Why Minnesota's judicial elections are not like Wisconsin's

By Briana Bierschbach

Good morning and happy (?) debate night. President Joe Biden and Donald Trump will meet on the stage in Atlanta for the first time since 2020 to try to convince voters to give them a second term. Both men are much more unpopular now than they were back then. Are you excited to watch or dreading it? Let us know your plans: hotdish@startribune.com.

We're going to look way down the ballot in today's newsletter, past the race for president, Congress and the Minnesota House to the state's oft-overlooked judicial contests. Unlike last election cycle, Minnesotans will have more than one candidate for judge in multiple races on the ballot, including two seats on the state Supreme Court.

Nine judicial races out of 103 total have more than one candidate registered to run. Newly-appointed Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson and Associate Justice Karl Procaccini are both facing challengers, but don't expect their races to be anything like the high-profile Supreme Court races we've seen next door in Wisconsin, which saw more than $50 million in spending for a single seat on the court last year.

Why? Minnesota has managed to avoid expensive and contentious judicial contests for decades through a mix of institutional norms, a historically weak bench of challengers and a lack of high-profile cases before the state's highest court that have spurred opposition. For the column, I talked with emeritus U of M law prof Herbert Kritzer about why the two states take such a different approach to electing judges, and why he thinks Supreme Court races across the country are going to get more attention going forward.

MITCHELL: Police body-worn camera video of Sen. Nicole Mitchell's arrest on a burglary charge won't be released early, Becker County District Court Judge Gretchen Thilmony ruled Wednesday. Rochelle Olson reports that conservative website Alpha News had asked the judge to release the police and dash-cam footage of the arrest of Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, on April 22 at the home the senator's late father shared with her stepmother.

But Thilmony wrote that circumventing these typical proceedings "is an extraordinary measure that the legislature has plainly prohibited in all but the most important circumstances." Mitchell faces one first-degree burglary charge and an ethics complaint brought by Republicans in the Senate.

TRACKS: More from Olson, who reports that Sen. Michael Kreun, whose district includes the Running Aces racetrack, does not approve of the two appointments Gov. Tim Walz made to the Minnesota Racing Commission last week. Walz appointed Melanie Benjamin, the six-term Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe chief executive, and Johnny Johnson, who was, until recently, the president of the Prairie Island Indian Community. Kreun, R-Blaine, notes that both tribal communities run casinos that are direct competitors to the racetracks and called the appointments "divisive, retaliatory" and "a clear abuse" of power.

"This is an egregious conflict of interest and clearly an act of retaliation against the horse tracks for not bending to the whims of the Tribes during the sports betting discussions," Kreun said. For the full story from earlier this week with Walz's comments, go here. Messages were left for Benjamin and Johnson on Monday. Neither has called Olson back.

PHILLIPS: A tipster flagged that Minnesota U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips' suspended presidential campaign filed new expenses last month for legal fees, including $66,663 to law firm Foster Garvey based in Seattle and $11,548 to Venable LLP in Baltimore. Phillips' campaign is the subject of an FEC complaint filed in January that accuses his presidential campaign of illegally coordinating with a supporting super PAC called Pass the Torch, which was launched by former Phillips campaign adviser Steve Schmidt.

At the time, the Phillips campaign called the the complaint "baseless" and said it does not cite a "single specific example of coordination." He suspended his bid for president in March after a poor showing on Super Tuesday. In a text Wednesday, Phillips said "I am advised that any recent legal expenses relative to the campaign are simply extended payment terms. As far as I'm aware, no legal issues have arisen since we suspended in March."

ABM AD: Just ahead of the early voting kickoff tomorrow, DFL-aligned Alliance for a Better Minnesota's state PAC is out with a seven-figure digital ad buy "highlighting Minnesota Republicans' plan to give tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations and ban abortion," according to a release.

The ad criticizes Minnesota Republicans for voting against abortion rights protections passed by Democrats last year and highlights other bills introduced to restrict abortion access. None of those bills passed with Republicans in the minority, but the early ad buy is notable because it confirms Democrats in the state still expect abortion to be a top issue for voters this fall. ABM is one of the biggest outside spenders in state races.

WHERE'S WALZ: This morning, Walz will chair an executive council special meeting and speak at the League of Minnesota Cities Annual Conference before a 12:30 p.m. ceremonial signing for energy permitting reform legislation. Later in the afternoon, he'll speak at the opening of the Preston Veterans Home, according to his public events schedule.

READING LIST

That's all for today. Don't forget to send us your debate night plans and reactions to hotdish@startribune.com.

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