Political newcomer Jim Schultz defeated Doug Wardlow in the Republican primary for Minnesota attorney general Tuesday night.
Schultz was endorsed by the state party and has the backing of police, but Wardlow’s name recognition from his 2018 bid for the position and support from national figures like Steve Bannon and Mike Lindell had some insiders concerned the base would rally to his side.
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Minnesotans will head to the polls Tuesday to pick their preferred candidates for the general election. Every seat (201) in the Minnesota Legislature is up for grabs this November because of redistricting.
The Minnesota GOP maintains control of the Minnesota Senate and could take back the House from Democrats.
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The Minnesota GOP cut off access to party data for at least four endorsed candidates over the weekend, hamstringing their campaigns just three weeks before the primaries.
Two of the four candidates, Natalie Barnes and Bret Bussman, beat out incumbent Republican senators for the party’s endorsement earlier this year.
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A rally opposing mandates for kids took place outside the Minnesota Department of Education building in Roseville, Minnesota on Wednesday. The rally, organized by Mark Bishofsky, had around 200 attendees. Bishofsky has organized several other protests in the last few months, hosting one of the largest Stop The Mandate protests at the Minnesota State Capitol.
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The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) began targeting Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) and other swing-state Democrats Monday with a new billboard campaign. “Ask Tina Smith about the 430,478 Minnesota jobs at risk under the Green New Deal,” the NRSC’s new Minnesota billboard states. Smith has expressed support for the Green New Deal, but voted “present” along with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) when the measure was put up for a vote in the Senate. Great new billboard here in MN by @NRSC. It’s time @TinaSmithMN answer for why she wants to crush jobs in Minnesota. #mnsen pic.twitter.com/ETvO9Da6p3 — Kevin Poindexter (@Kdpoindexter) April 22, 2019 State Sen. Karin Housley (R-St. Mary’s Point), Smith’s 2018 opponent, tweeted a picture of the billboard Monday along with the contact information for Smith’s office. “Yep, you should ask Sen. Tina Smith. I saved you the search,” Housley said. Smith defeated Housley in the 2018 special election to finish the remainder of former Sen. Al Franken’s term, but she will be up for reelection again in 2020. Yep, you should ask @SenTinaSmith. I saved you the search: (202) 224-5641 or https://t.co/TE6oaflnIq #mnsen pic.twitter.com/mbEeMywZ3U — Karin Housley (@KarinHousley) April 22, 2019 It’s been rumored that Housley may run…
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Doug Wardlow, the Minnesota Republican Party’s 2018 nominee for attorney general, is reportedly considering a run against Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) in 2020. The National Journal claims a “Republican source with knowledge” said Wardlow is being encouraged to run for the seat by party officials and activists. Wardlow lost his 2018 race against Attorney General Keith Ellison, but only by four points—a closer margin than any other Republican running for statewide office. Ellison’s campaign, however, was nearly derailed by domestic-abuse allegations leveled against the Democrat. The anonymous source also pointed out that Wardlow outperformed President Donald Trump’s numbers in the Twin Cities area and Rochester, and that he managed to raise more than $1 million during his campaign. Smith, who was appointed by former Gov. Mark Dayton to fill in for Al Franken, defeated State Sen. Karin Housley (R-St. Mary’s Point) with 53 percent of the vote, compared to Housley’s 42 percent. But Smith will be up again for reelection in 2020, since the 2018 race was a special election called for the remaining two years of Franken’s six-year term. A look at Wardlow’s Twitter feed from the last several weeks shows that he’s had his eye on Smith. In…
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Mike Lindell, founder and CEO of MyPillow, first met President Donald Trump the summer before the 2016 election. “When I met him, I go: ‘Wow, there’s nobody on this planet I’d rather have be my president than Donald Trump,’” he told The Minnesota Sun, a state-focused news site that, like The Tennessee Star, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Star News Digital Media. Lindell was launched into the political scene after that summer meeting when he came out in support of then-candidate Trump. “First of all, let me get it straight. I was never a politician. I didn’t know a conservative from a liberal before I met Donald Trump,” he said in an interview. “I went all-in to back him and to get behind him to be our president. That’s when I actually had to learn what liberal is and what conservatism was. I had to learn all this.” Since then, Lindell has doubled-down on his support for the president, and has done so proudly. The MyPillow founder was recently chastised on social media for refusing to pull his advertisements from Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show. “I didn’t back down. I advertise across the board,” Lindell said, noting that he’s…
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Keith Ellison’s campaign for Minnesota attorney general is smearing Republican opponent Doug Wardlow for previously working for an organization labeled an “extremist group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). “Wardlow has proudly worked for an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled an anti-LGBTQ ‘hate group,’ testified against allowing trans students to use the restroom of their choice, and called the United States Supreme Court’s decision legalizing marriage equality a ‘totalitarian impulse,’” Ellison’s team wrote in an August 27 Facebook post. The SPLC, however, often smears “good people with false charges of bigotry,” as Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen recently wrote, saying the organization has “lost all credibility.” In fact, SPLC was sued earlier this year by former Islamic radical Maajid Nawaz for including him in its “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists.” The SPLC eventually reached a settlement with Nawaz, and was forced to make a public apology. Nonetheless, liberals like Ellison continue to push the SPLC’s characterization of conservatives as “extremists,” with the former Democratic congressman questioning his opponent’s views on “civil rights laws.” “On the anniversary of the March on Washington, Minnesotans deserve to know if Wardlow would enforce the civil rights laws Rev. Dr. Martin King…
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In a damning Monday press release, Republican candidate for Minnesota attorney general Doug Wardlow claimed that his opponent Keith Ellison is “not authorized to practice law” in the state. According to the release, the State Office of Lawyer Registration reveals that Ellison surrendered his law license in 2012 and is no longer eligible to practice law in Minnesota. “Keith Ellison has falsely said that Congress requires lawyers to surrender their licenses to practice law when they enter the U.S. House. According to the Clerk of the House, no professionals are required to surrender their licenses when they take the oath of office,” Wardlow’s campaign claims, noting that “this means Keith Ellison has intentionally skipped 180 hours of mandatory classes.” The classes, which bring attorneys up-to-date on “legal ethics, changes in the law, and diversity training,” could takes “years” to make up, according to Wardlow. “He may never be able to practice law in Minnesota again,” the press release states. If Ellison were to practice law in Minnesota as attorney general by “filing a criminal complaint or appearing in court,” he would actually be breaking a criminal law against the “Unauthorized Practice of Law,” Wardlow’s campaign argues. “Every separate time Keith…
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Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Tom Perez is refusing to state whether or not he believes the recent domestic-violence allegations leveled against his right-hand-man Keith Ellison. In a recent video first obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation, Perez is shown running away as he is asked if he believes “the allegations against Keith Ellison.” “Why haven’t you asked Keith Ellison to step down while the review is being conducted? These are pretty serious things that deserve serious answers,” the man recording asks while Perez is escorted into a private office by his staff. Throughout the video, Perez not once addresses the questions, nor does he even acknowledge that they are being asked. In an interview with CBSN that appears to have been conducted that same day, Perez places responsibility for investigating the allegations on the Minnesota Democratic Party, though the DNC previously claimed that it would review the matter. “These allegations recently came to light and we are reviewing them. All allegations of domestic abuse are disturbing and should be taken seriously,” the DNC told NPR in a statement. “We take all allegations of sexual misconduct very, very seriously and that is something we’ve always done, and that’s something…
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Rep. Keith Ellison managed to win last week’s primary in his bid for Minnesota attorney general, but one organization is now calling on the controversial Democrat to drop out of the race amid abuse allegations. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party offered Ellison its official endorsement Saturday during its state executive committee meeting. Speaking to a room full of delegates, 82 percent of whom went for Ellison, the former United States congressman addressed the allegations. “Despite everything, I still care about her as a person and I don’t want anybody to say anything insulting to her at all. I want you to know that I am committed to listening to all of the voices of every victim of abuse,” Ellison said, according to Yahoo News. “I recognize and hear those voices of so many women who were silenced when they needed to be heard,” he continued. After Saturday’s endorsement, DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released a statement in support of Ellison, saying that the “party stands with him in his campaign” and looks “forward to working together to keep this seat.” “As attorney general, Keith will be a champion for families and fight to hold powerful interests accountable,” Martin said of his…
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Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison is facing accusations of domestic abuse from his former girlfriend, yet still managed to win in Tuesday’s primary for Minnesota attorney general. The outspoken critic of President Trump announced in June that he would be leaving his seat representing Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District, which has remained a Democratic stronghold since at least 1979 when Martin Sabo took office. On Saturday, abuse accusations against Ellison surfaced on Facebook when his ex-girlfriend’s son claimed to have seen video of the Democrat caught in the act. Karen Monahan later confirmed that what her son was claiming was true, and that she had in fact been physically dragged off of a bed by Ellison while he screamed at her. Monahan, arguing that she shouldn’t need to release the video, claims that she put her “camera on to video him,” but Ellison and his campaign have denied the accusations. “Karen and I were in a long-term relationship, which ended in 2016, and I still care deeply for her well-being. This video does not exist because I have never behaved in this way, and any characterization otherwise is false,” Ellison said in a statement, according to CBS. He also referenced the accusations…
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