2024 year in review • Minnesota Reformer

This year, politics and the presidential election became a hot topic. I’d like to say I’m cool enough to care about that, but I’m not. That’s why I’m a politics and state government reporter. I was primarily focused on the Minnesota State Legislature and the people running to serve in it.

YOur regular reminder: State legislatures are where we decide to spend billions of dollars on schools, roads, parks, health care, social services, and much more.

The Democratic-Farmer-Labour party struggled with a modest agenda earlier this year compared to the landmark 2023 session. DFL lawmakers played it safe in an election year, managing to pass just a few bills while Republicans sometimes screamed, literally.

Then, in August, Minnesota gained national attention when Governor Tim Walz was selected as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. You know how that turned out. Democrats have lost their trifecta and lawmakers are preparing to split the chamber for the January 2025 session, with Republicans securing a one-seat majority, at least for the time being.

A judge ruled last week that the Democratic candidate for House District 40B did not meet the state’s residency requirements to hold office. That means Republicans will hold a majority until a special election in the Indigo Blue district, depending on the outcome of an appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court. It’s been a hectic year.

here are some of my favorites reformer A story written in 2024.

2024 Congress

Some notable things that happened during the 2024 legislative session: One Republican senator said: Repeal state Algebra II requirement For high school students, he insisted that he didn’t use algebra much. DFL Sen. Nicole Mitchell was arrested in April. Suspected of breaking into stepmother’s house to retrieve her deceased father’s items (she has been charged with a felony and the trial is scheduled for next month). lawmakers passed the bill Payroll tax increase About the state’s paid leave program, scheduled to begin in 2026. And in the final hour of the session, Democrats pushed through the bill. Huge 1,400 page “tax” bill It contained few tax provisions. The session ended with screams from Republican lawmakers as DFL lawmakers pretended not to hear and tried to pass the bill by the midnight deadline.

I covered a series of bills that didn’t pass, and it was an interesting trip down memory lane to recall bills that didn’t cross the finish line even when Democrats had a majority. With Congress now divided, these bills are unlikely to pass in 2025.

Among the failed bills is a legalization bill. Physician-assisted suicide. Bill requiring health insurance companies Covers infertility treatment. bill to create Land readjustment committee He then amended the state constitution, paving the way for a full-time legislature. and another bill that would force companies to reveal more about their finances And the tax bill.

Deena Winter and I Minnesota lawmakers gave $1.1 billion to nonprofits in 2023. Many used their connections in the Legislature to bypass the cumbersome process of competing for grants from state agencies and get legislation directly from lawmakers, who at the time were running a $17.5 billion budget surplus. Received a grant in his name.

The way this money is handed out involves little oversight from lawmakers or state agencies. Charged with fraud at a Minnesota agency It’s been all over the news lately, In 2025, there’s a good chance that lawmakers will reconsider how state funding is provided to organizations and track how organizations spend the money they receive.

I also looked behind the scenes, Battle on the training range. For nearly a decade, optometrists have lobbied state legislatures to expand their practice to prescribe drugs for certain eye conditions. Earlier this year, the optometrists were so close to the finish line that they ran into a formidable opponent: DFL House Speaker Melissa Hortman. A wealthy ophthalmologist and her husband have been prominent DFL donors for years, and the ophthalmologist has bragged online about undermining optometrists’ efforts to expand their practice.

When I asked Hortman if there was any connection between her voting down this bill this year and eye doctors’ donations to DFL efforts, she cut me off. . The Minnesota House DFL or its members will take on any issue,” Hortman said. “It’s very offensive to suggest that there might be.”

2024 Election

My first election article of the year was about the primary race between U.S. Representatives Ilhan Omar and Don Samuels. The former Minneapolis City Council member nearly upset Omar in 2022, but Omar won re-election this year in a landslide.

Here’s how I do it Samuels’ profile “If you ever talked to Don Samuels about his neighborhood in north Minneapolis, you’d think he didn’t really like it.”

me too Omar’s profilenoted that he struggles to balance his role as an influential progressive voice in Washington and international justice spokesperson with the more day-to-day aspects of being a member of Congress.

Then something shocking happened. When President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and Harris became the Democratic nominee, she chose Walz as her running mate.

I went to Mankato the day after Harris chose Waltz. ask people in your hometown What did they think about their potential vice president?

my my colleagues and I worked together propublica To learn more about how Waltz struggled to deal with the unrest following a 2021 police killing. The emails revealed how Walz tried to balance the need for street order while mustering the votes needed to secure a police reform deal in a divided Congress.

I continued to follow local elections and noted deep ties to the Republican candidate for the vacant Minnesota Senate seat. To the power company and received a tax break A house where she didn’t live.

I reported on domestic violence allegations and the 2008 arrest of Rep. Jeff Dotzes, R-Kettle River. His son-in-law at the time, Dotses, said: thought he would own slaves If I were allowed to do that today and call my stepson ‘Kunta Kinte’, roots. Dotzes also allegedly kicked and punched the family’s 14-year-old dog, according to an affidavit from his wife at the time. Dotses won re-election in November.

After the election Editor Patrick Coolican and I wrote about Waltz’s loss. The governor has yet to respond to my request for an interview since returning to Minnesota (maybe this story of his loss has something to do with it). Will he run for governor again in 2026? President in 2028? Walz has not been clear about what his future holds.

Next year, I would like to follow new developments in the state legislature.

It’s my first time covering a split session — I’ve only known the DFL trifecta in Minnesota and the Republican supermajority in North Dakota — so I’m excited for the drama.

See you next year!