Minnesota House vote delayed on constitutional amendment on abortion, other rights

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The Minnesota House of Representatives debated, then tabled, a bill Friday that would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment barring discrimination based on someone’s race, class, color, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or “decisions about all matters relating to one’s own pregnancy or decision whether to become or remain pregnant.”

DFLers in the chamber said it was important for lawmakers to send the question to voters in 2026. If approved in both chambers, Minnesotans would decide whether to add the language to the state’s Constitution.

Republicans, meanwhile, said the amendment could abridge religious freedom and wasn’t transparent in what it would cover.

The proposal is expected to come up for a House vote later this weekend. With three voting days left in the legislative session, it’s not clear whether the measure could clear the Minnesota Senate, where it would need every Democrat’s support.

Bill author Rep. Kaohly Her, DFL-St. Paul, said the state needed more explicit protections in its constitution to prevent future lawmakers or courts from passing laws or issuing rulings that could limit Minnesotans’ rights.

“Case law and statutes are subject to political winds and the makeup of the political leanings of judges,” Her said. “Rights should not hinge on these changes.”

Republicans in the chamber brought several amendments that would exempt private entities from the provision, add protections based on someone’s age and pare back the amendment to solely bar discrimination on the basis of sex.

House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, and other GOP lawmakers said the amendment could limit religious freedom and set back the rights of women and girls.

“Equality is not a political stunt. We believe in equal rights under the law. And the underlying bill does not provide that,” Demuth said. “It would be unconscionable to enshrine favoritism and inequality in the Minnesota State Constitution.”

The bill has spurred a political standoff at the Capitol over other issues, including a capital investment bill, a raft of budget touch-up bills, a proposal to legalize sports betting and a proposal to boost funding to rural emergency medical services.

House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said Thursday that the House would move forward with the bill, even as Republicans pledged to pull votes for a public construction project bill if the equal rights amendment moved forward.

“We will never trade infrastructure projects against Minnesotans’ civil rights,” Hortman told reporters. “We absolutely will not bargain on that.”

GOP leaders at the Capitol said publicly this week they want Democrats to drop the ERA as part of a deal to pass a capital investment bill. Republicans have leverage over the bill and related issues because their supermajority votes are needed to let the state take on debt to fund projects.

Demuth said Thursday the bonding bill was in jeopardy because Democrats weren’t meaningfully including Republicans in negotiations. She said that and efforts to cut off debate on the House floor Wednesday left GOP lawmakers frustrated.

“I would say everything is at risk right now,” Demuth told reporters. “Bonding, sports betting, Uber/Lyft (driver minimum wage), everything where Republican votes may be needed is at risk because of the action taken last night.”

Even if their votes aren’t needed to pass, Republicans could have a hand in what gets done before the end of the legislative session. They can burn down the remaining hours with floor debates and amendments.

Hortman has said she would cut off debate if it seems Republican members are drawing out debate to postpone votes.

Gov. Tim Walz said he hopes Republicans will limit drawn out debates on the floor and allow the equal rights amendment to come up for a vote.

“They’re holding up legislative work up there, because they don’t want Minnesotans to vote (on) whether women should have equal protections under the law and have reproductive freedoms,” Walz said Friday.

Walz said he does not plan to call a special legislative session and thought lawmakers could wrap up their business before 11:59 p.m. Sunday, the deadline for casting votes.

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Trump accepts a VP debate but wants it on Fox News. Harris has already said yes to CBS

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By MICHELLE L. PRICE (Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump said Friday his campaign has accepted an invitation from Fox News for his yet-to-be-chosen running mate to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, and he urged her to accept as well. In fact, Harris has already said she’ll debate — but on a rival network.

President Joe Biden’s campaign signaled it would reject Trump’s offer, an official pointing to the acceptable debate parameters it detailed earlier this week. Under those conditions, a Fox News-hosted debate would not qualify.

Republican Trump’s post on his social media network came after Democrat Harris accepted a different invitation from CBS News.

The public brokering of debates is continuing after the two presumptive presidential nominees this week agreed to meet twice this summer, bypassing the commission that has hosted debates since 1988. The first will be hosted by CNN on June 27, the second by ABC on Sept. 10.

Fox News said in a statement it offered to host a VP debate on July 23, August 13 or a day after both party conventions. Harris’ team previously told CBS she would debate in-studio on the July or August dates Fox mentioned.

Trump in his post said he hoped Harris and his eventual running mate would meet at Virginia State University, which is where Fox proposed holding its event.

The university was originally scheduled to host a debate put on by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, and it would have been the first time a historically Black college or university hosted one.

Virginia’s two senators, Democrats Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, urged the candidates to still hold a debate at the school.

The state’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin slammed Biden — but not Trump, whom he has endorsed — for refusing to participate in the debate commission’s presidential face-off, saying it was a “huge snub” to the school and citizens of Virginia.

Trump has not yet chosen his running mate. He said in a recent interview that he may announce his pick at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which starts July 15.

Trump for months has pressed Biden to debate, even placing an empty second lectern onstage at some of his rallies as a symbolic offer to the president. In a separate post Friday, he said he had accepted an invitation for still an additional debate, hosted by NBC and Telemundo, after previously committing to yet another invitation from Fox News for an October debate.

Biden’s campaign on Friday referred back to a previous statement in which chair Jen O’Malley Dillon accused Trump of having “a long history of playing games with debates: complaining about the rules, breaking those rules, pulling out at the last minute, or not showing up at all.”

___

Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.

Familiar playbook as GOP tries to break DFL trifecta in MN

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Despite years of intra-party turmoil and a crushing electoral defeat in 2022, Minnesota Republicans think this year might be one for the history books.

As delegates gathered Friday in St. Paul for their state party convention, Chairman David Hann was feeling optimistic about an election he considers winnable.

Minnesota Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie (Minnesota Senate)

“We want to make people aware to every extent we can that we offer a different vision for governance and a different message on some of these concerning issues — education, public safety and the economy,” Hann said. “We think that message is gaining traction and we’re going to keep pushing it up until November.”

Minnesota has favored just three Republicans for president since 1928, and the party hasn’t held a statewide office since 2011, when former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s second term expired. The party also lost control of the House of Representatives two years ago, giving the DFL a rare government trifecta that has enabled them to pass progressive legislation along party lines.

But with the cost of living rising and home ownership for young people increasingly out of reach, Republicans hope independent voters will swing to their side this year. All 134 seats in the House are up for re-election; senators will not be up for re-election until 2026.

Republicans in 2022 focused on crime, spending, government overreach and culture war issues, including abortion and transgender rights. That strategy is unlikely to change this election season, though the party may try to make inroads with DFL-leaning groups of voters, such as Somali-Americans.

Hann said voters have lost confidence in the DFL, especially on fiscal issues, K-12 academic performance and support for law enforcement.

“What is the cost of groceries? What’s the cost to pay for fuel? How’s the school system doing? What is the tax situation? Are businesses thriving?” Hann said. “People look at it and they say there’s something wrong here.”

The DFL expects the GOP’s 2022 playbook will produce the same results this year.

“If Minnesota Republicans really cared about the cost of food, they wouldn’t be trying to get rid of Minnesota’s free school meals program,” DFL spokesman Darwin Forsyth said. “If they cared about children and families, they wouldn’t be trying to repeal Minnesota’s paid family leave law. Minnesota Republicans are trying to distract the public from the fact they have doubled down on MAGA extremism instead of learning the lessons of 2022. Minnesota Republicans’ support for banning abortion, cutting taxes for the rich, and slashing crucial programs like free schools meals will cost them in November.”

Intra-party conflict

Travis Johnson, who was a Republican candidate for state office before running for Congress under the Legal Marijuana Now Party banner in 2022, says the GOP has not been working in Minnesota.

“The last governor’s race is a prime example,” Johnson said. “You had a Democratic governor who a lot of Democrats don’t even like, yet we still couldn’t make a dent in replacing him.”

Johnson said the chaos surrounding Jennifer Carnahan’s role as Republican party leader during that time likely played a role in the party’s failure in 2022. She resigned from her position as party chair after a federal jury indicted political operative Anton Lazzaro, a close associate, on child sex trafficking charges in August 2021. Carnahan also unsuccessfully ran in 2022 to fill a seat in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District left vacant by her late husband, Jim Hagedorn.

“Hann has not done anything to unify the party since he’s been in there,” Johnson said. “He’s done pretty much the opposite.”

Notably, local party delegates failed to make an endorsement for Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District, leaving Rep. Michelle Fischbach to fend for herself against challenger Steve Boyd in the August primary.

In Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, party primary voters must pick between Joe Teirab and Tayler Rahm after Teirab refused to concede when district delegates endorsed Rahm as their preferred candidate to unseat Rep. Angie Craig.

Johnson also points to delegate elections in Otter Tail County this year, where Hann invalidated delegates elected in 2024, stating that those elected in 2022 would stay in place.

Hann downplayed the ruckus in Otter Tail County, saying the intra-party conflict has been going on for the last five or six years and is unique to the party’s structure statewide.

“It’s been a couple of groups up there that have not been on the same page, let’s say,” Hann said. “It’s a very small percentage of people in the Republican universe.”

The Otter Tail dispute dominated the first day of the state party convention on Friday, postponing until Saturday the endorsement of a Senate candidate, the selection of presidential electors and national convention delegates and discussion of the party platform.

It took four hours Saturday for Republicans to approve a convention agenda, which now includes consideration of a letter of support for people prosecuted for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Johnson thinks Republicans need activists like those in Otter Tail County to help capture more votes.

“I think the bigger issue is we need to campaign in the cities,” Johnson said, saying that was one of his biggest complaints with Scott Jensen’s losing 2022 campaign for governor.

“Any time I saw any type of campaign event, it was in Greater Minnesota, and it’s like dude, you already have our votes,” he said. “You don’t need to be spending your time out here. You need to be taking votes away from Democrats.”

Hann said the party has been spending more time in DFL-dominated metropolitan areas and has connected with the state’s Somali-American and Hispanic communities.

Johnson said efforts to win over East African emigrants are overdue.

“They trust government less than we do because they’ve seen what happens to a tyrannical government. That’s why they’re here instead of back in Somalia. They are, to me, naturally allies to the GOP over the Democrats,” he said.

Culture wars, lack of vision

While party leader Hann said Republicans are mostly waiting on the current legislative session to end and for the conclusion of their state convention to fully flesh out party strategy, Republicans have focused on perceived slights against various groups, like law enforcement and the religious. They have come out strongly against policies that polls suggest most Minnesota voters support, including abortion rights, gun control and protections for the LGBTQ+ community.

The party also has spent time on marginal topics, such as changing the state flag, even selling clothing on its website to show support for the old flag.

“I think the lesson of how Jensen got beat so badly two years ago is that the culture wars may appeal to your hardcore base, but the culture wars (are) not going to win you over those independents,” Hann said.

Republicans have an opportunity to win over voters on pocketbook issues, according to Hamline University political science and law professor David Schultz, but their main tactic has been to simply stand in opposition to whatever the DFL is doing.

“I don’t see them saying that if elected, we’re going to do ‘X’ to improve the performance of schools or we’re going to do ‘X’ to stimulate job growth in the state of Minnesota,” Schultz said. “It’s more, ‘Democrats are doing a bad job. We can’t trust them. We just can’t trust them with your tax dollars anymore.’”

If Republicans can stick to issues that speak to voters outside of their base, Schultz said, there’s a chance they can take back the House in November.

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Obituary: For Denny Seefeldt, Scandia’s first mayor, civic duty was a way of life

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Denny Seefeldt, who holds the distinction of being the last town board chairman of New Scandia Township and the first mayor of Scandia, believed that active involvement in your community helps strengthen democracy and contributes to a just society.

Denny Seefeldt (Courtesy of the family of Denny Seefeldt)

“Civic duty was important to him,” said his daughter, Lori Bieging, who lives in Stillwater. “It was a pretty strict moral code. There is right, and there is wrong. I often called him a true-north compass.”

Seefeldt, who held public office in Scandia from 1997 to 2010, died of natural causes Sunday at Boutwells Landing senior living community in Oak Park Heights. He was 88.

When he was seeking to be the city’s first mayor in 2006, Seefeldt said he was running because he wanted to continue serving his community. “I suppose we will be making history, but that’s not what’s driving me,” Seefeldt said. “I’m more concerned about building on all of the good things we’ve done in the past. I’d like to follow through.”

The city was incorporated on Jan. 1, 2007, and Seefeldt led Scandia through the transition from township to city government, including chairing the city’s comprehensive plan committee.

Seefeldt also was instrumental in the successful completion of many projects in Scandia, including construction of the city’s Fire Hall/Public Works building.

“Mayor Seefeldt has represented the citizens of Scandia for 14 years with fairness and competence by thoughtful deliberation of essential issues facing the Town Board and City Council,” read a city resolution marking his retirement from politics in December 2010.

“I’ve been involved in my church or community or the state or the country for 60 years,” Seefeldt told the Pioneer Press at the time. “Sixty years. That’s enough time.”

Wisconsin roots

Seefeldt grew up on a farm in Wittenberg, Wis. He played football and baseball and was valedictorian and student council president at Wittenberg High School.

After graduating in 1954, he attended the University of Wisconsin – River Falls for a year before enlisting in the U.S. Army, where he trained in finance and soil engineering. He served in the Army Corps of Engineers in Okinawa, Japan, and was discharged from active duty in 1959.

He then transferred to the Army Reserve and went back to the University of Wisconsin – River Falls, where he majored in agriculture and minored in chemistry. During his junior year, he met Carol Busch; the couple married in 1960.

“She was smart, so I asked her for a date right after Thanksgiving,” Seefeldt wrote in a book of memories shared with his family. “By Christmas we were steady.”

While at university, Seefeldt got to see John F Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy. “I got to shake hands with Jackie Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt and just missed Queen Elizabeth,” he wrote.

“Kennedy was running for president, and Wisconsin had a primary in those days. UWRF was kind of a hotbed for Democratic politics so he kicked off his campaign there.”

Seefeldt served as president of his college class and was a member of the student Senate and the student advisory committee.

He graduated from UWRF in 1961 and was discharged from the Army Reserve in 1962.

Life in Minnesota

In 1964, Seefeldt received his master’s of science degree from the University of Minnesota in soil physics with a minor in agricultural engineering. He later completed coursework and oral exams toward a doctorate degree in adult education at Florida State University.

The Seefeldts had three children: Todd, Lori and Lisa.

After he graduated, the family moved to Fergus Falls, where Seefeldt worked as a soils agent for University of Minnesota Extension. He then worked for Extension in Cloquet, Minn., for two years.

Settling in Scandia

In 1968, Seefeldt took a job as an agricultural agent for Extension in Washington County, and the family moved to Stillwater and later to Withrow. They moved in 1987 to a 17-acre property in Scandia, where the Seefeldts tended a huge vegetable garden.

Seefeldt was an active member of Elim Lutheran Church and was the volunteer groundskeeper at the cemetery. He also was active in the Scandia-Marine Lions Club, helped coach the Stillwater Area High School Nordic ski team and helped form the Scandia Veterans Memorial.

He loved hunting, competing in the Birkebeiner and playing golf. “He was always working outside,” Bieging said. “He was a runner and a skier, and he was always very physically active.”

Seefeldt was an avid reader and loved learning about history, said his daughter, Lisa Shrum, of New Richmond, Wis. “Dad always said the only dumb question is the one you don’t ask,” Shrum said. “He was always pushing me to keep seeking and learning. He also instilled a sense of fairness.”

Son Todd Seefeldt, of Finland, Minn., remembers family camping trips to the North Shore – playing cribbage, hiking, exploring and reading. “As soon as he finished his latest spy novel or mystery thriller, the book was passed along to me,” Todd Seefeldt said. “Even as his condition worsened over the last few years, we still found time to discuss whatever we were each reading at the time. It was always a treat to find that Dad and I had read the same books and loved the same authors.”

Funeral details

Seefeldt is survived by his wife, Carol; his children, Lori Bieging, Todd Seefeldt and Lisa Shrum; six grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

A funeral service for Seefeldt will be held at noon on Wednesday, May 22 at Elim Lutheran Church in Scandia, with visitation two hours prior.

Roberts Family Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

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