Minnesota Now

Most of the big names in Minnesota democratic politics are now behind a Kamala Harris presidential nomination effort.

As of Monday morning, Gov. Tim Walz and 2nd District U.S. Rep. Angie Craig threw their support to Vice President Harris.

Craig joined Minnesota Congressional Democrats Ilhan Omar and Betty McCollum in supporting Harris. Rep. Dean Phillips, who had a brief and unsuccessful run against President Joe Biden, thinks Harris is “well-prepared” to run and beat Donald Trump, but thinks there should be straw polls and town hall meetings to vet potential candidates.

Minnesota Sens. Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar are Harris supporters. Klobuchar, Minnesota’s senior senator, joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.

President Joe Biden’s late-race dropout might feel a little familiar to lifelong Minnesotans.

Thirty-four years ago, Minnesota saw a gubernatorial election that had plenty of controversy and yes, an 11th hour withdrawal that changed the game with a surprise upset victory. It was astounding at the time.

Here’s what happened: DFL incumbent governor Rudy Perpich, was seeking an unprecedented fourth term. Republicans got behind a business executive named Jon Grunseth. Grunseth was leading in the polls until details of a sex scandal were revealed in the Star Tribune just three weeks before the election.

After Grunseth dropped, Arne Carlson jumped in. He won the race and went on to serve two terms as governor. Former governor Arne Carlson joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to reflect on his last-minute race.

Vice President Kamala Harris has strong backing from Minnesota’s delegation to receive the nomination at the Democratic National Convention. That's where the party’s nominee will be picked following President Joe Biden’s exit from the race.

MPR News senior politics reporter Clay Masters joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the reaction from Minnesota’s delegation.

This has been a wild election season, and it took another twist over the weekend with President Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race and throwing his support to his Vice President Kamala Harris.

Democratic leaders are heeding the call to unite behind Harris. Most of Minnesota’s DFL congressional delegation is supporting Harris. This morning, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced he’s behind Harris too. Gov. Walz is a co-chair for the Democratic National Convention’s rules committee and will take part in deciding how a nominee gets chosen in a landscape we’ve never seen before.

Walz joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer in his first Minnesota interview since endorsing Harris.

The Census Bureau has officially expanded the Sioux Falls metro area into Minnesota.

By adding Minnesota’s Rock County to the South Dakota city’s area, the census bumped the population to an estimated 315,000. 

Rock County administrator Kyle Oldre said the new designation reflects the long-standing relationship between Rock County and Sioux Falls.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

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The Minneapolis City Council just approved a contract that includes big pay raises for the city’s police officers. We broke those numbers down.

And families uprooted from St. Paul’s West Side in the 1950s and 60s are asking the city to make amends.

The Republican National Convention concludes Thursday with a nomination acceptance speech from Donald Trump. We had a live report from Milwaukee and heard how his Vice President pick and assassination attempt effected the convention.

Plus, a former barista talked about how a regular customer cheered her on in the latest in our Thank You, Stranger series.

And Twins fans have a lot to look forward to with a five-game homestand and Joe Mauer’s induction into the Hall of Fame.

Our Minnesota Music Minute was “Dream/Grief” by Laamar and our Song of the Day was “Do It” by Knu Funk.

Twins fans have a lot to look forward to coming up, a five-game homestand and Joe Mauer being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Minnesota Lynx are now on an Olympic break with four players competing in Paris.

Joining MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about what to expect and the latest in Minnesota sports are Wally Langfellow, the founder of Minnesota Score Sports Magazine and co-host of the sports talk show “10,000 Takes” and Eric Nelson, the other host of that show and Minnesota Vikings NFL reporter for CBS’ Eye on Football and Sirius XM.

Our “Thank You, Stranger” series is about the people who come into our lives and lend a little support, maybe make our days a little brighter. This time, we’ll hear how a customer let a former barista reflect on her career in an unexpected way.

The Mississippi River has pulled back from flood stage in St. Paul after cresting at the end of last month at more than 20 feet. It reached two feet higher than that back in 1952 in what is considered the city’s most destructive flood. The areas that were hardest hit were low-lying areas predominantly occupied by immigrants, in particular, the West Side Flats neighborhood just across the river from downtown St. Paul.

In the years after the flood, the area was bulldozed as the city built a flood wall, then an industrial park. Former residents and advocates are still making sense of what happened to the neighborhood when more than 2,000 people had to leave.

A new report commissioned by the West Side Community Organization says homeowners who left received less than $50,000 in compensation in today’s dollars. And renters received between $35 and $1,000. The report also asks the city to acknowledge what was lost and reinvest in housing on the west side.

Larry Lucio lived in the West Side Flats as a kid and Monica Bravo is the executive director of the West Side community organization. They joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.

The Republican National Convention concludes Thursday night with a nomination acceptance speech from Donald Trump. The former president says he’ll stress national unity less than a week after he was wounded in an assassination attempt. Republicans have used their convention to draw contrasts with Democratic President Joe Biden and are remarkably unified and energized as they wrap up their gathering.

MPR News correspondent Mark Zdechlik has been covering the Minnesota delegation in Milwaukee this week. He joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to recap the convention so far and look ahead to Trump’s remarks.