place for nearly 170 years. It relies on timber and mining lease revenue from trust land that is invested by the state and then distributed to school districts. Until now, schools only received about 2.5% of the fund's value, but the amendment will now make it possible for schools to receive 4.5% without increasing anyone's taxes. This will mean an extra $33 per student for schools. Changes take effect in the summer of 2027. I'm Elizabeth Shockman.
Democrat Matt Little achieved a decisive victory in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District over his opponent, Republican Eric Pratt. Little has been in politics since his 20s, first serving on Lakeville City Council and then as its mayor. Little talked this morning to MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.
As you look at what has just happened in your life and what's before you, what are you thinking about right now?
Yeah, thanks. You know, yeah, you've known me for a while. When I first started out in politics, you know, the first time I got elected was 25 and I'm 41 now and a lot has changed. And I think the biggest change in my life is I'm a dad now and that really alters your motivations. I got into this race because I wanted something left for my daughter.
Little ran on a progressive agenda including defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and passing a government-funded health insurance plan called Medicare for All. Republican Congressman Pete Stauber has won a fifth term representing Northeast Minnesota's 8th District. Stauber defeated Democratic challenger Trina Swanson by a margin closer than Stauber's victory two years ago. Stauber is a strong advocate for the mining industry. Earlier this year, he introduced a resolution that overturned a ban on copper-nickel mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
The Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities was top of mind to many voters as they cast ballots yesterday. In Minneapolis, some people left their red I Voted stickers at the memorials to Renée Good and Alex Pretty. That includes Peg Ehinger, who spoke with MPR News at the Praday Memorial as cars passed by on Nicollet Avenue.
I just find myself in tears. This has been so traumatic for our city with so many people. We don't deserve this. We don't deserve this, but I'm glad that people are doing everything they can to fight it.
Democratic candidates swept statewide offices in Minnesota in yesterday's election. Twin Cities at 49 degrees, you're listening to MPR News.
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Good afternoon. This is live special coverage on MPR News. I'm Nina Moini, joined in studio by politics editor Brian Bakst here in St. Paul. We are waiting to hear from Governor-elect Amy Klobuchar. She's at an event center here in downtown. This will be her first remarks since, well, her acceptance speech. That was last night. Brian and I are going to take you through her remarks. She's likely to talk about this transition to the governor's office. We don't know what, if anything, she'll be addressing about what's going to happen to her U.S. Senate seat, which will be open. Thanks for being with me, Brian.
I hope she got more sleep than we did.
I bet she didn't. I bet she didn't even get a wink. You know, Brian, having covered Senator Klobuchar, now Governor-elect Klobuchar, for many years, she really is out there. She's outside. She's at every event. You know, she does the visit of every 87 counties every year and
Makes a big point of having 20 years of 87 county stops.
I can remember Mother's Days on working weekends and you go to an event and it's Senator Klobuchar. I mean, she really has been, you know, on people's radar for many years now. How do you feel like this campaign went for her?
Well, I think that helped her because she's been in places that Democrats typically don't go all that often. And so, she went into those places and said, "You know me. I don't have to reintroduce myself." And that was a big advantage coming into this race. Obviously, she got in in January after Governor Tim Walz got out. So, normally, if you're looking at that 11-month runway, it's a steep climb for candidates because part of the game is getting people to know who you are, what you stand for. Amy Klobuchar had that taken care of.
She had that. Her big job was to separate from Governor Tim Walz because Governor Tim Walz, just like Donald Trump for Republicans, Tim Walz was an unpopular figure that Republicans wanted to use against Amy Klobuchar, and she from the get-go said, "I am no Tim Walz. I'm going to tackle fraud. I'm going to push forward on things that I feel are part of the more centrist agenda." And so, she really worked to buttress this own identity that she has had in politics for a long time.
Yeah, and part of her remarks last night, she said, "I don't want to take anybody left." It's not a direct quote. "Left, right, I want to take everybody forward."
And she's really harping on this need for results, right? Like Democrats are so excited, "Oh, it was a blue wave." But the delivery's going to be important here.
Absolutely. That was one of the mantras of her campaign, and if you're a mid-level state government bureaucrat, don't be surprised if Amy Klobuchar is personally calling you if something doesn't go quite right. She's going to be a very hands-on governor. I know that there are folks who are out there who think maybe it's been a little bit too loose, and they want that governor who's going to have that attention to detail. Amy Klobuchar has always had attention to detail to a fault sometimes.
She said, you know, "No excuses. We're going to make this happen." And I wonder, too, just about when she says I don't want to take the party left or right. And we were talking about this a little bit before, Brian, but in her role as governor, do you see her as being able to maybe unite different areas of the party, areas of the DFL here on a state level? Like what is the role of a governor usually in that type of a scenario?
That will be the story to watch starting now and into the next session because she has served notice that she's not necessarily going to be on board with every idea out there that comes from the far left of her party, maybe even from the middle of her party. She's talking about she wants to kind of marry the two a little bit. And she's also, if you look at her policy proposals that she put on the table during this campaign, there was a lot of them that had Republican authorship, that these were bills that existed. She says, "I want to do something like this." So, it'll be interesting to see how much she really draws Republicans in. Keep in mind, Democrats will go into the 2027 legislative session with control of the Senate, control of the House, and control of the governor's office. They could, you know, really charge forward if they want to. I don't see Amy Klobuchar as somebody who's going to want to flaunt that power too much. I think she wants to use it where she has to. She's talked about the gun legislation as one area that she wants to push forward on after the Annunciation school shooting. But other than that, I think she's going to be looking for collaboration. Republicans have a choice to make as well. Do they take that invitation, or do they really just kind of put up a wall to say, "You do it. You have the votes."
Mhm. And across the nation, really, there were some other similarities in some states, right? Where there was maybe a more progressive U.S. Senate candidate, and then maybe a more centrist governor candidate within a state. And a lot of people said, "Let's see who wins by a higher margin to try to see if maybe the party should go to a left or a right direction." And it's just interesting that looking here at the state of Minnesota that Peggy Flanagan and Amy Klobuchar won their respective races by around the same amount. So, it doesn't really leave you with any more clarity other than that it was a rebuke on the president.
Right. Amy Klobuchar was the top partisan vote-getter of any candidate on Minnesota's ballot this year. But Peggy Flanagan wasn't all that far behind. It just goes to show that there was a lot of straight-ticket voting after all in these statewide races. And as you mentioned around the country, you know, going into this election, Republicans had more governors than Democrats did.
And coming out of this election, there will be at least 28 Democratic governors, 20 GOP governors. There are two races yet to be called, Kansas and Alaska, that right now the vote tallies are leaning toward the Democrats. So, that's a big shift in what we were before. And there are a lot of state houses where either Democrats picked up seats to, you know, break a supermajority for Republicans or flip chambers. Pennsylvania is now a trifecta state, as they call it.
So, some of these places, that was a big shift because a lot of policy gets done on the local level. We look to Washington for some of the bigger fights, but things at the state houses are where lives and spending decisions and taxing decisions really get made.
Yeah, and some of these situations, to your point, wouldn't have been imaginable in 2024. And it just goes to show how much can change when people's pocketbooks are impacted and when people are maybe not happy with what's going on with an incumbent, like we see happen in a lot of midterms as well.
The fact that Democrats won last night in a lot of places wasn't necessarily a surprise, because that's kind of true to form. The party in the White House usually struggles in midterms. It was the depth and in some of the places, I mean, we're talking about elections in places like Kansas, like Texas, even Mississippi, you know, where Democrats either won or are in the position that they might win these key states U.S. Senate races. The congressional margin could be really big for Democrats going in after two years of very narrowly divided but Republican control in the U.S. House. So, a lot can change and a lot did change.
And even in some districts and states like Florida, where redistricting had happened that was heavily favorable, you know, to Republicans, there were still some gains in some of those areas. So, watching this was very interesting. We are keeping an eye here on the podium. I just want to remind folks what we're doing. We're doing live special coverage here on MPR News. I'm Nina Moini, joined by politics editor Brian Bakst. We're here in St. Paul. We're told Governor-elect Amy Klobuchar is also here in downtown St. Paul at an event center. She's going to be giving her first remarks since her acceptance speech last night. So, we are standing by to take that to you live. We are being told they're running a few minutes behind. It was a late night, so we'll let that slide. Hey Brian, what do you know about Ben Schiere, who is about to be the first male lieutenant governor?
