Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 190
Trump Is Everywhere
A Minnesota judge has ordered U.S. Senate candidate Royce White (R) not to contact his ex-wife and son, finding the former basketball star liable for abuse that left his family “plainly in fear,” the Minnesota Star Tribune reports.
The order for protection prohibits White from contact with his ex-wife for 50 years and with his teenage son for two years.
“Sen. Tina Smith is endorsing Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan as her successor over Rep. Angie Craig, taking sides in a hotly contested primary to fill Smith’s Senate seat that’s been roiled in recent weeks by the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement efforts,” Politico reports.
“Michele Tafoya, a Republican former television sports reporter turned conservative media commentator, announced on Wednesday that she was running for an open Senate seat in Minnesota,” the New York Times reports.
“Former sports broadcaster turned conservative media figure Michele Tafoya is considering a run for Senate in Minnesota after meeting with officials from the National Republican Senatorial Committee last week in Washington,” NOTUS reports.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) “is wading ever more deeply into the Democratic Party’s ideological tug of war, endorsing Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota in her contested primary race to replace the retiring Senator Tina Smith, a Democrat,” the New York Times reports.
“Ms. Flanagan, who was elected twice as the running mate of Gov. Tim Walz, is facing off against Representative Angie Craig, a Democrat. Their race is one of many primaries next year that will help determine the direction of the party.”
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Republicans have a couple of open-seat Senate targets in Kamala Harris-won New Hampshire and Minnesota.”
“History suggests Democrats should be able to hold both races, but Minnesota has clearly become a less attractive target for Republicans than New Hampshire.”
Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) has formally launched her campaign for U.S. Senate.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) will not run for Senate, and instead is considering running for re-election to a third term, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports.
He also won’t endorse in the Democratic primary.
Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Sen. Tina Smith’s (D-MN) retirement prompted us to move the contest for her seat from Likely Democratic to Leans Democratic.”
“Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D) has already effectively jumped into the race, though other Democrats, especially from the state’s House delegation, could also join in.”
“While Republicans have not won a statewide race in Minnesota since 2006, their primary is already shaping up.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) is considering a run for Senate next year, Politico reports.
“His consideration of the seat comes after Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) announced her retirement from the blue-leaning battleground on Thursday. Walz, the former vice presidential nominee, could also run for reelection as governor in 2026.”
“Already on Thursday, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan kicked off a bid with a post on social media.”
Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) announced she will not run for reelection in 2026, putting another Democratic seat in play on the Senate map.
Minnesota U.S. Senate candidate Royce White (R) tweeted out a map purporting to show that “crime in Minneapolis” is spinning “out of control.”
However, the map actually showed drinking fountains in the city.
“Royce White, a George Floyd protest leader and former college basketball star-turned-right-wing Senate candidate in Minnesota, was ordered to catch up after he fell behind on court-mandated child support payments at least a half-dozen times from 2020 to 2023,” NBC News reports.
“White’s candidacy has generated new attention after the Minnesota Republican Party endorsed him this month at its state convention, where he won the support of two-thirds of the voting delegates.”
“At five in the morning one week after Republican Royce White lost his 2022 Minnesota congressional primary, his campaign shelled out more than $1,200 in donor funds to a vendor 1,800 miles away not typically associated with political expenses—an all-nude strip club in Miami, Florida, called ‘Gold Rush Cabaret,’” the Daily Beast reports.
“That is just one among dozens of outlandish but previously unreported payments that The Daily Beast has identified from White’s 2022 Federal Election Commission filings. Several campaign finance experts characterized some of the expenses as potentially illegal spending.”
U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis (R) is undergoing emergency surgery Monday for a severe internal hernia, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
“The former congressman was experiencing abdominal pain and was hurried into the emergency room Monday morning for tests. Doctors determined he had a hernia, which could be life-threatening if it’s not treated fast.”
Minnesota U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis (R) once said Republicans had “dual loyalties” to Israel, adding that support for the country was the result of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and a “very strong American Jewish lobby,” CNN reports.
Lewis said in a February 2013 radio show that many in the party viewed the country as the “51st state.” He claimed policymakers in President George W. Bush’s administration, including former UN Ambassador John Bolton, were dual citizens of Israel and the United States.
A new Star Tribune/MPR News Minnesota Poll finds Sen. Tina Smith (D) just ahead of challenger Karin Housley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 41%.
In Minnesota’s other Senate race, Sen. Amy Klombuchar (D) is headed for a landslide win over challenger Jim Newberger (R), 56% to 33%.
Minnesota U.S. Senate candidate Karin Housley (R) compared then-first lady Michelle Obama to a “chimp” in 2009 Facebook post, the HuffPost reports.
Housley is running against Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN).
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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