Michael Nolan, Author at MinnPost

Xcel Energy leads Minnesota in lobbying spending

Michael Nolan — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 16:38:46 +0000

Lobbyists and lobbying organizations spent $18.9 million to influence Minnesota politics in 2023. Of that, $1.4 million or 7.5% percent came from lobbyists from Xcel Energy, the largest amount spent by a single organization that year. The utility is one of 15 top-spending companies that made up over half of all lobbying spending that year, along with other lobbyist organizations representing the education, pharmaceutical, and health care industries, among others.

Minnesota’s state government tracks lobbying through its Campaign Finance Board, which requires lobbyists and the businesses they represent to regularly report their lobbying activities. Recent changes to the state’s lobbying laws resulted in more stringent rules for lobbyist registration but laxer ones for reporting: More lobbyists are required as of 2024 to register with the state and report what issues they worked on, but they don’t have to report how much they spend in the process. That responsibility is now placed on the companies they work for, which are required to report the total amount spent in March of each year. While we don’t have access to spending totals for 2024 yet, CFB lobbyist filings do give us details on which issues lobbyists represented.

Looking at the Minnesota CFB’s lobbying report databases from 2023 and 2024, MinnPost analyzed which companies have spent the most lobbying state legislators and administrators and what bills, issues, and procedures they put their lobbyists to work on. Our totals for 2023 represent the sum of lobbying disbursements from all individual lobbyists working on behalf of a given company that year, including both employed and contracted lobbyists:

Xcel Energy's lobbyists spent $1.4 million throughout 2023. Most of that went toward cases before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The state's PUC is where energy companies participate in the years-long process of setting future energy rates and pricing structures. Xcel had an active presence in committee proceedings throughout 2023 and 2024 (for details, see PUC docket numbers 23-413, 24-320, and 24-321), assigning 20-30 of its 90 registered lobbyists to focus on rate setting procedures each year. CenterPoint Energy MN (32 registered lobbyists) and NextEra Energy Resources (nine registered lobbyists) — two other top-spending lobbying organizations in 2023 — also assigned the bulk of their lobbying workforce to influence rate setting proceedings in both 2023 and 2024.

Recent Xcel filings with the PUC show the company's accountants have been keeping an eye on the development of new electronic infrastructure across the state. This includes an expected need to meet a 500-megawatt increase in capacity — enough to power 438,000 average U.S. homes — to supply new data centers including those planned near the company's Sherco coal plant, currently slated to be shut down and replaced.

The second largest lobbyist spend was by Education Minnesota, a union group representing educators in the state with 29 registered lobbyists. The entirety of the organization's $1.1 million lobbying efforts were focused on a handful of bills passing through the Minnesota Legislature concerning teacher pensions, state tax allocations and education funding.

One of the organization's standout filings concerned HF 3567, an assistive reproductive rights bill clarifying parentage and the role of gamete donors in surrogate pregnancies. When MinnPost reached out to clarify Education Minnesota's interest in the bill, a spokesperson said this was an error. The lobbying group intended to file that activity under SF 3567, a education omnibus bill. The accuracy of lobbyist filings rests entirely on the filer, as the CFB does not regularly audit lobbyist reports. The group has since confirmed that they have filed an amendment to that activity to correct the error, but this sort of correction is not a regular outcome.

Another top spender throughout 2023 was FairVote MN (12 registered lobbyists), a political advocacy group pushing for ranked-choice voting in the state. The organization's filings concerned lobbying activity in Minnetonka and Bloomington, two cities that adopted the new voting practice in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Initiatives to repeal ranked-choice voting were voted down the two Twin Cities suburbs in 2023 and 2024. FairVote did not indicate individual legislative or municipal actions in their lobbying reports to the state, though the firm did push for statewide laws switching elections to ranked-choice voting and filed the majority of their lobbying disbursements directed toward the state Legislature.

DoorDash (six registered lobbyists), the gig work food delivery app, was the 9th largest Minnesota lobbying group in 2023. The company was a target of proposed delivery taxes in 2023, levied to fund in-state transportation projects. Food delivery apps including DoorDash and other platforms like UberEats were exempt from separate legislation establishing minimum wages for delivery workers.

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PAC spending on Minnesota congressional races fell 85% in 2024

Michael Nolan — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 12:21:31 +0000

Political action committee spending on Minnesota congressional races fell from $24 million in the 2022 midterm election to $3.4 million in the 2024 election, an 85% drop.

The decline came even as Minnesota added a Senate race to the mix in 2024. According to filings from the Federal Election Commission through Nov. 25, independent expenditure spending on Minnesota congressional races — money spent by any PAC or other committee to support or oppose political campaigns — was the smallest seen in Minnesota since a $45 million spending peak in 2018, indicating that national attention on the state’s congressional races may be waning.

The large decrease in PAC spending from 2022 to 2024 runs counter to an increase in campaign committee fundraising for Minnesota congressional races. Even when 2024's Senate fundraising is taken out, congressional campaign fundraising was up 17% in 2024 as compared to 2022. Overall, campaign fundraising increased from $28.5 million in the 2016 general election to $66 million in 2024, with a peak of $75.5 million raised across all 2020 races.

The drop in independent expenditures indicates a relative decrease in national financial attention toward the state’s congressional races and candidates, said Christopher Terry, a professor of journalism at the University of Minnesota researching political advertising. Terry chalks this up to the relative security of incumbent candidates running in 2024.

Concerning senior Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s campaign this year, Terry said a large investment in either campaign may have not been worth it: “She couldn’t lose here if she tried.”

Since 2016, the Minnesota seat attracting the most PAC financial attention has been the state’s 2nd Congressional District. Out of the $129 million in independent expenditures focused on Minnesota’s House and Senate races between 2016-2024, $35.8 million (28%) was spent on the state’s 2nd District elections. The district is currently held by Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, who first won the seat in the 2018 midterm election. That year, PACs spent $8.5 million to influence the race; $7.5 million of that total was spent on activities directly opposing either candidate’s campaign — $3 million against Craig and $4.5 million against Republican incumbent Jason Lewis, who won the 2nd District seat in 2016.

In 2024, independent expenditures toward campaigns for Minnesota’s 2nd District seat fell to $2.2 million. That election, in which Republican candidate Joe Teirab challenged Craig, also saw a relative drop in opposition spending from PACs. While 89% of PAC spending was in opposition to a given 2nd District candidate in the 2018 election, only 31% of 2024’s total independent expenditures were against either candidate.

PAC spending against Craig’s 2024 campaign fell to only $5,247.46 of text messaging campaigns by the conservative North Star Values PAC. The 2024 election's biggest spender was the pro-cryptocurrency Fairshake PAC, who spent $974,000 to support Craig. Though Craig didn't talk much about cryptocurrency and blockchain issues during the campaign, she is set to become the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Agriculture and as such will have direct influence over commodities exchanges, potentially giving her sway over the country's future regulation of cryptocurrencies.

Some of the biggest spenders from previous 2nd District elections — the National Republican Congressional Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Democrat-supporting House Majority PAC, among others — were completely absent from this race in 2024.

Terry attributes the overall drop in PAC spending, in particular against Craig, to the district’s relatively expensive advertising market and Republican institutional fatigue built up over a series of midterm losses since 2018.

“Is it odd? Yes. I’m actually fairly surprised about it,” Terry said. “But on the whole, all that money was set on fire two years ago.”

While PAC spending fell off in Minnesota this past election, the state was no stranger to big campaign finance events. Here's more MinnPost coverage of how political finances moved in 2024:

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2024 Election results: Minnesota Legislative Races to Watch

Peter Callaghan and Michael Nolan — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 23:29:09 +0000

Republicans appeared to pick up three of the four House seats needed to take the majority, which would mean a 67-67 tie. Read the latest analysis from MinnPost state government reporter Peter Callaghan here. Use the links below to find results for select state Senate and House races. For this year’s federal election results, check out our federal election dashboard.

Minnesota State Senate Race: District 45

The Minnesota DFL held its single-seat majority in the state Senate by winning a special election in the west metro suburbs. Former Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart defeated GOP nominee Kathleen Fowke to hold the seat vacated by U.S. Rep.-elect Kelly Morrison. It was the only state Senate seat on the ballot but could have turned the Senate over to Republicans had Fowke won. The 45th Senate District hugs the shore of Lake Minnetonka and includes the towns of Excelsior, Deephaven, Wayzata, Tonka Bay and Mound. Johnson Stewart previously served as a state senator in Minnesota’s 44th district.

Minnesota State House District Races

District 3B (GOP keeps)	District 7B (GOP flips)	District 11A (GOP keeps)	District 14A (GOP keeps)
District 14B (DFL keeps)*	District 18A (GOP flips)	District 26A (GOP flips)	District 32B (DFL keeps)
District 35A (DFL keeps)	District 35B (DFL keeps)	District 36A (GOP keeps)	District 41A (GOP keeps)
District 41B (GOP keeps)	District 48B (DFL keeps)	District 54A (DFL keeps)*	District 57B (GOP keeps)

Big picture: Minnesota election results were slow, but by early Wednesday it appeared the DFL and GOP were tied 67-67, with the GOP flipping just three of the four seats needed to tak the majority. However, The Associated Press had not declared winners in two races (with asterisks above) because margins were so close and could trigger recounts.

Technical problems in reporting results in Scott County led the Secretary of State to zero out results in District 54A on its results site, but by Wednesday morning the vote totals showed DFLer Brad Tabke winning by 13 votes in unofficial results. You can read our previous Races to Watch coverage here.

House District 3B

This district, just north of Duluth, sees incumbent Republican Natalie Zeleznikar challenged by DFL candidate Mark Munger, a retired district court judge. Zeleznikar won the seat in 2022 against 23-term DFL incumbent Mary Murphy by just 33 votes. Zeleznikar beat Munger by 160 votes, according to unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State.

House District 7B

The race was called for Republican Cal Warwas, who works as a planner for U.S. Steel. Warwas received about 3,000 more votes than DFLer Lorrie Janatopoulos, who ran for the open seat after DFLer Dave Lislegard decided not to seek reelection.

House District 11A

Despite a campaign marred by Republican incumbent Jeff Dotseth’s reported divorce in 2008 and related allegations of domestic violence, the GOP was able to hang on to this seat by 664 votes in unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State. DFL candidate Pete Radosevich lost by 2.78 percentage points, compared to a 2.4-point loss in 2022.

House District 14A

Incumbent Republican Bernie Perryman beat DFL challenger Abdi Daisane by about 2,500 votes — a larger margin than her 201-vote victory in 2022. Perryman owns two Batteries Plus franchise stores and was previously a chair of the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce.

House District 14B

DFL incumbent Dan Wolgamott appears to have won this race, with unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State showing a 28-vote margin between him and Republican challenger Sue Ek for the St. Cloud area seat. Wolgamott has held this office since first winning in 2018. Wolgamott won this district race in 2022 51.8% to 48.1% against GOP candidate Aaron Henning.

House District 18A

St. Peter resident Jeff Brand has lost his District 18A seat to Republican Erica Schwartz, a Nicollet area small business owner. Brand won the seat twice before in 2018 and 2022, losing the 2020 election by 108 votes. Schwartz won by 800 votes in unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State.

House District 26A

District newcomer Aaron Repinski (GOP) beat Sarah Kruger (DFL) in this open seat by about 1,300 votes after longtime DFL Rep. Gene Pelowski announced his retirement earlier this year. Repinski is a business owner and a member of the Winona City Council. Pelowski won the seat in 2022 against GOP candidate Stephen James Doerr by a 10-point margin.

House District 32B

DFL incumbent Matt Norris fended off a challenge from GOP candidate Alex Moe by about 400 votes. Moe, who is currently pursuing a law degree, works for the Anoka County Courts administration and made an unsuccessful run for a state Senate seat in the Duluth area. Norris won the seat in 2022 by a 2-point margin, and this election’s margin was 1.7.

House District 35A

DFL incumbent Zack Stephenson survived a challenge from Republican Josh Jungling, the gambling manager for the Anoka Ramsey Athletic Association. Stephenson was the lead sponsor of the state’s recreational cannabis bill and has held the seat since 2018, winning in 2022 52.4% to 47.5%. He beat Jungling by 3.82 percentage points, or 871 votes, in unofficial results.

House District 35B

DFL candidate Kari Rehrauer had 280 more votes than Republican Steve Pape in this open seat, previously filled by single-term DFL House Rep. Jerry Newton. Rehrauer is a Coon Rapids City Council member while Pape is a union engineer and Vietnam War veteran. Newton narrowly won the seat in 2022 against Polly Matteson, 50.6% to 49.3%.

House District 36A

Republican incumbent Elliot Engen, a Lino Lakes resident, won reelection to DFL challenger and fellow Lino Laker Janelle Calhoun by nearly 2,300 votes or 8 percentage points. Engen, who was sworn in at 24 years old, won the seat in 2022, 51.4% to 48.6%.

House District 41A

Republican Wayne Johnson beat DFL candidate and retired St. Paul police officer Lucia Wroblewski by 327 votes (less than 1 percentage point) in unofficial results. Johnson is a small business owner and former Washington County Commissioner, and previously served on the city council of Cottage Grove. The seat was previously held by Republican Mark Wiens, who won the seat in 2022 by 128 votes. He is running for commissioner in Washington County.

House District 41B

Republican Tom Dippel held off the DFL’s Jen Fox in this open seat by about 500 votes (2 percentage points) in unofficial results. Fox is a member of the Hastings City Council, while Dippel previously ran for and lost in Minnesota State Senate District 41 in 2022. The incumbent, Shane Hudella, is stepping down after winning the seat in 2022 by a 2-point margin.

House District 48B

Single-term incumbent Lucy Rehm (DFL) held off Republican challenger Caleb Steffenhagen by 225 votes (less than 1 point) in unofficial results. Rehm won the seat in 2022 by a 2-point margin, 51% to 49%.

House District 54A

Incumbent DFL candidate Brad Tabke was ahead of Republican Aaron Paul, a Bloomington police officer and school resource officer, by just 13 votes in unofficial results. That would trigger a recount. Tabke has represented the district off and on since winning the seat in 2018, losing in 2020, and winning again in 2022 against GOP candidate Erik Mortensen and Legal Marijuana Now Party candidate Ryan Martin — 51.8%, 43.5%, 4.3%, respectively.

House District 57B

Republican incumbent Jeff Witte held off a challenge from DFLer Brian Cohn by more than 1,200 votes in unofficial results. Witte is a former Burnsville police officer, while Cohn is a former engineering manager and partner at the German business management consultancy Aspire Innovation.

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Minnesota 2024 election live voting results

Michael Nolan — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 23:22:06 +0000

Minnesota has continued its streak of voting for Democratic presidential candidates as Kamala Harris and Tim Walz finished 4 percentage points ahead of Republicans Donald Trump and JD Vance, according to preliminary results. But Trump became president-elect after winning several battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Sen. Amy Klobuchar easily won reelection, and the seven U.S. House incumbents running for reelection also held off challengers while DFL former state Sen. Kelly Morrison won in the district Democrat Dean Phillips is vacating. Meanwhile, the DFL’s trifecta in state government appears to have ended with a 67-67 tie in the Minnesota House (results in races to watch tracked here).

Presidential Election Results
Senate Election Results
House of Representatives Election Results
How is AP able to declare winners so quickly in some races?

Presidential election in Minnesota

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz faced Republicans Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance after President Joe Biden opted not to run for reelection. The margin in Minnesota was tighter than the Biden-Trump margin in 2020.

U.S. Senate – Minnesota

Minnesota’s senior Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, won reelection against Republican Royce White. Klobuchar was first elected in 2006. White ran in the Republican primary for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in 2022.

U.S. House – Minnesota

Minnesota’s eight congressional districts are up for election this year, and all of the state’s incumbents fended off their challengers. For more context on the campaigns for each of these positions and their respective financial activities, check out our congressional campaign finance dashboard.

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Campaign spending not even close between DFL, GOP in race to control Minnesota House

Peter Callaghan and Michael Nolan — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 14:41:35 +0000

A press release issued this week by the Minnesota House Republican campaign arm says a lot about the 2024 race for control of the House. With the DFL holding a narrow advantage and with just a dozen or so races that are truly up for grabs, record funds are being spent this election.

“Republicans have the momentum and resources heading into the final stretch to win the majority and restore balance to Minnesota,” House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth said in the release. How many resources? The House Republican Campaign Committee has raised $2.7 million this year, on top of the $700,000 it carried over from 2023 — that’s more than $800,000 over the previous record set in 2018.

While it says a lot about House GOP efforts, it says more about the financial imbalance between the parties in Minnesota. Demuth’s counterpart, DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman, presides over a campaign fund that has raised $9.2 million in 2024 and brought $1.25 million over from last year.

The House DFL has more money in the bank — $3.6 million — than the House GOP has raised in two years, according to the campaign’s final state Campaign Finance Board reports posted this week.

Some of those battleground districts help tell the story. Rep. Jeff Brand, DFL-St Peter, is defending his seat against GOP challenger Erica Schwartz. The House DFL caucus has already spent $381,000 helping Brand, either by sending positive messages about him or negative messages about Schwartz.

The GOP knows how important that race is as well but has so far spent just $95,000 in District 18A.

In District 3B, incumbent Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar is defending a seat she took from the DFL two years ago by 33 votes. She is being challenged by former judge Mark Munger. The House GOP has spent $106,000 in the Lake Superior fronting district; the House DFL $304,000.

Money comes from unions, from House DFL candidates with less-competitive races, and from national funders who know that Minnesota is one of just a handful of states where legislative chambers are competitive. The PAC for Minnesota’s Future, funded primarily by New York donor Barry Munger, gave the House DFL $1.4 million. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has given $1.15 million.

The House DFL has not only been able to expand the map — investing in districts that are either already relatively safe for their candidate or are not on most lists of vulnerable GOP seats — they have been able to spend in ways unthought of in leaner years. MPR’s Capitol View reported last week that Brand is benefiting from broadcast TV ads. While more-targetable cable ads are not uncommon in legislative races, the geographic breadth of a broadcast station means ads are more expensive and reach a lot of voters outside the district.

The funding mismatch would be troublesome enough for the GOP campaigns if the caucuses were the only sources of money in Minnesota House elections. They are not. The DFL party is a financial engine that pays for much of the campaign infrastructure around the state. And a series of DFL-affiliated political funds and a potent set of independent expenditure committees that give to DFL candidates and causes makes the mismatch even more obvious. The latest reports follow a pattern shown in the previous election finance reports posted in September and over the last decades: a permanent fundraising and spending apparatus that helps the DFL in Minnesota.

Sticking with districts 3B and 18A to illustrate the way committees not directly associated with candidates dominate campaigns, Brand has benefited from $794,000 from independent expenditure committees while Schwartz has benefited from $457,000.

In 3B, Munger has seen $775,000 spent to boost his candidacy or damage Zeleznikar’s. The GOP incumbent has benefited from $559,000 in independent expenditure spending. The money spent by the parties and political groups far overwhelms the candidates’ own resources. Brand has raised $76,000, Schwartz $52,000, Zeleznikar $74,000 and Munger $126,000.

DFL committees, paced by the trio of fundraising and spending groups called the Alliance for a Better Minnesota, WIN Minnesota and the We All Do Better fund, dominate campaign finance in Minnesota.

The Alliance for a Better Minnesota receives money from the two other funds as well as national Democratic organizations focused on winning state legislative races. ABM has paid a California vendor Left Hook $2.3 million to produce and place TV and digital ads. It has also paid an Apple Valley polling firm — Project Lakes and Plains — $273,000 for research.

Four of the top five independent expenditure committees are DFL affiliated. In the list of political committees, the DFL’s allies take seven of the top 10 spots. Union committees dominate the political committee list, giving money to the caucuses and independent expenditure committees as well as making donations directly to candidates.

The GOP and its affiliates are making gains this election cycle with two new committees added to the traditional business-related committees. Renew Minnesota is the political arm of the Minnesota Private Business Council that is led by 2022 GOP attorney general nominee Jim Schultz. The New Fund was started by Jeff Larson, a state and national GOP political consultant and is primarily funded by the Republican State Leadership Committee. The RSLC is a national political group focused on winning state legislative chambers.

Also active in Minnesota battleground races is Make Liberty Win, a Virginia-based funding group.

Because money is moved around among funds and committees, some can be double counted. But since it can only be spent once on candidates, the expenditure totals for battleground districts are the best place to see the funding differences between the two major parties and their candidates. Again, DFL candidates benefit more from this spending than GOP candidates.

Still, the state’s campaigns are competitive with the DFL holding just a four-seat edge in the House and a single-seat advantage in the Senate. And as recently as 2020 for the Senate and 2016 for the House, Republicans won majority control.

Peter Callaghan

Peter Callaghan covers state government for MinnPost. Follow him on Twitter @CallaghanPeter or email him at pcallaghan@minnpost.com.

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A debate-fueled spike in September fundraising as Harris outraised Trump in Minnesota

Michael Nolan — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 15:29:01 +0000

People watch the presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, at the Gipsy Las Vegas in Las Vegas. Credit: AP Photo/John Locher

Minnesota donors have sustained their summer political spending trends into the fall, supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for the presidency over former President Donald Trump.

Related: 2024 campaign finance dashboard for Minnesota congressional races

Harris’ campaign raised $1.57 million from Minnesotans in September, following $1.17 million in July from the state’s residents and $1.6 million in August. The Trump campaign raised $160,000 from Minnesotans in September, following a total of $197,000 raised across both July and August.

A few key events appear to have driven donation activity, including the presidential debate between Harris and Trump on Sept. 10 and a Trump campaign rally held on Sept. 13 in Las Vegas, Nevada. In Harris’ case, the debate fueled more than $200,000 in Minnesota donations on a single day.

In the month of September, daily donations to the Harris and Trump campaigns averaged out to $52,000 and $5,300, respectively.

In total, this trend has amounted to Harris out-fundraising Trump in Minnesota 11:1 since July, a month in which the Democratic ticket gained renewed support following President Joe Biden dropping out of the race. August also saw a spike in donations to the Democrats when Harris picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.

Related: 2024 Minnesota Campaign Finance Dashboard

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2024 campaign finance dashboard for Minnesota congressional races

Michael Nolan — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 16:14:00 +0000

Update: these campaign spending figures represent data available as of Oct. 28, 2024, the Federal Election Commission’s fall quarterly reporting deadline. MinnPost will update these spending figures and analysis with upcoming FEC reporting deadlines.

Campaign Fundraising and Spending

Minnesotan congressional campaigns have raised over $58 million dollars for the 2024 election, with Democrats out-raising Republicans nearly 2 to 1 ($37 million and $21 million, respectively). Democratic candidate fundraising leads that of Republicans in this year’s Senate race and the state’s 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Congressional Districts. Republicans have out-raised Democrats in the 1st, 6th, 7th and 8th districts.

Incumbent Sen. Amy Klobuchar has raised $15.4 million, the most of any Democratic congressional candidate in the state. Tom Emmer, the incumbent in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District race, has raised more than any other Republican with $8.7 million.

In each Minnesota congressional race this year, the incumbents had more than doubled the fundraising figures of their challengers. In each race other than the 8th District House race and the Senate race, the incumbents also spent more than twice the amount spent by their opponents.

Independent Expenditures

Political action committees supporting Minnesota's Democrats in Congress have spent eight times what groups have spent so far on both Republican challengers and Minnesota's GOP members of Congress.

The independent expenditures — money spent supporting or opposing a candidate by committees other than that of the campaign itself — go toward media ads, mailing campaigns and other forms of outreach. For the eight U.S. House seats and one U.S. Senate seat on the ballot in Minnesota this year, PACs have spent $1.6 million on Minnesota Democrats and $200,000 on Republicans.

And over 60% of the spending on Democrats has gone to support Rep. Angie Craig's reelection campaign in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District. In contrast, Craig's GOP challenger Joe Teirab has attracted just over $22,000 in PAC spending. Of the $1 million spent on Craig, 90% of it came from FairShake, a political action committee supporting the cryptocurrency industry.

The PAC, operating out of Florida since 2021, has spent over $36 million during the 2024 election cycle on both Republican and Democratic candidates across the country, according to political research firm OpenSecrets. While most of this spending has been in support of ostensibly pro-crypto candidates, the PAC has also spent $13.6 million opposing the campaigns of Jamaal Bowman of New York, Cori Bush of Missouri, and Katie Porter of California — three Democrats who lost their primary races earlier this year.

The second largest focus of campaign spending by PACs in Minnesota congressional races is in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, where Rep. Ilhan Omar is seeking reelection. PACs have spent over $546,000 supporting Omar, while Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi has received just over $51,000 supporting her campaign, all of it in the form of independent expenditures opposing Ilhan Omar.

2024-10-24 Update: FEC filings of expenditures made in October show a slight bump in spending for a handful of Minnesotan congressional candidates. The largest October expenditure was $75k supporting of the Craig campaign, $43k of which having come from the LGBT rights committee Equality PAC.

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2024 Minnesota Campaign Finance Dashboard

Michael Nolan — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 15:04:18 +0000

As we approach the 2024 general election, this page will track political spending in Minnesota. The data shown are updated following regular reporting deadlines established by the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board for state-level candidates and political committees. Federal campaign funds tracked by the Federal Election Commission are not included here. Candidates who have not filed state campaign finance reports and those who have dropped out are also not listed. In the charts below, total amount raised is for the entire election cycle to date, including cash carried over from the previous year. Cash on hand is the total as of the last day of the current reporting cycle.

This page is updated with Minnesota state campaign finance activity through Sept. 17, 2024.

Sections

Political Committees and Funds	Independent Expenditure Groups	State Party Units
Party Caucuses	MN State Legislative Races	MN Political Funding Networks

The charts below show the top-spending political committees, funds, and other organizations reporting to the MN CFB.

Political Committees and Funds

These organizations contribute, either entirely or in part, directly to campaigns. Because of this, they are not free to accept corporate contributions. Money given to candidates is capped by state limits. However, these groups can give unlimited amounts to other organizations. They can also make independent expenditures to help or hurt candidates running for political office. A political fund is an off-shoot of another organization such as a union or a business trade association, while a political committee exists only to engage in political spending.

Independent Expenditure Groups

These organizations do not give money directly to candidates or parties, instead funding electioneering efforts that help or hurt candidates such as TV or digital ads. They can accept corporate contributions and are subject to no fundraising or spending caps. The difference between an independent expenditure committee and fund is that “committees” exist solely to engage in campaigns, while “funds” are the political arms of other organizations like unions or trade associations.

State Party Units

State and local party organizations and the four legislative caucuses in Minnesota may not accept corporate money but are not subject to fundraising limits. Their contributions to candidates are limited, but they can make unlimited independent expenditures to other party units and political committees.

Party Caucuses

Top Spending: Minnesota State Legislature Races

There are multiple Minnesota Senate and House seats in contention this year. As such, millions of dollars have been spent in support of and against the campaigns of state legislative candidates since the beginning of the year. Here are the races subject to the most overall spending:

Minnesota Political Funding Networks

Political spending can be more than the sum of dollars raised and dollars spent. Funds and resources can easily change hands between cooperating parties. A MinnPost analysis published in October traced out funding networks in Minnesota politics:

This graphic shows the movement of funds between in-state political organizations as of October 28th, 2024. Campaigns and committees are required to regularly report to the MN Campaign Finance Board (CFB). This network shows payments between organizations and individuals we found from CFB data. Arrows represent cumulative payments between people and organizations in 2024 exceeding $100k. The visualization is designed for a larger screen; you'll have a better experience viewing this article on a laptop or desktop than on a phone or other mobile device.

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The Minnesota DFL’s massive, behind-the-scenes political fundraising network explained

Michael Nolan and Peter Callaghan — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 14:20:48 +0000

This graphic shows the movement of funding for state political campaigns so far in 2024. Campaigns are required to regularly report to the MN Campaign Finance Board (CFB). Federal political funding is not included. Arrows represent cumulative payments greater than $100,000 between people and organizations in 2024. The visualization is designed for a larger screen. You’ll have a better experience viewing this article on a laptop or desktop than on a phone or other mobile device.

It’s mostly behind the scenes, carried out by media-shy people who like it that way.

But it is as big a factor in DFL election success in Minnesota as issues and candidate quality.

It’s money, and the somewhat complex but very well-executed system developed over two decades by the DFL and its affiliated organizations — unions, wealthy donors, the state party, the two legislative caucuses and a triumvirate of committees that raise and spend millions of dollars each election cycle to elect DFLers.

Using state Campaign Finance Board data, MinnPost created an interactive graphic to show the web of money that fuels DFL campaigns. The network graphic shows the sources of money — heavily from union-member dues checkoffs and wealthy individuals — and how it flows to the organizations that spend it to boost DFLers and damage Republicans.

But data doesn’t illustrate the relationships among organizers that year after year keep the system intact and effective with the state DFL party at the cohesive center.

“There’s no guarantee that they will continue investing in the DFL if the DFL wasn’t doing its job to build the infrastructure to win elections,” said state DFL party Chair Ken Martin, who was among the organizers of the funding and spending apparatus nearly two decades ago.

Funding from unions via dues payments cannot be underestimated. The predictable funding is the basis for DFL campaigns. That money goes to both political party committees and the primary DFL fundraising committee, the We All Do Better PAC. Public employee unions lead the way — Education Minnesota, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees and AFSCME Council 5. But construction unions that often give some money to both parties give in larger amounts to DFLers.

A related organization run by the same political operatives — WIN Minnesota — collects primarily from wealthy individuals. The lead donor, and one of the founders of the system, is Alida Messinger, a Rockefeller heir and the former wife of former U.S. Sen. and Gov. Mark Dayton. Messinger has contributed $1.83 million to progressive organizations this year alone. Publisher and investor Vance Opperman is also a significant DFL donor.

But there are other organizations that are part of the network — collecting money from national affiliates and individuals to spend on Minnesota races. The Minnesota Prosperity Fund gets money from an arm of the National AFL-CIO; The PAC for America’s Future is funded by members of the Munger Family; Planned Parenthood raised funds from big and small donors and is a major player in DFL campaigns; Movement Vote PAC collects from donors nationally to fund Minnesota organizations such as Faith in Minnesota Action.

The network chart shows the dominance of the DFL and the GOP attempts to catch up. One illustrative finding on display: the House GOP caucus has just one contribution in excess of $100,000 while the House DFL caucus has 10.

The network chart does have some nodes that don’t connect anywhere. Some of those groups make their own donations to candidates or launch their own independent expenditure efforts. Others might be pooling money but hadn’t yet sent it to other groups at the time of the September CFB report.

It is also important to point out that the database is from the state campaign finance board and includes only activity on state reports. The two parties and many of the organizations also have Federal Election Commission reporting for finance activity for federal campaigns under federal rules. The state DFL, for example, has reported raising $6.75 million this election cycle to the state, but its FEC report shows $10.9 million raised and nearly $4.4 million in the bank as of Aug. 31, the last reporting period.

“There is no entity in the state of Minnesota — no PAC, no legislative caucus, no independent expenditure group — that raises or spends more money than the state party,” Martin said.

Unions as a ‘unique cornerstone’

The potent DFL apparatus might not be such a big factor in Minnesota politics if Republicans and their own affiliated organizations could come close to competing. While the legislative caucuses do have some success, they raise less than comparable DFL caucuses.

Some business-affiliated organizations are competitive — the Pro Jobs Majority, Renew Minnesota, the MN Jobs Coalition and the MN Business Partnership collect from affiliated members and give to GOP caucuses and conduct their own efforts to help individual candidates.

Some national GOP funding organizations give money to state affiliates – including GOPAC and the Republican State Leadership Committee both focus on state legislative campaigns around the country. Advance Minnesota works closely with GOPAC while the RSLC partners with Renew Minnesota and the Minnesota Jobs Coalition.

John Rouleau is the executive director of the Jobs Coalition who has watched the Minnesota campaign funding situation and the DFL coalition with some admiration and a bit of envy. While he said GOP groups have held their own despite being outspent — winning legislative majorities in the House and Senate over the last decade — it lacks some of the advantages the DFL has.

Not only do union dues provide “a big pot of money,” it is regular and predictable.

“The hardest part of budgeting on a campaign is trying to figure out what are you going to have for money,” Rouleau said. “If you start with labor union money, you know that those dues are getting paid and that money is sitting in the budget.

“It’s a unique cornerstone,” he said. “You have this predictable, repeatable money every cycle that you can count on.”

But it goes beyond that, Rouleau said. The DFL organizations work closely together, they pool resources such as polling and digital ad expertise, and they don’t duplicate efforts. The DFL also has a core of large money individuals who trust their contributions to professional campaign organizers, something the GOP doesn’t have in similar supply.

Republicans rely on business groups and trade groups that are more cautious in how partisan they appear. Rouleau recalls in 2010 when Target donated to an organization that was backing GOP nominee Tom Emmer for governor. The Alliance for a Better Minnesota attacked Target, partly because of Emmer’s opposition to LGBTQ issues. Target backed off and Rouleau said the incident still resonates with the state’s large businesses.

“You have a very different ecosystem on the right,” he said. Business groups have bipartisan membership and are more cautious. Donors are more likely to go out on their own in order to control how money is spent.

“It would be great if we had one vehicle on the Republican side that makes sure everything is being done and you’re not duplicating efforts, but I don’t know if that’s the Republican goal,” he said. What is an attainable goal, and has been reached sometimes and not reached other elections, is more coordination.

“You know what each group is doing, you know where everyone is going, you know what they are buying, you know what their strategy is,” he said. Still, state Republicans do outpunch their weight, he said.

“When you look at all the structural things that are working against Republicans, the fact that it is competitive speaks to the work that Republicans are doing to swim against those tides,” Rouleau said.

Losses and lessons learned

The backstory begins in Colorado where disappointed progressive Democrats decided they had to do something different. Using technology, organization and coordination with big donors, a group of progressive operatives turned the state from Red to Blue. Among the founders is now the governor of Colorado, Jared Polis.

Their methods — and some of the individuals — were imported and the system enhanced in Minnesota, to become a national model for funding and coordinating Democratic campaigns. Organized nationally as Progress Now, the Minnesota affiliate is the Alliance for a Better Minnesota.

Starting in 2006, after a string of DFL defeats in the state, the coalition began to change the outcomes, highlighted by the election of Mark Dayton in 2010 and the defeat of the GOP-backed marriage amendment in 2012. That same election delivered a DFL trifecta — the House and Senate majorities to go along with Dayton’s governorship.

Since then, ABM has led the attack on GOP nominees for governor — Jeff Johnson in 2014 and 2018 and Scott Jensen in 2022. ABM spent $15 million alone attacking Jensen.

Martin said it was the 2006 defeat in the governor’s race by Tim Pawlenty over then-attorney general Mike Hatch by less than 1% that was a catalyst. At that time, the state party was relatively weak and the various DFL supporting organizations did not work closely. Also at that time, the GOP dominated money and organizing via non-party groups including think tanks, media and funding organizations.

“For 30 years before the ‘06 election the conservative movement had focused on building infrastructure outside the parties and outside the candidates,” Martin said. “While we were investing in candidates and political parties, they were investing in something more long-lasting and durable.”

Martin, who was running WIN Minnesota after managing the Hatch campaign, said changes were needed.

“In 2006 we had multiple independent expenditure groups, labor was on its own, Alida (Messinger) had her own independent expenditure group, Vance Opperman had his own group,” Martin said. “None of it was really coordinated. People were working crosswise with each other.

“I said that for us to win the governor’s race in 2010 we have to put everyone under one umbrella, we have to put our swords down and our various agendas down. We have to collectively unify and work together under one strategic banner.”

From that emerged the Alliance for a Better Minnesota, WIN Minnesota and the precursor t0 the We All Do Better Fund which have what Martin termed an unspoken arrangement to focus on different areas. The Alliance does direct messaging to voters via electronic and digital advertising, for example, while the state party concentrates on party building, statewide organizing and voter turnout efforts.

Martin became party chair after the Dayton victory in 2010 and continued the strategy. Republicans have begrudgingly admired the DFL infrastructure but haven’t been able to duplicate it. While Rouleau notes the built-in advantage from union support, Martin says he thinks it has more to do with the lack of an effective state Republican party.

The party was in debt in 2023, partly because of a legal dispute with the organization’s former chair, Jennifer Carnahan. It is now in better financial condition but remains far behind the DFL in fundraising with just $712,000 cash on hand, most in its federal account.

“Republican allied groups used to give a lot of money to the party,” Martin said. “They stopped investing in the Republican party because the Republican party has stopped being effective. They started giving money to outside groups and building around the party.

“The question is this: If we stop winning, will people stop giving? Who knows. But you have to build something if you want people to invest in it,” Martin said.

Peter Callaghan

Peter Callaghan covers state government for MinnPost. Follow him on Twitter @CallaghanPeter or email him at pcallaghan@minnpost.com.

The post The Minnesota DFL’s massive, behind-the-scenes political fundraising network explained appeared first on MinnPost.

These 16 Races to Watch could determine Minnesota House control

Peter Callaghan and Michael Nolan — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 15:59:23 +0000

The Minnesota DFL enters the 2024 election with a power trifecta — party control of the governor’s office and both houses of the Legislature. After two years of chafing in the minority, Republicans have a chance to win one of those legislative chambers, and possibly both.

To take control, Republicans must gain four seats. Yet despite the fact that all 134 House seats are on ballots, the number that are realistically in play is far fewer. MinnPost interviewed caucus campaign leaders and looked at the past voting performance of the parties in each district. In June, that led to focusing on 14 races that were truly contested. Since then, two additional races have been added: 11A in northern Minnesota and 57B in the south metro.

Related: MinnPost's June version of Minnesota House Races to Watch

Two other races are attracting a fair amount of attention from funders and are worth keeping an eye on but don’t yet appear likely to flip. The first is District 45A in the west metro where GOP incumbent Andrew Myers is facing DFL rival Tracey Breazeale. Democrats are investing in that race, partly because they are well funded and can afford some stretch districts. Joe Biden carried this district by 1.2 percentage points and Tim Walz carried it by a similar 1.39 percentage points. But Myers won by 6 points in 2022, and Republicans carried two other down ballot races — attorney general and auditor by 9 points.

The other race getting DFL financial attention is 55A in the south metro, where incumbent Jess Hanson is in a rematch of a 2022 race she won by 6 points against Gabriela Kroetch. Other political fundamentals make this a DFL district — Biden by 11.6 points, Walz by 11.44 points. U.S. Rep. Angie Craig carried 55A by 8.16 points.

Here is the 2024 Races To Watch, updated with two additional races and with the addition of campaign finance data from the September reports.

Related | Is the Minnesota House up for grabs in the 2024 election or will the DFL hold it?

DFL-held seats

7B

House 7B candidates