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By Walker Orenstein

Justin Tafoya/Getty Images

Hello, Hot Dish readers! 

Walker Orenstein here, the latest addition to the politics team after a couple of years on the energy beat for the Strib. I’ll be covering Republicans in Minnesota with a particular eye on the race for U.S. Senate and governor, so if you have thoughts or feelings on those candidates, let me know.

Over the last week, I’ve been learning more about former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya, who jumped into the race with the endorsement of the powerful campaign arm of Senate Republicans.

While Tafoya has had a podcast over the last few years, some of her policy views are now coming into clearer focus on the campaign trail as she visits with Republican activists and talks with some in conservative media. Here are a few snippets from the last week:

Tafoya on abortion. She often starts events talking about why she is running and a plan to deport people convicted of fraud. But Tafoya, who has described herself as pro-choice on abortion up to a point, has notably faced questions from activists about her views on the issue. It’s a test of how important abortion will be for a Republican base that largely wants tougher restrictions on the procedure.

Recently on the conservative "Political Pitchforks" podcast hosted by former state Rep. Jeremy Munson and Susan Shogren Smith, Tafoya said her views are in line with President Donald Trump’s, pledged to confirm “conservative strict constructionist judges” and said she would vote against taxpayer-funded abortion.

“I am within the first 12 weeks,” Tafoya said. “Certainly there are going to be a lot of people on both sides who argue with me for a variety of reasons on either of those directions.”

On Iran and gun control. Tafoya has offered a vigorous defense of the Iran war, and on Saturday told party activists in Rogers she sees no evidence the conflict will be a lengthy “forever war.” That’s in response to a subset of Republicans who view the Iran war as Trump breaking a promise against Middle East entanglements.

She has also faced questions about guns after past interest in what are known as red flag laws. On "Political Pitchforks," Tafoya said she supports the Second Amendment and that her instinct is that restricting magazine capacity or banning semiautomatic rifles would be part of a “slippery slope” of infringing gun rights. 

But she stopped short of ruling some form of those policies out, saying it “would depend on exactly what is in that bill.”

Opens up on personal experiences. Tafoya has opened up about having anorexia earlier in life, and when addressing abortion, she has talked at length about fertility struggles and her decision to adopt a daughter from Colombia after having a son. She told a receptive crowd in Lakeville on Monday night that she lost five pregnancies. “It was the worst thing of my life,” Tafoya said.

Republicans have made slashing car tab fees a focus. The idea is a central plank of their affordability plans. Reporter Nathaniel Minor interviewed people outside of government vehicle services last week to get the price tags. One paid $733 to renew the registration for a late-model Toyota minivan; another spent about $700 on a 2024 Lexus SUV. Read more. 

A high-profile anti-fraud bill is alive despite a weekslong standoff. Leaders of both parties in the Minnesota House and Senate say they want the legislation to establish an independent inspector general to investigate fraud in state programs. But it’s been stuck in negotiations over the details, Allison Kite writes, leading to bitter floor fights and accusations from Republicans that Democrats are trying to kill the bill. Read more. 

Several DFL lawmakers say they were targeted or harassed during Trump’s immigration surge. One DFL lawmaker told colleagues that federal agents hurled misogynistic epithets at her, even after she informed them she was an elected official. Read more. 

There's another lawsuit over the massive 2024 omnibus bill. Here's a dispatch from Nate: Fans of legislative procedure, as I know many of you are, may recall a District Court’s ruling last year that struck down part of a monster 1,400-page omnibus bill. The judge seemed to invite more lawsuits over the bill to “hack off, piece by piece, its many offending portions.”

Well, folks, we’ve got another lawsuit.

The National Federation of Independent Business and other business groups are suing over a provision in the bill that determines whether a worker is an independent contractor and increased penalties for businesses that misclassify workers.

The changes “left Minnesota’s small business community in an impossible position,” Jon Boesche, NFIB’s Minnesota state director, said in a news release.

A spokesman for Attorney General Keith Ellison, who was named in the lawsuit, said he will "will review the lawsuit and respond in court." The state has continued to defend the omnibus bill in other court proceedings.

Walz slams door on scholarship-granting organization tax credit. Republicans have been pushing the governor to opt-in to a federal program that would allow taxpayers to get a $1,700 credit if they donate to a qualifying scholarship-granting organization.

But a bill that would do that stalled in committee recently, with Democrats arguing that it would effectively be a nationwide voucher program and underfund public schools. Republicans have threatened to hold up other education bills until Gov. Tim Walz embraces the program.

“Well, then they can go home today,” Walz told Nate and other reporters yesterday. “They can shut the whole session down. That is never going to happen.”

Demuth says zoning reform isn’t dead. The bipartisan bill that would force local governments to allow more dense housing in more places was voted down in committee — including by the panel’s Republican members — earlier this week.

But it’s “going to move in some way,” House Speaker Lisa Demuth told my colleague Allison Kite yesterday. “I would say stay tuned on that one because I think that still has some pathway,” she added.

At 10:15 a.m., Walz is meeting with the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities for the group’s legislative action day.

The governor will meet with people about the impacts of Operation Metro Surge at 10:45 a.m.

Then, Walz will visit a water treatment plant at noon to begin a statewide infrastructure tour and highlight his $907 million bonding bill.

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