AUGUST 2024 Newsletter

Written By Olmsted 2024 DFL

Walz for VEEP!

Kamala Harris’s search for a Vice-Presidential candidate ended on August 6, the day after she was officially nominated at the Democratic candidate for President, when she chose our Governor, Tim Walz, to run with her this year.

  • Because of new convention rules enacted to ensure Harris and Walz could get on ballots in all states, Walz immediately became the official candidate for Vice-President without having to have Democratic convention delegates vote for him.

    Walz, whose national standing shot up when he started labeling Trump and Vance as weird, was immediately welcomed as the VP candidate by many parts of the Democratic Party. The day after he was chosen, he and Harris were doing a nationwide kick-off tour in swing states limited only by a hurricane that kept them away from Georgia and North Carolina. Walz is now campaigning on his own. Early polling shows people view him much more favorably than they do J.D. Vance, even after Republican attacks of his military service and what he’s done as Governor.

    Now that he’s on the ticket, the first time a Minnesotan has been on a national ticket in 40 years, there are a slew of stories in the national media about Tim Walz’s Nebraska childhood, his military service, his teaching career, and his second career in politics. Much of that is familiar to us, but it’s amusing to see it told again to a wider audience.

    The Harris campaign has had an amazing first month. She raised over $310 million in the part of July when she was running for President. She has gained steadily in the polls, more by getting people who were undecided or supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to support her than by Trump losing votes. She is now routinely ahead of Trump in national polls and has been ahead in every swing state in at least some polls. The Trump campaign doesn’t seem to have expected Biden to drop out and is flailing in its attacks on Harris and Walz. The campaign has been drawing massive crowds at its rallies and the Democratic National Convention, which is a week of free media for Democrats, is next week. Things are looking better than they did a month ago.

    Harris will debate Trump on Wednesday, September 10. Walz will get his chance to debate Vance on Tuesday, October 1.

Local Campaign News

Locally, the enthusiasm for Democratic/DFL candidates has exploded since the Harris/Walz announcement. Many people are coming into the office to pick up campaign signs, and our field organizer, Mason, is reporting a positive uptick in volunteers when he reaches out to them by phone (THANK YOU!). We will have Harris/Walz signs available for pick-up in the office on Monday, August 19. We already have signs for Amy Klobuchar, Rachel Bohman, and our Minnesota House candidates. The Rochester DFL office will be open from 1 PM- 7 PM Monday through Friday starting on the 19th. There will be a viewing party locally for Kamala Harris’s acceptance speech on August 22. Go to www.mobilize.us to sign up for this and other local events.

Minnesota Primary Results

In results that will affect ballots in our part of Olmsted County, Amy Klobuchar crushed four opponents to get the DFL nomination to run for her fourth term in the U.S. Senate. She got 94.3% of the vote statewide. Her opponent will be Royce White, the candidate Republicans endorsed back in May. He only got 38.6% of the statewide vote with Joe Fraser coming in second with 29.3%. Klobuchar is heavily favored in the general election. 

Brad Finstad won his primary and will be the Republican candidate for Congress in the 1st district. He didn’t do quite as well as Klobuchar, getting a mere 90.9% against two opponents. Rachel Bohman was unopposed in the DFL primary. This election will be closer, especially with Harris and Walz at the top of the ticket. 

In House District 24B, Dan Sepeda beat Jesse O’Driscoll 57.2% to 42.8% for the Republican nomination. Sepeda will face Tina Liebling, who was unopposed in the DFL primary, in November.

  • To our southeast, Sarah Kruger beat Dwayne Voegeli 52-48% to win the DFL nomination in a Winona-based district (26A) to try to replace the 38-year veteran Gene Pelowski. She will face Aaron Repinski, who won his primary by a large margin. In House District 26B, which is mostly Fillmore and Houston Counties, Greg Davids just beat Gary Steuart, who beat Davids for the Republican endorsement this spring, 52.7-47.3%. Davids will run against DFLer Allie Wolf, who won her primary with over 80%.

    In other interesting results, Ilhan Omar again beat Don Samuels for the DFL nomination in Congressional District 5 in a rematch of their 2022 primary. Omar’s margin was 13.3%, far bigger than in 2022. Several other incumbent members of Congress who faced primaries won. Ann Johnson Stewart won the DFL primary in Senate District 45, the only Senate seat in the state up for election this fall. She is running to replace Kelly Morrison, who resigned to run for Congress. All but one other Republican and all DFL House members who had primaries won. In what must have been the most confusing primary this year, Peter Johnson beat Jordan Johnson to win the DFL nomination for an open House seat in Duluth. 

    In local non-partisan races where there were primaries two candidates advanced to the November election. There were 4 Rochester City Council primaries:

    Ward 2 winners: Nick Miller and Tripp Welch
    Ward 4 winners: Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick and Andy Friederichs
    Ward 6 winners- Dan Doering and Mark Schleusner (Incumbent Molly Dennis finished last and so will not be on the November ballot)
    At- Large- Shaun Palmer and Randy Schubring

    One Olmsted County Board seat had a primary. In District 3, Gregg Wright and April Sutor will run against each other in November

 

Meet Your DFL Candidates

Rachel Bohman

US House of Representatives

Learn more about Rachel: https://www.bohmanforcongress.com/

Follow Rachel on social media!

 
 

Rachel Bohman grew up in Rochester, Minnesota as the daughter of a single mother.  Growing up, her family struggled with poverty and addiction and Rachel worked her way through college and law school to create a better life for herself and her family. After serving as Head of Elections for Hennepin County, she returned to her hometown in Rochester to raise her two daughters.  Remaining deeply committed to the well-being of her community, Rachel was elected to the Rochester Township Board and then served as an Assistant County Attorney.  Rachel is running for Congress to ensure that all Southern Minnesotans have access to the same opportunities that she did and to bring her vision of shared prosperity across the district to Washington.

 
 
 

Tina Liebling

MN House District 24B, Incumbent

Learn more about Tina: https://www.tinaliebling.com/

Follow Tina on social media!

 
 
 

Tina Liebling was born and raised in Minneapolis, the second of five children. Her dad taught film and photography at the University of Minnesota. Tina worked her way through the University of Minnesota as a waitress, a nurse’s aide at Hennepin County Medical Center, and even as an assistant in a shoe repair shop. She is grateful for the taxpayer investment in her future and believes that today’s students should also have opportunities to succeed.

She went on to earn an M.S. in Public Health from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, then a J.D. cum laude at Boston University School of Law. During a summer internship with a Chicago law firm she met Mark, a Chicago native. After graduation, she married Mark and practiced law in Massachusetts while he attended graduate school.

Tina and Mark then moved to the Chicago area where Tina worked as a public defender for the Office of the Cook County Public Defender. Their three children were born in Illinois. Tina returned to Minnesota in 1994, moving to Rochester so her husband—a physician—could accept a position at Mayo Clinic. She had a solo law practice in Rochester for eight years.

In 2002, Tina ran for the Minnesota House of Representatives, finishing second in a three-way race. She ran again in 2004 and won the first of her ten terms in the Minnesota House. She is the first person from Olmsted County elected to the Minnesota Legislature on the DFL ticket. Many of Tina’s House committee assignments have been in the health and human services area. For the last four years, she has chaired the House’s Health Finance and Policy Committee.

Tina has built a life advocating for Minnesotans who need opportunities to get ahead. She stands up to anyone who plays politics with Minnesota’s future.

Heather Holmes

MN House District 24A

Learn more about Heather: https://heatherholmes4mnhouse.com

Follow Heather on social media!

 
 

Heather was born and raised in Superior, WI where she first met her husband, Amos. They have been together since they were 16 and are high school sweethearts.

Heather graduated from UW-Superior with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and a minor in chemistry. Conservation biology was her first science love, and she worked in a wide variety of areas including aquatic biology, coral reef ecology, botany in Sequoia National Forest, and agriculture. She has spent the past 18 years working in medical research as a research technologist. She jokes that she now spends her days hanging out with fruit flies, mice, and now axolotls!

Heather and Amos have lived with their daughter, Gabby, in Byron since 2006.

Heather currently serves on the school board for Byron Public Schools and is involved with Byron’s Diversity and Inclusion Council. When Heather isn’t out door knocking, she loves hiking in Minnesota’s many beautiful state parks, running, golfing, reading, and using her creative side to make nature inspired art. She also loves going to see live music and theater whenever possible. You can find her listening to anything from Taylor Swift to Led Zeppelin.

Heather never thought she’d get into politics, but she is passionate about ensuring that all Minnesotans are able to provide for their families and are free to pursue the life they choose. She is so excited for the opportunity to be a voice for her community up in St. Paul!

 

Michael “Hutch” Hutchinson

MN House District 20b

Learn more about Hutch at: https://vote4hutch.com/

Follow Hutch on social media!

 
 

My name is Michael Hutchinson, please call me Hutch. I am a veteran, a husband, a dog owner and a gamer, but that is not important. What is important is my drive to make our world better for everyone. My neighbors need representation that believes in the power of our government and policies designed to help uplift people's lives, not those that feed them hate as a distraction so that they can deregulate our public programs to loot our communities. When I get to the State House I will work to root out corruption and bring more accountability to help restore faith in our democracy by making it serve the people again. I do not accept any PAC or corporate donations, and I think we need to reform how campaigns are financed. I am an avid supporter of ranked choice voting. I believe more options give us a stronger democracy. I am proud to have the backing of many local unions, environmental groups and political organizations including MAPE, IBEW local 343, AFSCME Council 5, DFL Rural Caucus, Vote Vets and many others. We can make our country better for everyone, we just need to fight for it together. 

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to Keynote 10th Annual FDR Dinner on September 21st, 2024

Local DFL units SD 25 and Olmsted 20/24 will host the 10th Annual FDR dinner from 4-8 p.m. on Saturday, September 21st, at Aune Hall in Graham Park, Rochester.  This signature event commemorates when President Franklin Roosevelt visited Rochester in the 1930s and his progressive legacy in Democratic politics. It’s a great chance to socialize with DFLers, to check in with candidates and electeds, and to support our local party units as we head into the home stretch of the election.

Things will get started at 4 p.m. with a social hour and silent auction, followed by a buffet dinner and cash bar service by Omar’s Kitchen and Tavern 22.  Guests will then hear speeches from our 2024 candidates, legislators, and statewide DFL party officials.  A brief live auction will then lead up to our much-anticipated keynote speaker, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.  

Just for fun, you can take a selfie with (a cardboard cutout of) Kamala Harris. Tickets are $75, and $50 of that is eligible for the MN Political Contribution Refund. Half tables (4 people) are $350, full tables (8) are $700.  With Harris/Walz in the now re-energized presidential race, FDR may sell out this year.  Get your tickets now at:  https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fdr24

Olmsted 2024 DFL
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