how much can Republican candidates kind of afford to kind of take on Donald Trump when they're still seeking his support? I mean, you absolutely can. I mean, the reality is, at the end of the day, the president wants wins under his belt. And so he understands that, especially in blue states like Minnesota, like sometimes you just have to do what you have to do in order to to move on forward. And look to the president, the president and this administration's credit, they understand that they went too far with immigration and ice. And that's why Christy Noem is no longer in charge of the operations here in Minnesota. It is Tom Holman. You know, to Todd's point here for a quick second, you know, we talk about the president being underwater when it comes to immigration. The reality is, is we've got a Siena poll that came out and says that a large by large in part, Americans, regardless if they're Democrat, they're independent or Republican, still approve of the president's core mission of removing the worst of the worst criminal legal aliens out of the country. that was verified by the Harvard poll as well. And so you have multiple polls that say, we don't like the tactics, but we still support the core mission. And there's still a lot of question of whether the worst of the worst is being caught up in this or it's much broader. But Todd, I want to move to governor fundraising reports. Tim Walz is sitting on a boatload of money, almost $4 million. What's he going to do with it? Great question. One of the easiest things he can do with it is to put it in some kind of political operation. Maybe it's the state party. Maybe it's some kind of pact that builds up a stronger social environment out there. Typically speaking, I would trust Governor Walz when he says he's probably done running for office. So now I think he's going to look at how he can improve the political system in some way. And pray it not that many Republicans had a lot of money in their accounts starting January 1st. Is the fractured field going to be a problem for the eventual nominee to kind of have that single base of money coming in? Not at all. I mean, when you look back to 2022, most of the money doesn't come in until the summer anyways, because donors are waiting and watching to see what's going to happen. How is the field going to shake out? And that's even with down ballot races, with the AG's race, the Secretary of State's office, auditor's race. Money tends to come in during the summer when it's needed the most. And so I'm not really concerned about that whatsoever. Donors are watching. They usually make good investments and things shake out for Republicans at the end regardless. And what do you make of Mike Lindell buying up his book to hand out as, that was his biggest expense in his report? I mean, pay to play. Pay to play, right? So you're not on board with it. No. All right. And the minute we have left, is this year's legislative session basically going to be campaign posturing more than policy passage? You first. I mean, it's going to be focused on fraud, which is going to be the Republicans' number one goal to get forward anyways and to find some answers on. So I think it's going to be a little bit of both. Todd? we have a governor who's now running again and a speaker running for higher office. With a split legislature, this does not seem like a year that we're going to make a whole lot of policy formation. So three months of looking at each other. Maybe they'll make it two months. Well, I'm on board with that. Todd Rapp, Praia Samson-Dar, thank you so much. And I'm sure we'll have you back as the campaign season really kicks into some steam here. But now we're going to hear some sounds and voices from the week in Minnesota politics. Hey, it's seven o'clock. We're going to call the caucus to order. So welcome to the kickoff of our 2026 election season. Thank you all for being here. State law provides the following requirements of a caucus. number one conduct a straw poll for the office of governor and we're going to do that here like real soon um two elect precinct chairs and other officers three elect delegates and alternates uh to the bpou convention uh four discussion issues and resolutions well thank you i'll speak loudly so you can hear me, but thank you for that applause, but wait until after I speak and see if I haven't earned your applause, okay? That would be great. Listen, I am so glad to be here. We have made that case, though, that the Dameth Wilson ticket is going to answer some of the issues and the problems that have been facing us all here in Minnesota over the last number of years. So instead, we need to go somewhere else to actually have a check and balance over this corrupt government, and that's what the state auditor's office should be about. We're going to going there and we're going to shake things up and we're going to be the dojo that you guys deserve. So I want to answer any questions, but I appreciate the time. So Elliot Engin. Right now, tonight, I'm asking you to sign up and to go on to the next round, the Senate District Convention. I ask you to endorse me there. Secondly, I ask you to keep showing up for community and saying, ice out of Minnesota. That is the minimum. Thank you all very much for being here. Please ask me or anyone else any questions you may have. and let's take this day back. Thank you all. Oh, yes. My name is Kimberly McDonald. I reside in Dilworth. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm usually the only person of color most of the time. You know, I'm used to that. But then some of the minorities, you know, outside of here, especially Democrats, give me a hard time. Because the way I look, they say that I'm supposed to be Democrat. This is the best part of Minnesota to me, is this area is nice. You know, that's why, and I love this area. And then when I was like, I need to get involved instead of complaining and be on the sideline. So I was curious, and I'm glad I came. My name is Lori Sieve. I am a registered nurse, a former nursing professor. because I've lived in Northfield since 2011. Well, I just want to elect people that are willing to, you know, make hard decisions and stop placating the people who are destroying our country. I'm very, very anxious about where we are right now. And you know I had a dad that fought in World War II and I just keep thinking he would just be aghast at what happening to our country right now I want to see Republicans that have the guts to actually do the right thing and not be wishy and roll with the flow kind of stuff And there's too much, too many wusses involved in politics. That's what it amounts to. Lance Larson, I live outside of Rochester, north of Rochester, near Orinoco. We have bigger issues. I mean, I have a candidate that I want to support, but I want to get ICE out of here. I want to stop this Travis. I mean, we may lose our health care. We may lose our Social Security. The environment is at risk. There is literally nothing that is safe right now with this administration. My name is Lori Kocking. I'm here in solidarity. Bill Nibbe. I'm really interested in standing up for our rights and going against and finding out more about the fraud that's been happening here in the state of Minnesota and get some people in a position that will actually do something about it. I'd like to see them push back. Teresa Baker. I live in Frogtown. Yep. I carry my passport in my car. I was born in St. Paul. It doesn't matter anymore. And so I'm starting. I have to care. I have to care. So this is what's kind of kick-starting. I've got to give a damn. Those that, what is the poem? I looked away when They came for my neighbor and now they're coming for me, right? So we need to care. All of us need to care. We need to be here. They didn't tell you this in journalism school, but a key ingredient in this job is stamina. It's been one of those news, big news days, one after another for many weeks. Our own Peter Cox and Dana Ferguson don't need me to tell them that. I just hope they can catch their breath a bit because the legislative session is what they'll be feasting on before long. they've carved out some time for this season's first reporter panel. Dana, Peter, welcome in. Dana, I want to start with you. You guys both went to cover caucuses. What did you see in here in your rounds? Yeah, I was in St. Paul and mostly focused on the DFL side of the precinct. And I was surprised at just the number of people who came out. And in talking to voters, just everyone I spoke with had the same driving factor behind why they were there. And that was that they're really concerned about federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota. And a lot of them said, you know, I haven't caucused in years, or this is my first time coming out. And they were just really motivated by what's going on on the ground. Peter, you saw both Democrats and Republicans down in Delano. Yeah. Tell us what you saw. I mean, similarly to Dana, you know, the DFLers I talked with were really concerned about ICE, about what they see as overreach, heavy-handed tactics. And then I went four blocks away to the high school in Delano for the GOP caucus. And the key issue for most caucus goers there was fraud. And it's kind of like people are living in two different worlds in some ways, where the driving issue for parties is clearly different. It feels like that's how we're going to see this campaign year develop, is that each side is in its own little swirl of information and fired up by far different things. Right. And it's worth noting, too, that fraud was the issue that the Trump administration said was the reason they were bringing all these officers to Minnesota for Operation Metro Surge, is that they wanted to root out fraud. So you can't have one without the other, even though now it's not entirely clear how much fraud is the key issue that's being investigated. Right. And the other thing is, like, this matters until the convention. But after the convention, both parties have to go for the voters kind of in that middle part and figure out whether the ICE issue or the fraud issue is going to get them in front of voters. Well, I'm fairly certain neither of you had a caucus encounter like our Tadeo Rees, Sandoval up in Dilworth. Let's roll that tape. Lisa DeBoe, 16. Scott Jensen has four and F Johnson has two. I hex all of you. I'm a witch. I hex all of you. Cancel that curse that hex in Jesus' name. Dana, you've been talking about it that we seem to be in a somewhat dumb news cycle. We're in a dumb news cycle. I think the levity that was brought by this self-proclaimed witch and the reaction to the witch helped us get through this week. And I just I still have like a very hard time not laughing because it's just such an absurd situation that they went through. But no, to the best of my knowledge, I didn't see any witches at the caucus precinct that I was at. What about you? I don't know. No witches, no vampires. But no public hexes were happening either. Hey, is it odd that we still don't know all that much about the DFL results yet? Haven't seen anything in broken down fashion? Yeah, it's strange. Typically, they need to get those results to the Secretary of State pretty quickly after they're able to tabulate them. The latest we have seen was, I believe, on Wednesday afternoon, there was about 84% of precincts reporting that we got the results on the DFL Twitter page. beyond that, we haven't really heard very much about what is driving this sort of long wait for those results. We know that Senator Klobuchar came out ahead. There were some other folks who voted uncommitted or for other candidates. But yeah, we're still just kind of unclear as to why this is taking so long. Peter, on the Republican side, have any candidates started to reassess their campaign and maybe think about exiting? We haven't seen that yet. I mean, And, you know, Chris Smattle dropped out before the caucus happened, but we haven't really seen any response yet that people are dropping out. Looks like a lot of people might still just be taking it to the convention at this point. You did a whip around this morning and there were no updated statements. No, plenty of tweets from most of the candidates, but not any statements that they're reassessing or dropping out. Dana, you know, just about the elections in general. We heard from Minnesota Secretary of State Simon this week. He's been talking more loudly lately about preparations in case there's kind of election intimidation or intrusions by non-sanctioned authorities. What's he getting at? Yeah, we heard the president this week say that he's interested in nationalizing elections, which came as a concern to Secretary Simon and others because the Constitution spells out that states are meant to be charged with implementing and running elections. So the secretary said that he is thinking about contingencies that need to be made, things that would have to happen if there is action taken by the federal government to step in and try to impact Minnesota elections in some way. He said similar to the way they think about contingencies for elections, if there's bad weather or any other threat, they're having to start planning for this. But he's hopeful that they're not going to need to use it and that folks will be understanding about Minnesota's elections being fair and accurate. But he stressed the point that Minnesota has a law about who can get close to a polling place. It's election judges, voters, some sanctioned media, and then poll watchers, one per party. And he said, basically, there's no law enforcement invitation outside of an emergency. Unless there was some sort of, yes, crime or emergency taking place, it would seem that federal agents would not be able to come in and interact with a polling place in any way. Peter, shifting gears here, we're closing in on that legislative session. It starts on February 17th. Yeah. How is this going to work with all those people running for other offices? I mean, I assume there's going to be a lot of politicking on the floor, you know, running for the seat they're seeking on the floor in press conferences. So I think we're going to, you know, hear a lot of people being questioned in public spaces about, you know, trying to get them on the, if they're on the fence on an issue on one side or the other. So I think it's going to be a campaign-driven legislative session. Dana, I mean, the 67-67 House, which means that neither party has a majority, you have the speaker running for governor and two of her members running for governor. Is there maybe going to be a little bit of friction within that Republican room? You have to think so. And it's got to be a little bit awkward within that caucus as they try to navigate being colleagues, but also competitors in the race for governor. And I would just echo Peter that they don't really have to get a ton done this year. And it doesn't look super promising that they will. The budget's already buttoned up, barring some big news out of the forecast this month. they probably don't have to do a lot of fixing. So we'll see if there's anything that really drives people to come together because they need to do things in a bipartisan fashion. Otherwise, pretty much nothing's going to get done. We've seen a fair amount of pre-session retirements. This week's was Senator Warren Limmer. That's a big one. He's the longest Republican. Talk about that a little bit. Well, and he's a really well-known figure at the Capitol, one for having served in the legislature longer than I've been alive, but also because he is very active in the space of public safety legislation, has served as chair of that committee in the past, now ranking member. And so I think it'll be a big shift not having him there. And certainly Democrats will be looking at that seat as a potential pickup in the election. Peter, you heard me ask the leaders about this in a forum a couple weeks ago about whether there'd be more retirements. They were a little circumspect. Yeah. I mean, right now, I think there are 20 legislators who are retiring, 10 Republicans, 10 Democrats. I think we might hear more after the session. You know, that's usually the timeline is you hear a lot before session, session happens, and then after people might drop out. So because they don't want to be a lame duck during session, looking for projects or whatever in their district. Exactly. But, you know, we also have a big group. I think there's 11 people running for offices outside the legislature. If they, you know, can't make it to the next round of the campaign, they might run for their seats again. But there could be a lot of change in the legislature this election. And I think a lot of folks after June 14th, the Speaker Emerita's assassination are really rethinking, you know, is public service what I want to be doing? Do I feel comfortable doing this? And it's going to be a different vibe at the Capitol for sure. We'll have plenty of time to unpack that as this session unfolds. But our time is up for today. We spoke with two candidates for governor, Republican Kendall Qualls and Independent Mike Newcomb. We'll keep trying to bring you interviews with the candidates for Minnesota's top offices this important election year. We hope you also caught our analysis from political pros Todd Rapp and Preya Samsundar. A great voice from the caucus segment and our political reporters you just heard from. We rounded out the show. Hear it all again on the Politics Friday podcast. Good place to catch up on any shows you missed or any shows you want to hear again. This show was produced by Matt Alvarez and our technical director today was Derek Ramirez. Elena C., she took care of our newscasts. We'll be back next week with a look at the legislative session. We hope to have the four caucus leaders in studio to talk about what they're planning for and what they might do to make the session go smoothly. I don't know. It's all starting soon. So be prepared to get into legislative mode until then. I hope you stay safe, maybe get outdoors and have a great weekend.