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By Nathaniel Minor

Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune

It's been nearly four years since Kendall Qualls almost won the Republican nomination for governor in 2022. 

Since then, he's honed what's become a key part of his campaign message to potential voters: That he, a political outsider, a Black conservative, and a successful businessman who's in recent years made a second career out of criticizing diversity, equity and inclusion programs, has the story and the chops to take back the governor's mansion for Republicans in 2026.

That plan hit a bit of a road bump when Qualls came in second to House Speaker Lisa Demuth in the Minnesota GOP's straw poll of more than 17,000 Republican activists at this week's precinct caucuses. 

In a call with reporters yesterday, Qualls admitted his disappointment before quickly drawing a distinction between Demuth and himself — and predicting delegates would ultimately choose the latter.

“We have a choice of candidates,” he said. “A legislator vs. a leader. We’re looking for a political outsider.”

I spent some time with Qualls over the last month or so, learning more about his own story, watching him interact with voters, and digging into who his big funders are. It's an open question as to whether his campaign will have the juice this time around. But it's clear so far that it's resonating with some potential voters. Read more.

Later this morning, my colleague Walker Orenstein will have a look at Demuth's campaign after her big straw poll win. Stay tuned. 

Robbins isn't deterred by straw poll results. GOP state Rep. Kristin Robbins says she will remain in the crowded Republican field for governor despite coming in sixth in the GOP's straw poll after Tuesday caucuses, she told my colleague Sydney Kashiwagi on Capitol Hill.

"I'm not dropping out," Robbins told Kashiwagi, initially laughing off the question when asked if she plans to stay in the race or drop out following the results. Robbins was in Washington this week to testify before a U.S. Senate subcommittee looking at Minnesota fraud.

Instead, Robbins blamed her straw poll results on delegates upset with her for not agreeing to obeyed by the party's endorsement. "Candidates who say they're not going to abide by the endorsement do not do well in these straw polls because the people who are doing the endorsing convention, the delegates, want you to abide by the endorsement," Robbins said.

Ramsey, Hennepin county sheriffs quiet on ICE cooperation. The sheriffs overseeing some of Minnesota’s largest county jails aren’t saying whether they will go along with a plan to give immigration agents better access to those facilities.

After announcing yesterday that 700 agents would immediately leave Minnesota, my colleague Chris Magan reports that border czar Tom Homan said continued cooperation was required for drawdown of the remaining 2,000 agents. Read more.

Homan also said activists need to stop “impeding” agents from doing their job if they want them to leave, my colleague Jeff Day reports. Read more.

School districts, teachers union sue over ICE activity. Fridley and Duluth schools, along with the state teachers union, are suing the Trump administration to keep federal immigration agents off school property. The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction barring enforcement within 1,000 feet of school property, my colleague Mara Klecker reports. Read more.

Swamped federal lawyer says her "job sucks." Government lawyers are working around the clock to try to keep up with the wave of immigration cases filed since the ICE surge began. One, who'd missed several deadlines to release five detained immigrants, told a judge recently that "the systems sucks. This job sucks." My colleague Sarah Nelson reports that the lawyer has since been removed from her position. Read more. 

The governor does not have any public events scheduled today. 

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More from Robbins. Reflecting on the straw poll results, Robbins said she still needs to introduce herself to voters.

"Clearly, I need to build my name ID, so I'll be spending some money on that and continuing to just meet Minnesotans, hear what their concerns are," Robbins said when asked what's her path to victory post straw poll.

Not intimidated by Klobuchar. Robbins also told Kashiwagi that Sen. Amy Klobuchar's recent entry in the governor's race does not change the calculus of her plans because she still views Minnesota's senior senator as a continuation of Gov. Tim Walz's administration.

Questioning where Klobuchar was. Robbins criticized Klobuchar for not showing up to the fraud hearing she testified at despite being a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A subcommittee of the full Senate Judiciary Committee held the hearing where Robbins appeared, which Klobuchar is not on.

"I was disappointed that Senator Klobuchar didn't come to today's hearing," Robbins said. "She's a member of the full committee, other members of the full committee were here, and it's frustrating that she didn't show up to hear about the scope of fraud in our own state. I think that's a sign that she's not taking it very seriously."

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley and the committee's ranking member, Sen. Dick Durbin, attended the hearing, as well as Sen. John Cornyn.

Camp Klobuchar says. "Senator Klobuchar is an active leader on the Judiciary Committee, but she is not a member of that subcommittee," a Klobuchar spokesperson said in a statement and pointed Kashiwagi to her campaign announcement video, in which she vowed to fight fraud.

Dems release demands to rein in the DHS, ICE. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sent their list of demands to Republican leadership as Congress continues to figure out how to rein in the Department of Homeland Security and negotiate funding the agency.

Their list of 10 demands includes preventing federal agents from covering their faces, ensuring local officials have the ability to conduct oversight, requiring DHS officers to display their agency and IDs. You can read more about their demands here.

The clock is ticking. Congress has until Feb. 13 to come up with a plan to fund the DHS after a larger government funding package passed in the U.S. House on Tuesday.