Speaker Hortman praises Harris’ ‘cool aunt appeal,’ hopeful of down-ballot boost
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All 134 Minnesota House of Representatives seats are on the ballot this fall. With just a one-seat majority in the state senate, the DFL hopes to keep control of its trifecta: the Minnesota House, Senate and Governor’s Office.
Democratic lawmakers running for reelection nationally and in state House races alike have worried a struggling President Joe Biden would be a drag on their races. Now, they’re navigating how to adjust campaign strategy with a new face — whether or not it’s Vice President Kamala Harris — at the helm.
Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, remained mostly quiet as calls grew louder for Biden to resign after his poor debate performance last month but told MPR News Tuesday the ensuing uncertainty was frustrating.
“He’s had a tremendous four years, and it’s hard to judge any one person on 90 minutes, but it was a pretty important 90 minutes,” Hortman said. “Right now, we’re just very relieved that the uncertainty is over. And the enthusiasm is really high, just tremendous support for the Vice President to ascend to the position of the president.”
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Harris gained the support of enough delegates to the Democratic National Convention in one day to potentially win the party’s presidential nomination, the AP reports. Those pledges, however, are symbolic until the delegates meet and vote in Chicago in about four weeks.
The newly-minted Harris campaign is injecting fresh enthusiasm into some down-ballot races.
“I remember when Barack Obama ran for president in 2008 and I went to precinct caucuses where we normally have 200 people show up. And 2,000 people were standing outside Jackson Middle School in Brooklyn Park waiting,” Hortman recalled. “That kind of boost of energy comes from having somebody that doesn’t look like the people who normally run for president running for president. And I think people are really thrilled and excited.”
That energy has translated into record-breaking campaign cash. Within 24 hours of Biden endorsing Harris, the Minnesota DFL raised over $100,000 online, which it says is a record. Further, donations came flooding in before the party put out a single ask via text or email.
Nationally, the Harris campaign says it broke a record, scooping up $81 million in a day.
The “fundraising is kind of incredible,” Hortman acknowledged, “but I think the bigger issue for us will be the turnout bump — so for people who weren’t as enthusiastic about voting for Joe Biden, but definitely were planning to vote against Donald Trump. I think there’s a whole new group of people who will be there to vote for Kamala Harris because she’s immensely qualified to be president and just brings a new energy.”
The Trump campaign has said it can flip Minnesota and plans to create eight field offices. In 2020, he lost the state to Biden by eight points.
There’s a four-seat swing that could change the state’s majority, meaning the election will be tight, but Hortman doesn’t expect Trump to do well “because people saw what he was. For those four years, he was a very divisive figure that really tore the country apart rather than bringing people together.”
She expects Harris, and not Trump, to have coattails in the North Star state.
Campaigns, according to Hortman, rely on voters both liking a candidate as a person and having trust in their platform and decision-making.
“I think in the same way that Kamala Harris has this kind of cool aunt appeal and people like her and want to be around her, we have a lot of really incredible candidates. Many of them who are incumbents have a phenomenal record of accomplishment at the state capitol — enacting great policies like protecting reproductive freedom, paid family medical leave — really transformational work at the state capitol, but also they’re just good people of their community involved in their community, nice family people,” Hortman said.
Hortman expects Democrats to get a bigger voting bump than usual over Republicans in November, on par with Obama’s election. She believes women and people of color are particularly engaged.
“Identity politics isn’t everything but it is something. It does matter to see that there are people who look like you running for office,” Hortman said. “So I think people who normally wouldn’t be that enthused about politics, but see something in Kamala Harris that’s different than your average white guy running for president, might be a little bit more energized to turn out.”
