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Capitol View®
Bill Wareham

Daily Digest: CD1 race is background to Trump visit

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Good morning and welcome to Thursday. President Donald Trump will be campaigning in Minnesota today, and that's where the Digest begins.

1. Trump heading into a battleground 1st District. When President Donald Trump arrives in Rochester Thursday evening, he'll be landing in the middle of one of the most competitive congressional races in the country.  Long before Trump took office, congressional candidate Jim Hagedorn was talking about some of the same issues that have defined the president's administration-- stricter immigration rules, lower taxes and fewer regulations. For Hagedorn, who has had a long career working in Washington, D.C. and is making his third run for the 1st Congressional District seat this year, Trump's visit is a timely and welcome development.  "We're excited about it,” he said. “It's going to energize our party and give people another view of this campaign." Trump is arriving in Rochester when competition between Hagedorn and his DFL opponent Dan Feehan is at a fever pitch. (MPR News)

2. Jeff Johnson's legal background. Jeff Johnson's political resume includes stints as a state legislator, a member of the Republican National Committee and, most recently, a Hennepin County commissioner. But away from the public glare, the Republican nominee for Minnesota governor made a living as an employment lawyer and consultant to companies dealing with sexual harassment and other workplace matters. Once he even took on the Grim Reaper, sort of. (MPR News)

3. Poll shows Craig with a lead in CD2.  A poll of 487 people in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District shows Democrat Angie Craig leading Republican incumbent Jason Lewis 51-39 percent with 9 percent undecided. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. (New York Times)

4. Appeals court judge Jesson faces election challenge. Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Lucinda Jesson, who was commissioner of the state's Department of Human Services before being appointed to the court by Gov. Mark Dayton, faces St. Paul private attorney Anthony L. Brown in the first electoral challenge of a state Appeals Court judge since 2010. But before their Election Day showdown, the two will first meet Thursday in a forum organized by the League of Women Voters in Golden Valley. Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Margaret Chutich and her challenger, West St. Paul attorney Michelle MacDonald, have also been invited. The pair of appellate court races are among just eight contested judicial seats this year; the remainder of the 97 judicial seats on the ballot are uncontested. Brown, 41, will be running in his first judicial contest partly, he said, to give voters a say in a process that often finds the governor picking jurists whose entire tenure on the bench can pass unchallenged. He and Jesson are competing for a six-year term. (Star Tribune)

5. Minneapolis police won't look at Ellison investigation.   The Minnesota DFL Party's attempt to find a law enforcement agency willing to investigate a domestic abuse claim against U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison was mired in uncertainty on Wednesday, after the Minneapolis Police Department said it would seek to refer the case to another jurisdiction. Earlier Wednesday, the DFL asked Minneapolis police to investigate the allegation after both a city attorney and a county prosecutor declined to review a report the party commissioned that did not substantiate the allegation. "Due to a conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict of interest, the Minneapolis Police Department will not be handling the matter involving Congressman Keith Ellison," read a police statement. "The Minneapolis Police Department is in communication with other law enforcement agencies who we may refer this case to." (Star Tribune)