40 days until the Aug. 14 primary
79 days until no excuse absentee balloting opens for the Nov. 6 election
125 days until Election Day
2018 election — Primary
Early take on early vote? First week stats show interest, MPR
Early voting now open. Go to dfl.org/voteearly to fill out an application to vote by mail. You can vote in person at your county courthouse or government center. Click here for a list of cities where you can vote early in person.
2018 Election — General
This week in campaign coverage: The nation turns its lonely eyes to you, Minnesota, MinnPost
Congress
Economic Inequality
Plight of the very poor is an American tragedy, Star Tribune
Immigration Crisis
U.S. to reunite migrant families as immigration politics boil, MPR
Minnesota Legislators
Minnesota senator tells ‘whining government officials’ they should be approachable in public, The Hill
Pruitt, Scott
- After all, Pruitt is — or, maybe was — the subject of 14 separate probes into his conduct as EPA administrator. Fourteen! Separate! Probes! From almost the moment he was sworn in to lead the EPA, Pruitt has been caught — time and time again — apparently trying to enrich himself (and his wife and everyone else he knows) using his office. And yet, day after day, terrible headline after terrible headline (after terrible headline), Pruitt stayed in the job. Here are four theories aimed at answering the “what took so long?” question.
- Pruitt did exactly what Trump wanted. Trump campaigned on the idea that the EPA has turned into liberals’ dream of overregulation of average people. He picked Pruitt to undo many of the regulations the Obama administration had put in place on things like coal and water. According to an analysis by Politico of Pruitt’s first year in office, the EPA either withdrew or delayed regulations 47 times — a massive increase from the 14 withdrawals/delays in the first year of the Obama administration. Pruitt was effectively deconstructing the regulatory state.
- Trump saw some of himself in Pruitt. Pruitt is brash and unapologetic about his views and his conduct.
- There were so many problems, they canceled themselves out. There are so many problems, so many ethical issues, so many bad stories that they all sort of cancel each other out. As in: No one could follow all of the various transgressions he committed.
- Trump is a contrarian — in this and all things. When the news of Pruitt’s “resignation” hit the White House, there was reportedly cheering from some of the staff. Trump views himself as at his best when he is going against the crowd, bucking the conventional wisdom. If everyone is saying “X,” Trump is naturally drawn to “Y” — even if, in a vacuum, he would choose “X.”
Schultz, Ed
Television and radio personality Ed Schultz dies at 64, MPR
State of Emergency
Dayton declares State of Emergency in 36 storm-hit counties, Indian Reservation, Pioneer Press
Trade War
Just after midnight tonight [July 5] the Trump administration is set to impose tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese goods, escalating a global trade war that has pitted the U.S. against trading partners around the world.
- “Businesses are bracing for disruptions in sales and supply chains,” the Wall Street Journal reports, as a Chinese response could hit U.S. producers of “automotive products, farm crops and other goods.”
- China warned that the U.S. is “opening fire on the entire world, including itself” while at the same time promising that it wouldn’t use the 12-hour time difference to impose retaliatory tariffs first.
- What’s next: Already, several U.S. sectors are freaking out — soybean farmers losing business in China, aluminum metal companies hit inadvertently by tariffs, and GM, worried about soaring supply costs. Manufacturers fear the tariff war will prematurely cut short a renaissance triggered by low natural gas prices and tax cuts, reports Ed Crooks at the FT.
- P.S. A freighter carrying U.S. soybeans is racing towards China to beat retaliatory tariffs, Bloomberg reports. If it arrives as scheduled at around 5 p.m. local time “it should be able to clear customs before the tariffs are imposed.”Axios
China retaliates with tariffs after US begins trade war, The Guardian
Unions
After union setback, teachers regroup at NEA conference in Minneapolis, Star Tribune
U.S. Supreme Court
Trump narrows Supreme Court shortlist to three – with two on the inside track, MPR
Upcoming Events
- Today through August 13 — Primary early voting. More information here.
- July 6, 12:00 PM — Stand Against Trump, SD40 DFL Treasurer John Schafer is holding a weekly hour of protest and resistance on Fridays from 12pm to 1pm at the corner of Brookdale & Xerxes in Brooklyn Park.
- July 9, 7:00 PM — SD44 DFL Central Committee Meeting, Minnetonka Community Center, 14600 Minnetonka Blvd., Minnetonka, MN 55345
- July 9, 7:00 PM — SD49 DFL Central Committee Meeting, 7001 Cahill Rd, Suite 21, Edina, MN
- July 10, 7:00 PM — SD34 DFL Central Committee Meeting, Maple Grove Library, 8001 Main St N, Osseo, MN 55369
- July 12, 6:00 PM — SD34 DFL Marching in the Maple Grove Days Parade
- July 12, 7:00 PM — SD48 DFL Central Committee Meeting, Glen Lake Activity Center, 14350 Excelsior Blvd, Minnetonka, MN 55345
- July 13, 12:00 PM — Stand Against Trump, SD40 DFL Treasurer John Schafer is holding a weekly hour of protest and resistance on Fridays from 12pm to 1pm at the corner of Brookdale & Xerxes in Brooklyn Park.
- July 14, 10:00 AM — SD34 DFL at the Maple Grove Business Expo, Maple Grove Community Center, 12951 Weaver Lake Rd, Maple Grove, MN 55369.
- July 16, 7:00 PM — Brooklyn Park DFL Meeting, Brooklyn Park Public Library, 6500 W Broadway, Brooklyn Park, MN
- July 20, 12:00 PM — Stand Against Trump, SD40 DFL Treasurer John Schafer is holding a weekly hour of protest and resistance on Fridays from 12pm to 1pm at the corner of Brookdale & Xerxes in Brooklyn Park.