Politics Friday

The Minnesota Legislature is hanging around a bit longer. 

The yearly work was supposed to end Monday, May 19 but lawmakers adjourned with unfinished business. Now, they’re gearing up for a special session. 

Most of the budget is unresolved and the final points of agreement are still not in hand. So when might this be done and is a government shutdown a possibility?

MPR News politics editor Brian Bakst speaks with Gov. Tim Walz about the legislative session and his role in settling the budget dispute. He is urging lawmakers to avoid the worst-case scenario, which would be entering July without a budget. 

Later in the program, political analysts unpack the political landscape amid the action and inaction in Minnesota and Washington.

Guests:  

•  Tim Walz is a former Democratic vice presidential candidate and second-term DFL governor of Minnesota.
• Abou Amara is a Democratic political analyst and Twin Cities attorney.  
• Preya Samsundar is a political analyst and a GOP strategist.

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

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

The end of the Minnesota Legislature’s session was supposed to be right around the corner — Monday, May 19 — but just like the choppy start of this year’s session, the ending is proving to be difficult. 

Back in January, a politically tied House got off to a delayed start. Now, the possibility of a special session looms over the Capitol.  

MPR News politics editor Brian Bakst speaks with legislative leaders about the state budget and the final push to the end of this session.  

Guests:  

• GOP Floor Leader of the House Harry Niska, Ramsey 
• DFL Floor Leader of the House Jamie Long, Minneapolis 
• Senate Republican Leader Mark Johnson, East Grand Forks    

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

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

Almost 40 percent of the state budget goes to preschool through high school education – around $25 billion over two years. 

For school districts, state dollars make up most of what gets spent on classroom costs, from teacher salaries to specialists to materials. So it’s no surprise that the education budget bill is always one of the last to come together. 

MPR News politics editor discusses what’s happening in schools and the direction state lawmakers might go when setting a new education budget.  

The Legislature’s finale is near, but the new state budget is still a work in progress. And it’s going to take some long days and long nights to meet the May 19 adjournment deadline. 

Guests:  

• Rep. Cheryl Youakim, DLF-Hopkins, is co-chair of Education Finance
• Sen. Jason Rarick, R-Pine City, is the ranking minority member of the Education Finance Committee

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This month marks two years since Minnesota lawmakers passed the bill to legalize marijuana use and possession for adults 21 and older. 

Commercial sales have taken a bit of time to get going. Outside of Minnesota tribal communities and the medical cannabis program, the retail space is still taking shape. 

The initial licenses around cultivation, transportation, distribution and sales could be issued soon. Even then, it will take time for everything to shake out. 

What might it look like and how will the market interact with established tribal operations? MPR News politics editor Brian Bakst discusses both with his guests. 

Then, time is flying by at the Capitol. We’ll get an update on the budget deliberations a little more than two weeks from the retired adjournment. 

Guests:

• Melissa Olson is a reporter for the MPR News Native News Initiative and a contributor to the North Star Journey series. She is also an essayist and community archivist.   
• Eric Taubel is the interim director for Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management.
• Senate Finance Committee Chair John Marty, DFL-Roseville
• House Ways and Means Committee Co-Chair Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska

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

Gov. Tim Walz had his chance this week to assess the condition of Minnesota in a speech where he spent a lot of time focused on what the president is up to.

Had November’s election ended differently, Peggy Flanagan would have been the one delivering the State of the State address at the Minnesota Capitol. 

Instead, the DFL lieutenant governor was seated beside Walz at this week’s speech. She’s running for the U.S. Senate in 2026. 

Flanagan has competition for the DFL nomination. So how is she introducing herself and what sets her apart? She speaks with MPR News politics editor Brian Bakst. 

Then, a look at President Donald Trump’s actions immigration. MPR News reporter Sarah Thamer explains how the get-tough immigration policies are impacting communities across the state.

Later in the program, a round up of the voices heard at the Capitol and a political reporter panel recaps the latest from the Legislature and the governor’s State of the State address.

Guests:

• Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan
• Sarah Thamer, senior reporter for the MPR News Race, Class and Communities team

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

Minnesota history is filled with stories of political chicanery, backroom deals and other unpleasantness. For sheer chutzpah, however, it’s hard to beat the tale of how land speculators in 1857 nearly got lawmakers to move the capital to St. Peter. 

"People are familiar with bits and pieces of the story, they don't always get the details correct, and that's not surprising because it's been discussed and written about so frequently," said Bob Sandeen, a St. Peter native who’s spent years scouring archival material on the history of the St. Peter gambit, which has resurfaced this year. 

A bill at the Legislature this session seeks to designate St. Peter as Minnesota’s honorary capital, a nod to its nearly famous status. Bill author Sen. Nick Frentz, DFL-North Mankato, says it’s also intended to set the record straight on exactly what happened during Minnesota’s last year before statehood. 

The story dates back to the legislative session of 1857, the last for the Minnesota territory. 

Several legislators were businessmen from towns around St. Peter. They were also owners or otherwise connected to a land company buying up tracts in the area in the mid-1800s. If they could use their influence to make St. Peter the fledgling state’s political capital, they’d make a killing. 

“They cooked up a scheme to move the capital city from St. Paul to St. Peter, which would, of course, benefit them greatly, if they could have people come in and buy the property that they've acquired and to create the capital city in the land that they owned,” said Brian Pease, historic site manager at the Minnesota State Capitol.   

St. Peter leaders were so convinced they’d win the capital they built a broad thoroughfare running through downtown and named it Minnesota Street. They also built a temporary Capitol building. 

Lawmakers took the cue and introduced the bill to both houses of the Territorial Legislature. It passed in both the House and the council, a body similar to the modern-day Senate. 

To finish the deal, though, it had to be brought to the governor for his signature.  

That’s where it gets really interesting.   

As “enroller of bills,” lawmaker Joe Rolette was tasked with delivering the physical bill to the territorial governor’s desk for signing. But he was also opposed to moving the capital to St. Peter. Five days out from the end of session, Rolette and the bill were nowhere to be found.   

Rumors began to spread about his whereabouts. Some thought Rolette, a fur trader, went back home to Pembina, a hamlet near the Canadian border in what’s now North Dakota. The reality was a little different. 

“He was hiding out in one of the hotels in St. Paul and basically just spending his time. He spent several days and it's hard to know what he did, but a lot of people say there was a lot of, you know, drinking and card playing as he was wilding away at the time,” said Pease.

The Legislature’s sergeant-at-arms supposedly sent men to track him down, to no avail.  

“Some people believe the sergeant-at-arms was in cahoots with Joe Rolette, knowing full well where he was, and some people claim he was also playing cards," Pease said.     

Rolette had secured the enrolled bill in a safe in a hotel and hid away. Since it was near the end of session, the Senate had called roll, which meant all members could not leave the chamber. They ended up eating and sleeping there for five days.   

During this time, they even tried to make a copy of the bill, but a judge ruled it unconstitutional.    

Rolette finally surfaced with the bill, walking in nearly as the gavel called the end of session. It was too late. St. Paul would be the capital of the new state of Minnesota. 

Rolette was considered a hero as “the man who kept the capital in St. Paul.” He was even commemorated in two paintings, one of which hangs in a hearing room in the Capitol.   

After the bill failed that session, they never tried again. Other legislators pivoted and tried to move the capital to land they had purchased in Kandiyohi County, but that never stuck either.   

Despite losing the capital battle, St. Peter turned out fine. 

Nestled in south-central Minnesota, the town of 12,000 spans a valley between the state’s rolling bluffs. It can boast that it’s the home of Gustavus Adolphus College, one of the nation’s premier liberal arts colleges. Quaint shops run along Minnesota Street’s broad lanes. Five state governors have called it home.  

St. Peter and St. Paul share more similarities than differences, said Frentz, the lawmaker hoping to make St. Peter the state’s honorary capital.  

“Well, they both have great rivers running through them,” he said. “They both have a history of the 1800s and I think they represent a lot of the great virtues of the people of Minnesota: hard work, family, respect.” 

Over the years, Sandeen and other archivists have worked to pinpoint the site of St. Peter’s temporary capitol building. Documents say it was supposed to be between the township of Traverse des Sioux and St. Peter and that it had to be positioned near the center of a mile-by-mile school section.  

Looking through old land maps, Sandeen said he thinks he knows. Like much of the story of how St. Peter nearly got the capital moved, it’s unofficial but still intriguing. 

“If you go one block north of Union Street, based on an 1874 map of St. Peter, you'll find a street named Capitol Street,” he said. “And it ends in O-L, referring to a building, as if you would say the Capitol Building is in St. Paul.” 

Editor’s note: Anika Besst’s family are natives of St. Peter but she holds no ill will against St. Paul.

The Minnesota House and Senate chambers and all the committee rooms have been quiet this week while the Legislature is on recess.

The Capitol will be a busy place though as the dash-to-the-finish begins next week. That phase can be filled with strategy, hijinks and downright trickery. 

In one respect, it’s how the Capitol wound up in St. Paul in the first place. 

MPR News politics editor Brian Bakst and associate digital producer Anika Besst will revisit that caper — and how one spurned city might finally get recognition. 

Then, a hunt for the origins of a law that should keep imbibing lawmakers on their best behavior. If not, “habitual drunkenness” could get them removed.

Later, MPR economics contributor Chris Farrell looks at the way tariffs of long ago hit in Minnesota. Plus, Peter Cox talks about how a powerhouse baseball team that played more than a century ago could land a plaque at the Capitol complex.

Guests:

• Anika​ Besst is an associate digital producer for MPR News.
• Chris Farrell is a senior economics contributor for MPR News and Marketplace.  
• Peter Cox is a general assignment reporter for MPR News and is currently covering politics at the Minnesota Capitol.

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

The Legislature’s spring recess is approaching and with about six weeks left in the session, many issues still unresolved.

Housing is top of mind for many Minnesotans and lawmakers at the Capitol — whether to rewrite zoning standards statewide to encourage construction of more low-to-moderate cost housing. 

The issue has created some cross-party alliances, but the bills in front of lawmakers haven’t satisfied all who have a stake in the decisions.

MPR politics editor Brian Bakst talks with Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville, and the mayor of Prior Lake, Kirt Briggs, about the state’s approach to affordable housing.

Plus, Minneapolis city elections will be ones to watch this year as voters elect a city council and a mayor. MPR News reporter Cari Spencer recaps her visit to a recent DFL Caucus gathering.

Guests:

• Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville and chair of the Senate Housing and Homelessness Prevention Committee
• Mayor Kirt Briggs, Prior Lake
• MPR News reporter Cari Spencer, who covers public safety and Minneapolis City Hall

MPR News politics editor Brian Bakst gets the lowdown on the negotiations that have begun over the new state budget.

Erin Campbell, commissioner of Minnesota Management and Budget, discusses why Gov. Tim Walz shaped his proposal as he did. And we’ll talk about the high-level negotiations that have commenced to reach a deal prior to the May 19 adjournment.

Later, the DFL Party has its first new chair in more than a decade. The new leader, Richard Carlbom, is in studio to introduce himself and his plans for a party seeking a rebound after a disappointing 2024 election.

Plus, a political reporter panel shares insights about the first deadline rush at the Legislature.

Guests:

• Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Erin Campbell
• DFL Party Chair Richard Carlbom
• WCCO TV politics reporter Caroline Cummings

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

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

After an unusual start, the 2025 legislative session has passed the halfway mark and the budget grind is quickly closing in.  

The Senate is narrowly in DFL control by one seat and the House is at a 67-67 tie. How will leaders navigate the tightest party divide in recent history?

MPR News politics editor Brian Bakst talks with Speaker of the Minnesota House Lisa Demuth and House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman in front of a studio audience at the UBS Forum in St. Paul.

Later in the program, two political analysts unpack developments at Minnesota’s Capitol and around the nation. How are recent events landing with voters?

Plus, we’ll hear sounds from the state Capitol and recap the week with politics reporters Dana Ferguson and Clay Masters. 

Guests:  

• House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring 
• House Leader Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park  
• Chas Anderson, a Republican, is the CEO and senior principal at Park Street Public.
•  Todd Rapp, a DFLer, is the CEO and President of Rapp Strategies Inc.  

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

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