January Newsletter
The Resistance
by Alton Brown
In movie theaters not far away from almost any location on earth, an evil discolored emperor
tries to destroy the universe and almost succeeds. A very similar plot is playing out on one blue planet where oceans rise, sick die at hospital doors, and children are caged. A group of diverse heroes from all parts of society came together knowing it was in their shared interest to bring down the tyrant. The fate of the longest-lived democracy on earth is still to be decided.
The movie conspiracy included death stars and clones. Our wrinkled villain divides this country
and the world with tweets and lie-filled rallies.
The absurdity is not lost on comedians. Trump is a daily smorgasbord of nonsense. Who would
have thought Twitter would be more powerful than a Death Star?
It eliminated the former Sen. Lindsey Graham, the guy who once could stand next to Patriot John
McCain. Remember that guy, who in March 2016, said Trump should be kicked out of the
Republican party.
The Sen. Graham of today should print a new campaign slogan: Toady for Trump.
Unfortunately, it’s not just Graham. He may be the most publicly striking coward. Trump has
bullied the GOP Senate to toe the line.
With tweets.
Can you imagine Patrick Henry saying, “Give me liberty or give me death. Just don’t give me a
primary opponent.”
If you can’t stand up to a president who is best buddies with Putin, contemptuous of the
Constitution, and violates his oath with impunity, go home. Which is just what over 10% of the
House Republican conference is doing.
Of course, there is hope.
We have our own Leia Skywalker in Speaker Pelosi. Surrounded by men used to routinely imposing their will on the less powerful, they were not prepared for one so strong in the Force.
Her opposite on the Dark Side, Sen. Mitch McConnell, certainly qualifies as a villain if you are
aren’t a wealthy white man. He has done everything he can to control women’s bodies
and maintain the wealth disparity that makes life a struggle for tens of millions in this country.
I didn’t think he’d cage children, though. I was wrong.
Darth Turtle it is.
Before this president, I would not have said this because it would not have been true. There were
always those who maintained civility and connection to allow Democracy to function.
House Speaker Tip O’Neill and President Ronald Regan fought constantly over priorities and
budgets. When Reagan was shot, O’Neill was at his bedside praying.
Not out of fear, but out of very real human decency.
Something absolutely absent in this president and his administration. If there was ever a weird
looking psycho perfectly cast to wear a black helmet, it is Stephen Miller. The hate-filled emails
he sent to Breitbart only verified what anyone who has listened to General Baby Bile already
knows. This guy needs a girlfriend – bad.
In fiction, though, Miller is a throwaway character. So lacking in personality and charisma, that
he’s only good for an audience-pleasing demise within a galactic monster with a particularly
long digestive process.
The thing is none of us are in a galaxy far, far away.
There is no fast spaceship to take us away if Trump pushes us past the point of no return on
climate – or an accident with the nuclear codes between desserts at Mar-A-Lago.
There is no Jedi to heal the ailing with no insurance.
And caging children is evil – dark, indefensible evil.
To save the Republic and our future world, we have to bring down the would-be emperor.
It’s not a matter of finding lost maps or Jedi. Or even convincing GOP Senators to take seriously
the oath they swore. It amounts to overcoming fewer than 80,000 votes in three states and
increasing turnout nationwide.
Make no mistake, the Dark Side will use every underhanded, deceitful strategy it can. They have
bigotry, fear and lies.
We fight with diversity, hope and truth.
Dark side. Light side. That simple.
A LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and were able to have some time to rest and relax.
We are now 306 days away from November 3, 2020 (as of January 2). The DFL needs your help more than ever if we want to have another blue wave this election.
There are many ways to help:
-Be a convenor for the Precinct Caucuses on February 25, 2020.
-Help plan the SD 26 Convention on March 15, 2020
-Staff the Rochester DFL Office
-Donate money for SD 26
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me at jen.verhagen90@gmail.com.
Thank you,
Jen Verhagen, SD 26 DFL Chair
NOW THREE CANDIDATES ARE RUNNING FOR STATE SENATOR
With Aleta Borrud’s announcement that she is running for the DFL endorsement for the Senate seat in Senate District 26 that is up for election in 2020, we have an unprecedented three candidates. They hope to replace Carla Nelson, who has held the seat since 2011.
Aleta Borrud is a first-time candidate for public office. She is a retired physician who has been active in the Senate District 26 DFL and in other local organizations. Her website is https://www.aleta4mnsenate.com/. Her Twitter account is @aaborrud.
Tyrel Clark, who was the DFL candidate for House District 26B in 2018, will have an official announcement/campaign kickoff event soon. His campaign website is TyrelForSenate.com and is on social media sites, including Facebook.com/TyrelForSenate. His Twitter is @TyrelforHouse.
Rich Wright, who was the DFL candidate for this seat in 2016 and for the District 26B seat in 2014, has left the race for Congress to seek the endorsement for this seat. His Twitter is @RichWrightMN.
In 2018 the total votes for Clark and Representative Tina Liebling exceeded the votes for the two Republican candidates in Districts 26A and 26B for the Minnesota House of Representatives. This, along with the strong performance of statewide DFL candidates and Dan Feehan in Senate District 26, has raised hope that Nelson is vulnerable. One analyst who rates partisan leans of Minnesota legislative districts rated the Senate seat as having a DFL lean for the first time this year.
There is likely to be a lot of interest statewide in this race. Minnesota is the only state where the state Senate and state House are controlled by different parties. Every seat in both bodies is up for election in 2020. The House is likely to stay in DFL hands and DFL Governor Tim Walz is in office through 2022, so if the DFL can take over the Senate, it will have full control of Minnesota government for the first time since 2013-14. The Republicans have a 35-32 majority in the Senate, so the DFL will have to win two more seats to take the majority. Only 8 (of 67) seats are thought to be plausible to flip, with Senate District 26 among them. Both parties and lots of interest groups will be involved in the election.
The endorsement will be made at the Senate District 26 DFL convention on March 15 by delegates who are elected at the February 25 precinct caucuses.
WE NEED A DFL CANDIDATE FOR THE HOUSE DISTRICT 26B SEAT
No one has declared so far for the House District 26B seat for the 2020 election. The seat, held by Nels Pierson since his 2014 election, covers some of southern Rochester, the neighborhoods north and south of Century High School, and all 11 townships in the Senate District.
Looking at the geography may be misleading. 46% of voters live in Rochester, 21% live in the small cities (Chatfield, Dover, Eyota, and Stewartville), 18% live in the three more settled townships adjacent to Rochester (Haverhill, Marion, and Rochester Townships), and 16% live in the more rural townships. The growth in the district over the last seven years is largely in Rochester.
Tyrel Clark got 46% in the district last year, the best any DFL candidate has done in the four races since redistricting created it, without a lot of outside support. Next year it’s likely the Presidential, Congressional, and state Senate campaigns will all want to identify DFLers and increase turnout in the district, which may be enough to push a hard-working House candidate to success. An analyst recently listed this as the 6th most likely Republican seat in the House of Representatives (of 59) to flip to DFL.
If you’re interested in running, contact our chair, Jen Verhagen, at jen.verhagen90@gmail.com. The endorsement for the seat will be made at the Senate District 26 DFL convention on March 15 by delegates who are elected at the February 25 precinct caucuses.
JANUARY DFL EVENTS
Thursday, January 9 6:15- 8 PM DFLs of Olmsted County Thursday Discussion Series
The New Minnesota Primary+The DFL Caucuses: What do we need to know about this important election year? Come find out! Presenters: Mary Jones and Cyndi Lee- Free
A light meal will be served from 6 to 6:45 (free will donation) with the presentation at 7.
DFL office, 1500 1st Ave. NE, Rochester
Monday, January 13 7-8:30 PM Senate District 26 DFL Central Committee meeting, DFL office, 1500 1st Ave. NE, Rochester
Tuesday, January 14 1:30-3 PM DFL Senior Caucus meeting, DFL office, 1500 1st Ave. NE, Rochester
Tuesday, January 14 evening (exact time TBD) DFLs of Olmsted County Debate Party, DFL office- This could be postponed if the impeachment trial is going on.
Thursday, January 16 6-7:30 PM Young DFL meeting, DFL office (2020 planning and filling Board vacancies)
Monday, January 20 Martin Luther King Day- events in the community TBA
PRECINCT CAUCUSES ARE IN EIGHT WEEKS
The 2020 DFL precinct caucuses will be Tuesday, February 25, 2020 at 6:30 PM. We won’t have a presidential preference poll this year, because there will be a primary a week later. However, we will elect precinct or township party officers, elect delegates to the Senate District 26 DFL convention (where endorsements for the DFL candidates for the Minnesota House and Senate in Senate District 26 will be made), and vote on resolutions that if passed at several levels may become part of the DFL Platform or Action Agenda.
Because of parking problems at Willow Creek Middle School in 2016 and 2018, we will be moving the caucuses for the seven precincts that are closer to John Marshall High School than to Willow Creek to John Marshall and moving the caucuses for two precincts that are closer to Century High School than to Willow Creek to Century. Townships or cities that have had caucuses in Stewartville, Chatfield, Eyota, or Byron will continue to have them there. We will be sending postcards to previous caucus goers and placing reminder calls about the new locations in February.
The DFL will be using an electronic registration system for the precinct caucuses. This was demonstrated at the State Central Committee meeting in December and seems to work well. It will reduce the amount of post-caucus data entry substantially. There will be paper backup if needed.
Precinct caucuses are our second biggest effort every election cycle, second only to the election itself. We need lots of volunteers to convene caucuses or register caucus goers. We hope you can help. If interested, complete this form: https://forms.gle/AU3UWaeZLFKf6w7WA. We will have at least four training sessions for conveners to teach volunteers what they have to do. On-line instruction is also available.
DONATE TO SENATE DISTRICT 26 DFL
We need your help to maintain a DFL presence in Rochester between now and the 2020 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, this year and in 2020, including replacing Carla Nelson with a DFL Senator and Jim Hagedorn with a DFL member of Congress. 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 2020. You can make a refundable donation in 2020 even if you made a contribution to us, to another party unit, or to a candidate and got a refund in 2019. Donate to Senate District 26 DFL and 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. 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
Send us a donation and we’ll send you a receipt. Send the receipt and a form
(https://www.revenue.state.mn.us/media/59866) 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.
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.
PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY WILL BE IN MARCH
The first Presidential primary in Minnesota in decades will be Tuesday, March 5, 2020. This will be run by the state of Minnesota, not the political parties, so you will vote in your precinct, city, or township, as if this were the November election. You can go www.mnvotes.org to see where you vote. Polling places will be open from 7 AM-8 PM.
Early voting starts Friday, January 17 and the last day is Monday, March 2. The main early voting location will change from where it was in 2018 to the 4-H Building on the Olmsted County Fairgrounds in Graham Park. Voting hours will be 8 AM-5 PM weekdays and 10 AM-5 PM Saturday, February 29. There will also be early voting at the Government Center and at the 125 Live building (125 Elton Hills Drive, NW) Tuesday, February 25-Friday, February 28 and Monday, March 2 from 8 AM-5 PM and Saturday, February 29 from 10 AM-5 PM.
There will be 15 candidates on the ballot plus an Uncommitted option. The order will be rotated from polling place to polling place.
Michael Bennet Amy Klobuchar
Joseph Biden Deval Patrick
Michael R. Bloomberg Bernie Sanders
Cory Booker Tom Steyer
Pete Buttigieg Elizabeth Warren
Julian Castro Marianne Williamson
John K. Delaney Andrew Yang
Tulsi Gabbard Uncommitted
We will be using electronic registration for the primary. If you voted in the Rochester School Board referendum in November. you’ve already seen the new PollPad. In place of the large books election judges used to have to check voters in, voters will now give the first three letters of their first and last names to allow judges to find them in the electronic database on the PollPad. Once a name is found, the judge generates a receipt that the voter uses to get a ballot. People can register at the polls using the PollPad, which increases privacy for voters as only someone next to you in line can see if you’ve voted. The devices are only connected to the internet for a short time several times during the day, so they would be difficult to hack. The voting database is not connected to any other database. This device is not involved in counting votes.
Fun Fact: Because of our long early voting period, you can vote in the primary before any votes have been cast in the Iowa caucuses or New Hampshire primary, but their results will be available well before ours will.
CENSUS 2020 IS COMING SOON
The 2020 census will be happening in the first part of the year. It’s important that everyone completes the census, since undercounts cost governments funding and decrease political representation of undercounted areas. Olmsted County, and especially Rochester, are at high risk for undercounts, since we are in the most diverse county in southern Minnesota and the poor, immigrants, and people of color are the most likely to be missed by the census. The Trump administration’s attempt to put a citizenship question on the census form, though unsuccessful, may reduce the willingness of families that have undocumented people or legal immigrants to complete census forms. There will be efforts to encourage everyone to complete the census forms by mail or talk to enumerators when they go house-to-house.
The Census has to hire lots of people, so this may be an opportunity for short-term work, either part-time or full-time. Go to https://www.census.gov/about/regions/chicago/jobs/minnesota.html if interested.
SENATE DISTRICT 26 DFL CONVENTION WILL BE MARCH 15
The Senate District DFL convention will be Sunday, March 15 at the Mayo High School cafeteria. We expect it to convene in the early afternoon. The delegates to the convention will have been elected at the February 25 precinct caucuses.
At the convention we will:
Endorse a candidate for the Senate District 26 seat (three candidates so far)
Endorse a candidate for each of the House District 26A and 26B seats
Elect Senate District 26 DFL officers (Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Outreach and Inclusion Officer, and Communications Officer)
Elect 11 Senate District 26 DFL Directors
Elect 17 delegates and 17 alternates to the DFL 1st Congressional District Convention (May 16 in Albert Lea) and to the State Convention (May 30-31 in Rochester)
Elect 3 delegates and 5 alternates to the DFL State Central Committee
Vote on platform resolutions passed at our precinct caucuses.
Vote on any proposed changes to the Senate District 26 DFL Constitution and Bylaws
People who can’t attend the precinct caucuses can still compete for a delegate position at this convention by completing the Precinct Caucus Non-Attendee Form available at
https://www.dfl.org/about/documents/ no later than February 22.
We expect the two candidates for the DFL endorsement for the Congressional seat to speak and there may be other candidates and elected officials speaking, too.
SD26mn.dfl@gmail.com AND OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA
This is a monthly newsletter. However, events often happen on short notice, so we may not be able to include them in the newsletter. Check our website and Facebook pages for the latest news on what is happening.
Official communications come from SD DFL (though the full address is above). Watch for them.
We tweet from @sd26dfl and have a website at www.senatedistrict26dfl.com
We have a closed Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/144866495637545/
We share an open Facebook page with Olmsted-25 DFL and Senate District 25 at
https://www.facebook.com/sd26sd25olm25/?fref=ts
Our Instagram account is at dflsenatedistrict26.
