MN 2022 Gov Race Megathread

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

BRTD or somebody from Minnesota, what are the GOP candidate's positions on Chauvin?

I've never heard any of them comment on the case other than vague "the trial was held fairly and the jury made their decision" type remarks.

[Minnesota Mike]

I wish the OP or the mods would rename this thread. We need a MN Gov megathread but with an out of date name like it has I think a lot of people just skip it.

[Minnesota Mike]

I wish the OP or the mods would rename this thread. We need a MN Gov megathread but with an out of date name like it has I think a lot of people just skip it.

Thanks mods.

[Minnesota Mike]

And we have a 3rd party governor candidate, Corey Hepola a former TV reporter/ radio host.

https://twitter.com/CoryHepola/status/1498785138821500928

There is no way he can win but this being Minnesota he may draw double digits. Not sure what, if anything, he stands for. Right now he is just spouting platitudes about coming together.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

And we have a 3rd party governor candidate, Corey Hepola a former TV reporter/ radio host.

https://twitter.com/CoryHepola/status/1498785138821500928

There is no way he can win but this being Minnesota he may draw double digits. Not sure what, if anything, he stands for. Right now he is just spouting platitudes about coming together.

That's why he ain't getting double digits. He'll also have no money.

[Minnesota Mike]

https://twitter.com/thauserkstp/status/1499880057690599431

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

https://twitter.com/FOX9/status/1499848541598015494

Doubling down on anti-vax stance and praising Putin. Typical Republican.

[RussFeingoldWasRobbed]

MN GOP, giving the FL Dems a run for their money

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

MN GOP, giving the FL Dems a run for their money

He's actually not the frontrunner if you believe PredictIt, that's Paul Gazelka (although I think Gazelka is overvalued), but considering that Gazelka sent his own daughter to conversion therapy and is most known as the former State Senate Majority Leader bottling up popular legislation like marijuana legalization and would be like running Mitch McConnell for President... he's not really better. And Gazelka is actually the one running a more moderate campaign, considering that he admitted Biden fairly won the election and endorsed getting the Covid vaccine.

[Minnesota Mike]

MN GOP, giving the FL Dems a run for their money

He's actually not the frontrunner if you believe PredictIt, that's Paul Gazelka (although I think Gazelka is overvalued), but considering that Gazelka sent his own daughter to conversion therapy and is most known as the former State Senate Majority Leader bottling up popular legislation like marijuana legalization and would be like running Mitch McConnell for President... he's not really better. And Gazelka is actually the one running a more moderate campaign, considering that he admitted Biden fairly won the election and endorsed getting the Covid vaccine.

I think Gazelka is the bigger name and the establishment favorite but I think Jenson is probably the favorite now. He easily won the straw poll and I think he appeals more to the far right activists who tend to dominate the convention.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

MN GOP, giving the FL Dems a run for their money

He's actually not the frontrunner if you believe PredictIt, that's Paul Gazelka (although I think Gazelka is overvalued), but considering that Gazelka sent his own daughter to conversion therapy and is most known as the former State Senate Majority Leader bottling up popular legislation like marijuana legalization and would be like running Mitch McConnell for President... he's not really better. And Gazelka is actually the one running a more moderate campaign, considering that he admitted Biden fairly won the election and endorsed getting the Covid vaccine.

I think Gazelka is the bigger name and the establishment favorite but I think Jenson is probably the favorite now. He easily won the straw poll and I think he appeals more to the far right activists who tend to dominate the convention.

Straw polls in the past have been kind of meaningless but yeah, Jensen is probably a good buy on PredictIt.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

https://twitter.com/StarTribune/status/1504479907836882951

This is a pretty great win-win move by Walz. (For the record he's calling for $500 checks to single filers and $1000 to married couples.) It'd require legislative approval, but that means either the Republicans in the Senate oppose it and give him yet another wedge issue (in addition to already existing ones like marijuana legalization) or they pass it and give him a victory and popular policy in the run-up to the election.

[ProgressiveModerate]

https://twitter.com/StarTribune/status/1504479907836882951

This is a pretty great win-win move by Walz. (For the record he's calling for $500 checks to single filers and $1000 to married couples.) It'd require legislative approval, but that means either the Republicans in the Senate oppose it and give him yet another wedge issue (in addition to already existing ones like marijuana legalization) or they pass it and give him a victory and popular policy in the run-up to the election.

As an outsider, Waltz's optics seem pretty good compared to a lot of other govs on both sides facing tough re-elections. He comes across as someone trying to do good for his people and less into the political football

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

https://twitter.com/StarTribune/status/1504479907836882951
This is a pretty great win-win move by Walz. (For the record he's calling for $500 checks to single filers and $1000 to married couples.) It'd require legislative approval, but that means either the Republicans in the Senate oppose it and give him yet another wedge issue (in addition to already existing ones like marijuana legalization) or they pass it and give him a victory and popular policy in the run-up to the election.

As an outsider, Waltz's optics seem pretty good compared to a lot of other govs on both sides facing tough re-elections. He comes across as someone trying to do good for his people and less into the political football

Walz is really good at the "every man" sort of image, mostly because in his case it's actually true, before he entered politics he was a high school geography teacher and football coach in southern Minnesota. It's no accident that he never faced any serious opposition while in Congress from a swing district that on paper was probably Tilt R (aside from his surprise almost defeat in 2016, but even that was impressive in that he outran Hillary more than almost any other Democrat in the country aside from literally unopposed ones.)

[Calthrina950]

https://twitter.com/StarTribune/status/1504479907836882951
This is a pretty great win-win move by Walz. (For the record he's calling for $500 checks to single filers and $1000 to married couples.) It'd require legislative approval, but that means either the Republicans in the Senate oppose it and give him yet another wedge issue (in addition to already existing ones like marijuana legalization) or they pass it and give him a victory and popular policy in the run-up to the election.

As an outsider, Waltz's optics seem pretty good compared to a lot of other govs on both sides facing tough re-elections. He comes across as someone trying to do good for his people and less into the political football

Walz is really good at the "every man" sort of image, mostly because in his case it's actually true, before he entered politics he was a high school geography teacher and football coach in southern Minnesota. It's no accident that he never faced any serious opposition while in Congress from a swing district that on paper was probably Tilt R (aside from his surprise almost defeat in 2016, but even that was impressive in that he outran Hillary more than almost any other Democrat in the country aside from literally unopposed ones.)

What rating would you give the race, as of right now? Walz seems to be favored to me, but he could be held to an underwhelming margin because of the political environment.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

https://twitter.com/StarTribune/status/1504479907836882951
This is a pretty great win-win move by Walz. (For the record he's calling for $500 checks to single filers and $1000 to married couples.) It'd require legislative approval, but that means either the Republicans in the Senate oppose it and give him yet another wedge issue (in addition to already existing ones like marijuana legalization) or they pass it and give him a victory and popular policy in the run-up to the election.

As an outsider, Waltz's optics seem pretty good compared to a lot of other govs on both sides facing tough re-elections. He comes across as someone trying to do good for his people and less into the political football

Walz is really good at the "every man" sort of image, mostly because in his case it's actually true, before he entered politics he was a high school geography teacher and football coach in southern Minnesota. It's no accident that he never faced any serious opposition while in Congress from a swing district that on paper was probably Tilt R (aside from his surprise almost defeat in 2016, but even that was impressive in that he outran Hillary more than almost any other Democrat in the country aside from literally unopposed ones.)

What rating would you give the race, as of right now? Walz seems to be favored to me, but he could be held to an underwhelming margin because of the political environment.

Likely D. Even an "underwhelming margin" is still enough for Walz to win, but I think his likely opponents have a ceiling of ~46%, and that former news anchor guy who caused a 24-hour meltdown of prominent Minnesota Democrats on Twitter raving about him being a spoiler has been a huge bust so far and not likely to get any better (a couple weeks in and he still has no real platform besides generic platitudes.) Also worth noting that Minnesota often goes opposite the national headwinds in Gubernatorial elections...see the last three prior to 2018 for an example, so even that's not a huge issue. And to put it very mildly: None of Walz's opponents are as good a candidate as Glenn Youngkin.

[lfromnj]

https://twitter.com/Stowydad/status/1514611505777455105

Another DFL senator retires, from the Moorhead region, Trump +3 seat, should move it from tossup to atleast Lean R.

[Minnesota Mike]

Another DFL senator retires, from the Moorhead region, Trump +3 seat, should move it from tossup to atleast Lean R.

Yep. I believe this is actually the only Trump/Dem held Senate seat on the new map.

This brings up to 20 Senate retirements (including running for another office), 10D, 8R, 2 R caucusing I's. That's out of 67 seats so quit the turnover.

[Minnesota Mike]

For those interested in MN legislative races here is a good list of who is running.

https://www.minnpost.com/elections/2022/04/whos-running-for-the-minnesota-legislature-in-2022/

[neostassenite31]

Latest fundraising figures from Q1 2022 show Walz essentially burying all of his GOP challengers under an avalanche of cash:

Cash on Hand by candidate at the end of Q1 2022:
Scott Jensen - $774K
Paul Gazelka - $406K
Kendall Qualls - $168K
Richard Stanek - $40K
Tim Walz - $4.1M

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/minnesota/with-4-1m-walz-holds-significant-fundraising-advantage-over-gop-challengers

Also, as a sidenote, the DFL outraised the MNGOP by 50 to 1 this quarter:

Total raised by party:
Minnesota DFL - $2,304,897
Republican Party of Minnesota - $45,680

Yep, that's a difference of 50-fold, just let that sink in for a moment.

https://cfb.mn.gov/reports-and-data/viewers/campaign-finance/party-unit/20003/2020/
https://cfb.mn.gov/reports-and-data/viewers/campaign-finance/party-unit/20008/2020/
(Under the "Results and data" tab -> 2022 1st Quarter Report)

[Minnesota Mike]

https://twitter.com/thauserkstp/status/1517554536105316353

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

https://twitter.com/thauserkstp/status/1517554536105316353

A long time hack who has kept running for office hoping to be nominated something and never succeeding...I guess this might work except I doubt Gazelka wins the nomination now.

Also what's funny is that Woodbury mayor is a pretty weak position, it's the largest "non-chartered" city in Minnesota, which means that the local government can't really do anything on its own and needs to ask the state legislature for permission.

[Minnesota Mike]

https://twitter.com/jessvanb/status/1517621321039060994

A big but not unexpected MN Senate retirement,  Sen. Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, former majority leader. Senjem really drew the short straw in redistricting going from a Biden +5 district to a Biden +21 district. DFL Rep Liz Bolden is running for this seat. Sure pickup for Democrats.

[neostassenite31]

Also what's funny is that Woodbury mayor is a pretty weak position, it's the largest "non-chartered" city in Minnesota, which means that the local government can't really do anything on its own and needs to ask the state legislature for permission.

I think what BRTD meant is that Woodbury, being a statutory city, operates under a weak mayor-council system (which is essentially forced onto the city by the statutory city code in MN state law due of the lack of a city charter), and so that's why the mayor doesn't really have much unilateral local authority to do anything.  

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Also what's funny is that Woodbury mayor is a pretty weak position, it's the largest "non-chartered" city in Minnesota, which means that the local government can't really do anything on its own and needs to ask the state legislature for permission.

I think what BRTD meant is that Woodbury, being a statutory city, operates under a weak mayor-council system (which is essentially forced onto the city by the statutory city code in MN state law due of the lack of a city charter), and so that's why the mayor doesn't really have much unilateral local authority to do anything.  

Yes that is correct.