Dem
47
GOP
53
As you probably have noticed, Minnesota is in turmoil, with ICE agents arresting and shooting people right and left. The people of Minnesota are going to get a chance to weigh in on this in November, since there are elections for both governor and senator. Both are open-seat elections, since neither Gov. Tim Walz (DFL-MN) nor Tina Smith (DFL-MN) is running for reelection.
Democrats have two heavyweight candidates duking it out for the senatorial nomination, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Rep. Angie Craig. The former is a Native American and the latter is a lesbian, forcing fans of identity politics to rank order their identity preferences.
On the Republican side, former NBA player Royce White and former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze were the only candidates until yesterday, when they were joined by Michele Tafoya. Her claim to being a suitable United States senator is that she used to be a sports reporter for a variety of stations and sideline reporter for NBC Sunday Night Football. In her announcement, she said: "For years, I covered the biggest football games in America. It taught me about how leadership really works when leaders are prepared and accountable." Right, talking to players and coaches about why that flea-flicker didn't work clearly prepares you to be a U.S. senator. In any event, she has made clear she knows that female sports ought to be restricted to actual females and she is not afraid to say it.
Tafoya proudly brands herself a "pro-choice, libertarian-leaning conservative." If you think about it for a moment, that's pretty much the opposite of Trumpism. He claims to be anti-choice (and most of his followers are definitely anti-choice). And he's a big, big fan of an interventionist government, as long as it's intervening in the right places. So, she is not exactly in step with the leader of her party.
Still, Tafoya's entry is going to heat up the Republican primary because she is better known than the other two candidates. This is going to put all of them in a difficult position. Attack the ICE raids and have Donald Trump hate you. Support the ICE raids and have large numbers of voters furious with you. But given what is happening in Minneapolis now, defending the administration is going to be tough for whoever wins the GOP primary. (V)