Politics Friday

Minnesota voters made history in Nov. 2022 when they elected three Black woman to the state senate — a first in the 165 years of Minnesota statehood.  

MPR News host Mike Mulcahy talks with Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis, and Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten, DFL-St. Paul, about their first legislative session and the perspective they brought to the chamber.

Later in the hour, two Republicans from the cannabis conference committee explain their approach to a final version of the bill to legalize marijuana. And MPR News political reporters explain what you can expect from the Minnesota Legislature as the session nears adjournment.

Guests:  

• Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis  




• Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten, DFL-St. Paul 




• Rep. Nolan West, R-Blaine  




• Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, R-Fergus Falls 




• Dana Ferguson is a politics reporter for MPR News.  




• Brian Bakst is a politics reporter for MPR News. 

Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS. 

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

There's a lot of work going on at the Minnesota Capitol heading into what might be the final weekend of the 2023 legislative session.  

Several large bills are still being worked on by conference committees as lawmakers try to reach agreements on the final pieces of a new two-year state budget. Taxes, health care, education, transportation and a host of other issues are all in the mix. And the final negotiations on a paid family leave program and legal marijuana are also underway.  

MPR News host Mike Mulcahy will talk to a key player in formulating the Democratic agenda for Minnesota: House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park.  

Later in the hour, House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, will give us the Republican point of view on what the Legislature doing, and what it could mean for Minnesotans.  

We'll also hear MPR’s political reporters break down the biggest news stories of the week.  
 

Guests:  

• House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park 




• House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring 




• Dana Ferguson is a politics reporter for MPR News. 




• Brian Bakst is a politics reporter for MPR News.

  
  

  Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS. 

  
  

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

Sen. Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic has held the slim DFL majority together on all the major issues, all while recovering from a recent cancer surgery.    

MPR News host Mike Mulcahy talks to Sen. Dziedzic and Sen. Minority Leader Mark Johnson about the 2023 session and what Minnesotans can expect in the final weeks of the session.  

Later in the hour, MPR’s political reporters recap some of the biggest news stories of the week.

Guests:  

• Sen. Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic, DFL-Minneapolis 




• Sen. Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks 




• Dana Ferguson is a politics reporter for MPR News. 




• Brian Bakst is a politics reporter for MPR News. 

Winter has taken its toll on Minnesota roads, leaving drivers to maneuver between dips and cracks in the street that seem to grow by the day. But making sure those potholes get filled is just one of the many issues involved with transportation.  

MPR News host Mike Mulcahy talks to Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis, chair of the Transportation Finance and Policy committee in the House; and Rep. John Petersburg, R-Waseca, Minn., the committee’s lead Republican, about transportation spending. 

The state is set to get a billion-dollar boost for a total of nearly $9 billion over the next two years. While some of that money comes from the budget surplus, there are plans to find new sources of ongoing funding for roads, bridges and transit. 

Later in the program, the latest development on the marijuana bill that just passed the House and if there’s a future for legalize recreational cannabis in Minnesota. And political reporters will recap the biggest stories from the Capitol this week.

Guests:  

• Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis  




• Rep. John Petersburg, R-Waseca    




• Rep. Jess Hanson, DFL-Burnsville  




• Brian Bakst is a politics reporter for MPR News.  




• Briana Bierschbach is a politics reporter for the Star Tribune.  

Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS. 

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

The Legislature has spent much of this week passing elements of a new two-year state budget. 

They're working off a base of the current $52 billion budget and looking to add the $17.5 billion surplus to it. The House and Senate plans do not line up perfectly, and conference committees will have to work out the differences. 

MPR News guest host Brian Bakst talks about the state budget under construction at the Capitol with two leading DFL lawmakers who have their eyes on the big picture and a Republican who says the pace of spending is unsustainable.  

Later in the hour, a recap of the governor’s State of the State speech and look at the busy week ahead.  

Guests:  

• Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville 




• Rep. Liz Olson, DFL-Duluth 




• Rep. Anne Neu Brindley, R-North Branch   




• Dana Ferguson is a politics reporter for MPR News. 




• Peter Callaghan is a state government reporter for the MinnPost. 

Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS. 

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

Washington has been in recess for the past couple weeks, allowing members like U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar to travel back to Minnesota.  

In that time, she has met with President Biden to champion the bipartisan Infrastructure Act and visited the town of Winona as residents prepare for spring flooding.    

MPR News guest host Brian Bakst talks to Sen. Klobuchar about bipartisan efforts to pass the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act, judicial ethics concerns at the Supreme Court and the looming debt ceiling.  

Later in the program, a conversation on a paid family and medical leave proposal. 

The bill would guarantee almost every Minnesota worker time off around the birth or adoption of a child to tend to a family member’s serious illness or cope with their own health emergency. 

But there’s a big price tag to get it off the ground within a few years — more than $660 million in startup money that would be taken from the state’s surplus. The program would later rely on a new payroll tax on both employers and employees to cover the partial wage replacement benefits. 

Sen. Alice Mann, DFL-Edina, author of the paid family and medical leave bill, and Julia Coleman, R-Waconia, who has offered alternative approaches to paid leave in the past, explain where they currently stand on the issue before the Legislature votes on the bill in the upcoming weeks.  

And political reporters from MPR and Axios break down the biggest news from the Capitol this week.     

Guests: 

• U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar  




• Sen. Alice Mann, DFL-Edina 




• Sen. Julia E. Coleman, R-Waconia 




• Dana Ferguson is a politics reporter for MPR News 




• Torey Van Oot is a reporter for Axios Twin Cities  

Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS. 

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

Attorney General Keith Ellison and Secretary of State Steve Simon are three months into their new four-year terms and they're already busy.  

Just yesterday, Ellison asked Gov. Walz to allow him to take over the prosecution of a Hennepin County criminal case and the governor agreed. It's a decision the Hennepin County attorney called deeply troubling.

MPR News host Mike Mulcahy talks to Ellison about the Hennepin County criminal case, a proposed Sanford-Fairview health care merger, the state’s lawsuit against Juul Labs and the work of his office’s criminal division.  

And Simon has been working with the Legislature on changes to election laws, including automatic voter registration, pre-registering 16 and 17-year-olds and allowing more early voting. He joins the program to explain what the purposed election legislation would do and why he thinks it's needed.  

Later in the hour, presidential historian Timothy Naftali talks about the criminal charges filed against former President Donald Trump and how the situation compares to past presidents and former presidents.  

Guests:  

• Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison  




• Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon  




• Timothy Naftali is a presidential historian and founding director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum and associate professor of history and public policy at New York University.

Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS. 

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

Minnesota lawmakers are moving forward with a public safety bill that funds big parts of the state’s criminal justice system.  

MPR News host Mike Mulcahy talks to Rep. Kelly Moller, DFL-Shoreview, and Rep. Paul Novotny, R-Elk River, about the public safety budget bill released earlier this week. The bill, HF2890, also includes a host of policy provisions, including a “red flag” measure designed to reduce gun violence.  

Later in the hour, Sen. Sandra Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, explains the latest developments with the capital investment bill — also known as the bonding bill — and how the DFL plans to move forward with or without Republican support.

And MPR’s political reporters break down the biggest news from the Capitol from this week.  

Guests:  

• Rep. Kelly Moller, DFL-Shoreview  




• Rep. Paul Novotny, R-Elk River 




• Sen. Sandra Pappas, DFL-St. Paul 




• Brian Bakst is a politics reporter for MPR News   




• Dana Ferguson is a politics reporter for MPR News 

Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.

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

Two Democrats from northern Minnesota are key members of the DFL's slim majority and they’re facing tough votes on controversial issues including gun control, taxes and abortion. 

MPR News host Mike Mulcahy talks to Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, and Sen. Robert Kupec, DFL-Moorhead about how they're weighing what their constituents are telling them and the agenda DFL leaders are promoting at the Capitol.

Later in the hour, we get the GOP reaction to a new two-year budget outline proposed by DFL leaders earlier in the week. MPR political reporters stop by to unpack the latest news from the Capitol.

And Rep. María Isa Pérez-Vega, DFL-St. Paul, shares her life story about growing in the Twin Cities, her music career and how it all connects with her passion for activism and politics. 

Guests: 

• Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown 




• Sen. Robert Kupec, DFL-Moorhead




• Sen. Eric Pratt, R-Prior Lake 




• Rep. María Isa Pérez-Vega, DFL-St. Paul 




• Brian Bakst is a politics reporter for MPR News  




• Dana Ferguson is a politics reporter for MPR News

  
  

  Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.

  
  

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

For years, Minnesota lawmakers have been working to legalize marijuana. The latest bill is still up for debate, but can a small DFL majority make it happen or will this bill go up in smoke? 

MPR News host Mike Mulcahy talks to Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids, about the movement to legalize marijuana and we’ll also hear from Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, on why she’s one of the lawmakers speaking out against legalizing adult-use cannabis. 

Later in the hour, Sen. Heather Gustafson, DFL-Vadnais Heights, and Rep. Sydney Jordan, DFL-Minneapolis, explain how their bill for universal school breakfast and lunch will benefit students across Minnesota.  

And MPR News political reporters unpack the latest news from the Capitol this week.    

Guests: 

• Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids  




• Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove




• Rep. Sydney Jordan, DFL-Minneapolis




• Sen. Heather Gustafson, DFL-Vadnais Heights




• Brian Bakst is a politics reporter for MPR News  




• Dana Ferguson is a politics reporter for MPR News

Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.

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