AP Photo/Abbie Parr

In today’s Hot Dish: Fraud rebates, the fight over endorsements, a time capsule that doubles as a tourism brochure, and the continuing battle over abortion rights in 2026. But first: After months of scrutiny, can the Walz administration put the federal government on the defensive? 

For months, Operation Metro Surge had largely receded from Minnesota's political conversation. This week, it came roaring back.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz dismissed Justice Department subpoenas targeting Gov. Tim Walz and other elected officials, ruling they were politically motivated, unconstitutional and without merit. The decision handed Minnesota Democrats a legal and political victory after months of arguing that the state had been singled out by the federal government.

Walz wasted little time trying to press the advantage. The next day his administration announced it had filed 16 Freedom of Information Act requests across the federal government seeking records and communications referencing Minnesota, Walz, "retribution," "reckoning," "punish" and "Democrat." It’s part of a broader effort to determine if the federal government coordinated investigations and other actions targeting Minnesota. 

“We are taking steps to find out exactly how far this campaign reaches, who’s directing it, and what it has cost Minnesotans,” Walz said in a release. 

Then on Wednesday night, the governor's newly formed Truth Council held its inaugural meeting, giving the administration a new venue to gather testimony and construct a public account of the immigration crackdown in the state. The council has no subpoena authority or formal investigative powers, but information gathered in the process could be looked at in potential future investigations or legal proceedings.

Peter Cahill, a retired Hennepin County judge who presided over the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, is leading that effort. 

“This is not just a Minnesota thing, the eyes of everyone in the world, probably, are on what we’re doing,” he said at the start of the meeting Wednesday. "We're not going to do it necessarily like everybody else does, but we are being watched and appreciated by others.” Their preliminary report is due by Oct. 31.

Whether any of these efforts ultimately uncover evidence of political coordination or anything else will likely not be known for a while. The FOIA requests could take months or years to process, and any records that are released are likely to be heavily redacted. Walz himself could be long out of office before the documents materialize, and he can hardly marshal the resources or sustain the level of scrutiny that the federal government can.

Still, after spending much of the past year responding to investigations, subpoenas and funding threats, Minnesota Democrats clearly want to try and reverse the dynamic, shifting the conversation from the conduct of state officials to the conduct of the federal government. Walz's response this week appears designed to ensure the conversation continues.

Is Roe still a top issue for voters? Democrats are making it clear they want abortion rights to remain a central issue in the 2026 election, arguing that the effects of the Supreme Court's 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade is still shaping voters' lives.

At a news conference Wednesday marking the fourth anniversary of the ruling, Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy said abortion restrictions have created real financial burdens for women forced to travel out of state for care. With affordability expected to be a defining issue in this year's campaigns, Murphy told reporters — including my Strib colleague Allison Kite — that reproductive rights and economic concerns go hand in hand.

Murphy also tied the issue to Operation Metro Surge, arguing that the immigration crackdown has fueled broader fears among some Minnesotans that long-established personal freedoms could be rolled back under the Trump administration and Republicans.

Backlash to Roe's reversal helped drive turnout in 2022, leading to Democratic control of Minnesota government and the eventual codification of abortion rights into state law. Republicans have spent the years since trying to recalibrate their message on the issue. 

It’s unclear if abortion still carries the same political weight heading into 2026. Polls consistently show it's an important issue for many voters, but it's typically eclipsed by concerns about the economy and the cost of living. Even so, Murphy said she believes voters increasingly see abortion access as both an affordability issue and a matter of personal freedom.

"I think Minnesotans are very concerned about the freedoms they have lived with for a long time and count on being contracted or taken away by the Trump administration and by the Republican Party, this among them," Murphy said.

FRIDAYS

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