September Newsletter

Sep 7

Written By Olmsted 2024 DFL

NEXT CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETING

Our next Central Committee meeting will be 7-8:30 p.m. Monday, September 10, at the Rochester DFL office. We'll be deciding how to support our House and statewide candidates as they campaign, electing a new Communications Officer to replace one who resigned, planning for fall events, helping put together the FDR Dinner in October, and working on improving communications. This meeting is open to all DFLers.

SEPTEMBER DFL EVENTS

Feehan and Clark campaign phone banking Thursdays, 4:00-8:00 p.m.
Young Democrats of Olmsted County Happy Hour Thursday, September 6, 7:30 p.m., - Foragers
Senate District 26 DFL Central Committee Meeting Monday, September 10, 7:00 -8:30 p.m.
Senior Caucus Tuesday, September 11, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Young Democrats of Olmsted County Meeting – Thursday, September 12, 7:00 p.m- Foragers
Door Knock with Ken Martin - Saturday, September 15, 10 a.m. - Soldier’s Field
Quilting, knitting, handicrafts Fridays from 11 am-2 pm

*Events are at the DFL office unless otherwise specified.

ROCHESTER DFL OFFICE HOURS

Mondays: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4-7 p.m.

Tuesdays: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and 3-7 p.m.

Wednesdays: 11 a.m.- 5 p.m.

Thursdays: 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

2nd Saturday: 10 a.m. - Noon

With more volunteers, we can keep the office open longer. We especially need people who can be there for a few hours each weekend. We need to keep the office longer this year as the election approaches. If you can staff the office, email us at sd26mn.dfl@gmail.com and let us know when you can help.

4th ANNUAL FDR DINNER

This will be at the Eagles Club (917 15th Ave, SE) with registration at 4 and dinner starting at 5:30. Tickets are $50 with $25 eligible for the Political Contribution Refund. We have invited statewide candidates along with Dan Feehan and expect some of them to attend. Local DFL elected officials and candidates will be attending and speaking.

The keynote speaker/performer is Dominique Jones, a local poet/actor/artist, who has performed in several plays at the Rep Theatre and the Rochester Civic Theatre, at several of the "Day of the Dead Poetry Slams" and at Open Mic nights at Cafe Steam. He also teaches hip hop classes in the community, and works at the Boys & Girls Club of Rochester. A member of the Planning Committee says “I think the crowd is going to be in for a treat”.

The Vikings play at noon that day and the Packers play on Monday night, so there’s no interference from pro football. Purchase your tickets here: secure.actblue.com/donate/fdrdinner18

WE NEED OFFICE SUPPLIES AND FOOD

As we get closer to the election, the office is much busier and we need more supplies. Meals and snacks, especially ones that will keep well, are appreciated. The most urgent needs are printer paper, water, and pop. Email us at sd26mn.dfl@gmail.com and let us know what you can bring. Our volunteers and paid workers thank you.

GENERAL ELECTION IS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6

That’s just over two months. It’s critical to vote. Find out where to vote on Election Day at: https://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us/

Early voting is available for all registered voters in Olmsted County starting Friday, September 21 through Monday, November 5 8 AM-5 PM and Saturday, November 3 from 10 AM to 3 PM at 1421 3rd Ave SE, 2nd floor in Rochester, just east of the Fairgrounds. You can register and then vote early there, too, if not registered.

LIEBLING CAMPAIGN NEEDS HELP PUTTING UP LAWN SIGNS

Tina Liebling needs DFLers to put up almost 300 lawn signs around District 26A. Watch for an announcement about Days of Action, where the campaign will be distributing signs to put up. We hope you can give us about 2 hours on a September weekend (or when it’s convenient for you) to put up Tina’s signs. We’ll give volunteers signs, a map of their route, and refreshments.

The Liebling for State House campaign is looking for volunteers for other parts of the campaign, too. Come work with a friendly and winning campaign. Please check out our website at www.tinaliebling.com. To volunteer, go to: www.tinaliebling.com/volunteer/ and fill out the form to let the campaign know how you would like to help.

MORE ENDORSEMENTS, CANVASSING EVENT FOR TYREL CLARK

The dog days of summer are over, which means autumn colors are just around the corner and kids are back in school. Tyrel is busy thinking about the best ways to get support for our public schools at the state level so that local districts can focus on education and enrichment instead of program cuts and local tax hikes. We are proud to announce that Education Minnesota has awarded this commitment to local public schools with their endorsement.

Meanwhile, the bandwagon is filling up! Teachers aren't the only ones throwing their hat in the ring for Clark. AFL-CIO and AFSCME both announced endorsement of Tyrel in August for his dedication to local workers and his commitment to finding bipartisan solutions to the issues that face working class families, including affordable healthcare access for all, strong local economies, stable and safe infrastructure, and maintaining the best public school system in the United States.

There's still plenty of opportunities for you to pledge your support by signing up for one of our volunteer events or making a donation today. Visit TyrelforHouse.com to get involved. The Clark campaign is excited to announce a rally and canvassing extravaganza with Ken Martin, Chair of the Minnesota DFL on Saturday, September 15th. The event will start at 10 am at Soldier Field in Rochester, with door knocking to follow. No experience is necessary, as the campaign will provide training. Just bring yourself and your smartphone. Help us out by volunteering a couple of hours to spread the word about your excitement and support for Tyrel. Together, we can get Tyrel Clark elected to the House District 26B seat.

DFL STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE MET AUGUST 18

The Central Committee met in Cambridge on Saturday, August 18, the Saturday after the primary, for its first meeting after the state convention. All five members from Senate District 26 attended.

The committee had to decide whether to endorse the two candidates who beat candidates endorsed at the convention in the primary. Those candidates will be on the general election ballot as the DFL candidates no matter what the committee did, but if the committee failed to endorse, the DFL could not provide resources to them through the Coordinated Campaign or other kinds of support.

There was a written ballot, which is very unusual, on the Keith Ellison endorsement, but he won with 82%. Tim Walz was later endorsed by acclamation.

Other business included electing 50 at-large members to the Central Committee and 8-11 at-large members to each of the state DFL standing committees. The Central Committee also approved an ongoing task force to investigate harassment claims in the DFL (including campaigns) and make recommendations on what action to take.

DFL PRIMARY RESULTS

The primary was on August 14. Amy Klobuchar beat her four opponents with a mere 95.7% of the vote in her Senate primary. Tina Smith won her Senate primary with 76.1% while Richard Painter got 13.7%. Four other opponents split 10.2%.

Tim Walz won the primary for Governor with 41.6%, while Erin Murphy came in second with 32.1% and Lori Swanson finished third with 24.6%. Two others split 1.8%.

Keith Ellison won the primary for Attorney General with 49.8%. Deb Hilstrom came in a distant second with 19.1%. The three other candidates split the remaining 31%.

82% more DFLers (583,735) voted in the primary for Governor than did Republicans (320,914).

Dan Feehan won his 1st Congressional District primary with 83.1%, beating Colin Mineheart, who had 16.9%. There were 47,231 votes cast in the DFL primary as opposed to the 42,313 votes cast in the Republican primary where Jim Hagedorn beat Carla Nelson.

In District 26A, Tina Liebling won her primary with 89.9% of the vote over Abdulkadir Abdalla, who had dropped out of the race, but whose name stayed on the ballot. While Dan Feehan and most statewide candidates got results here similar to how they did in their race as a whole, Tim Walz got 65.8% in District 26A while Murphy only got 22.6% and Swanson got 10.6%. 4072 DFLers voted in the primary for Governor compared to 2109 Republicans. We don’t have a summary for District 26B since there was not a House primary there.

DONATE -GET MONEY BACK

We need your help to maintain a DFL presence in Rochester between now and the election. While one-time donations are welcome, we especially need monthly donations. We don’t get money from the national Democratic Party. The state DFL only contributes $500 a month, less than 1/3 of our rent. We rely on our local supporters to keep going and to get the DFL message out. There are tremendous opportunities for the DFL, locally and statewide, in 2018. We need more money at the local level to take advantage of them. We need the money and you want an active DFL. If you give, there will be an office for DFL events and meetings, DFL participation in events and parades that require entry fees, technology that makes the DFL work better, outreach into underrepresented communities, and, if we can afford it, local people hired to talk to people in Senate District 26 to find out who supports the DFL and thus improve our performance in 2018. You can make a refundable donation in 2018 even if you made a contribution to us, to another party unit, or to a candidate in 2017. If you donate to Senate District 26 DFL, you can get up to $50/person or $100 per married couple back from the state of Minnesota if you are eligible to vote in Minnesota and haven’t claimed the refund already this year. Send us a donation and we’ll send you a receipt. Send the receipt and a form (http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/Forms_and_Instructions/pcr_18_to_fill_out_online.pdf) for online use or (http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/Forms_and_Instructions/pcr_18_to_fill_out_by_hand.pdf) to complete by hand needed to claim the reimbursement to Minnesota Revenue Political Contribution Refund St. Paul, MN 55146-1800. Make a donation, file a claim, and you’ll get a check back soon.

Go ahead and do it now. Make your donation via ActBlue (https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/senate-district-26-dfl-party-1?refcode=sd2).

If you would rather write a check, please make it payable to DFL SD26 and send it to:

P.O. Box 9044

Rochester, MN 55904-9044

If you send a check, please include whether you are retired, self-employed or employed. If employed, include the name of your employer and your job title. The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board requires us to collect that information. If you use Act Blue, the appropriate information is collected.

THE RESISTANCE

It has to be uncomfortable for Trump these days. Paul Manafort was found guilty in his first trial and has another to go. Michael Cohen pled guilty and implicated Trump in his plea. His good buddy at the National Enquirer and his long-time accountant, who between them must know of lots of Trump’s secrets, have been granted immunity by the Special Counsel’s investigation, which means they have been cooperating with it. Yet another Manafort associate pled guilty to not registering as a lobbyist for a foreign government the other day. Mueller’s investigation moves on, seemingly inexorably. The public is taking notice. The latest two polls shows only 36% approve of his job performance and by a margin of 49-46% Americans want him impeached. Trump’s behavior is increasingly erratic.

As of August 13, Trump had a positive net approval rating in only 22 states, while his net approval rating was negative in 26 states. (https://morningconsult.com/tracking-trump/). His net approval rating in Minnesota is -14%. It had been +3% in January 2017.

However, while we all wait nervously to see what bizarre thing Trump will do next, his administration does ever more horrible things. It’s trying to take away citizenship from naturalized citizens and even from those born in the U.S. because of suspicions their midwives gave U.S. birth certificates to some babies born in Mexico decades ago. It has dragged its on trying to reunite 500 children taken illegally from their parents with those parents, missing deadline after deadline set by a judge and trying to turn the task over to the ACLU. The Justice Department is refusing to defend the Affordable Care Act against a suit brought by Republican states. The Department of Education is making harder for schools to discipline students who have been found to have committed sexual misconduct while cutting back on Obama-era protections against private colleges that rip off students. The

Trump responded with more tweets, more attacks and more lies. The EPA wants to repeal a rule from the Obama administration despite widespread estimates that would kill 5,00-10,000 Americans a year.

What can we do to stop this and bring the misdeeds of the administration to light? We can vote in November and ask people we know outside Olmsted County to vote for Democrats for Congress. The Republican Congress will not hold Trump accountable. We must retake the U.S. House, which seems achievable (and it will help if we elect Dan Feehan to replace Tim Walz). We must re-elect Amy Klobuchar and elect Tina Smith to the Senate, then help Democrats gain seats in Arizona, Nevada, and other contested states while supporting incumbent Democratic Senators in close races.

We can elect Tim Walz as Governor, in part so there will be a DFL Governor when Minnesota next redistricts. We can elect Peggy Flanagan as Lieutenant Governor. We can elect Keith Ellison as Attorney General to stand up for the people of Minnesota, even against the Federal government when needed. We can elect Julie Blaha as Auditor and we can re-elect Steve Simon as Secretary of State, so the elections of the state continue to be run fairly.

Locally we can elect Tyrel Clark and so repudiate the obnoxious politics of Nels Pierson. We can re-elect Tina Liebling. We can support the House DFL Caucus in its effort to flip the 11 seats it needs statewide to put the DFL back in the majoirty.

However, just voting isn’t enough. It’s not easy, but you have to talk to your friends, your relatives, and your neighbors about how important this election is and how we need them to vote the right way to save our country and our state. We can do that by doorknocking, by phonebanking, or even in our day-to-day contacts. Tell people their vote matters. Look at the Rochester City Council primaries, both of which needed recounts because less than 10 votes separated candidates. Tell people they can register at the polls if they’re not registered now. Tell them they can vote early, starting on September 21. We have nine weeks.

We also must be ready to go to the streets and protest if Trump, feeling cornered, lashes out and does something seriously wrong. If people are in the streets and the public spaces of Rochester or elsewhere in Olmsted County night after night protesting peacefully we will tell others in the community we know what is being done is wrong and that they can oppose it too without feeling alone.

Resist.

Read the news. Know your facts.

Remind voters that we are Democrats. We, like our name, stand for a democracy.

We back candidates with ethics, integrity and experience.

We do not support “dividers” or “dictators.”

We support truth in politics.

We support women’s right to equal pay, the right to choose, and the right to live and work without sexual harassment or assault.

Black lives matter.

We support common sense gun laws and our children’s right to go to school without fearing for their lives.

We support law enforcement, including the FBI, Justice Department and Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

When we vote based on facts and values, Democrats win.