Minnesota may prove that with wise candidate selection and unique local conditions, state elections can buck national trends.
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Republican Michele Tafoya appears within striking distance of Democrat Peggy Flanagan in the Minnesota U.S. Senate race. A KSTP/Survey USA poll released this week shows the lieutenant governor at 45 percent and the former sportscaster at 42 percent. The Cook Political Report, feeling the shift in political winds on the northern plains, moved the race from “Likely Dem” to “Leans Dem” this week. In a reliably blue state during a supposedly blue-wave election, the Republican should not run within the margin of error.
What explains the weak Democrat performance in the U.S. Senate race in a state that last voted Republican at the presidential level in 1972?
In the 11th hour of a rough election season, Republicans suddenly see signs for optimism.
The looting of the state and federal treasury, primarily by Somalis. This past week, Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, exposed a grift in which swindlers paid Minnesota mothers up to $1,500 to falsely claim autism in their children. The state’s autism program, which started with just $6 million eight years ago, last year spent more than $443 million. (RELATED: How Medicaid Made a Billion-Dollar Crime Inevitable)
The scandal recalls the Quality “Learing” Center and other suspected fronts that received tens of millions of dollars from the Feeding Our Future program only to appear empty when investigative reporters showed up to see who benefited from the taxpayer-funded meals.
The state’s most conspicuous U.S. representative, Ilhan Omar, appears mired in related controversies. Apart from the numerous shady business ventures launched by her current husband, Omar faces accusations that involve immigration fraud involving her previous husband. When asked whether husband #2 was actually a relative, Omar responded on MS NOW with a less-than-convincing “not to my knowledge.” (RELATED: The Spectacle Ep. 479: Kingpin Ilhan Omar, Her Husband Brother, and the Democrat Scam She’s Running Against the American People)
Chris Hayes, who offered a worship session disguised as an interview, asked Omar such questions as “Do you ever want to just tap out?” and “Have any Republicans reached out to be, like, this sucks?”
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The interview seemed emblematic of what outrages Minnesotans. The politicians and the press abandon their charge to expose the truth and instead protect suspected public malefactors. They do not question but instead cover up. Peggy Flanagan similarly offers a see-no-evil-hear-no-evil-speak-no-evil approach to Somali gang violence, passes the buck on extensive fraud in the state to Governor Tim Walz despite serving in his administration as the lieutenant governor, and deflects on Somali swindlers by describing so many who object as racists. “Somali Minnesotans are teachers, nurses, neighbors — our friends,” she exclaimed last year. “Trump’s vile hate has no home here.”
From the “mostly peaceful” protests that erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s death to the rolling roadblocks and attacks upon ICE agents who enforced federal law earlier this year, Minnesota increasingly plays host to violence disguised as political protest. Protestors even invaded a church service earlier this year in St. Paul and shouted vile epithets at parishioners because of the association of an ICE agent with that particular congregation. (RELATED: Some Obvious Truths From Minnesota)
The corruption and bizarro extremist politics radicalize normal people into running as far away from candidates, such as Flanagan, associated with any of it. This partly explains why Michele Tafoya appears so competitive. The other half of the equation is Tafoya herself.
Tafoya runs as the anti-Ken Paxton. Whereas Texas Republicans look ready to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by selecting one of the few members of their party who could lose to a Democrat in a statewide election, Minnesota Republicans appear on the cusp of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat by one of the few in their ranks who could beat a Democrat statewide in their blue state.
Tafoya served as a sportscaster in the Minneapolis market and subsequently starred on the nation’s top-rated television show — Sunday Night Football — for more than a decade. Everybody knows her. More so, most people like her. The sorority of sideline reporters — Suzy Kolber, Pam Oliver, Erin Andrews — make for a lovable lot. Her years in media polished her into an eloquent and articulate speaker. Had the GOP nominated any other Republican — Adam Schwarze, Royce White, Harold Stassen — Democrats could sleepwalk to a victory.
In the 11th hour of a rough election season, Republicans suddenly see signs for optimism. They will likely lose the House of Representatives. Minnesota, epicenter of political extremism throughout the 2020s, may rescue the U.S. Senate from it in November.
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