Third Precinct as campaign site?
By Josie Albertson-Grove
Good Monday morning. It’s good to be back in Minnesota and almost caught up on sleep and dietary fiber, after a week of Democratic National Convention coverage and deep dish pizza.
House Speaker Mike Johnson was in Minnesota yesterday too. Washington correspondent Sydney Kashiwagi (also in Minnesota, having apparently brought the humidity from D.C. with her) went to see what Johnson had to say as he visited the site of the Minneapolis Police Third Precinct, burned by protesters after the murder of George Floyd.
The riots have already become a campaign issue (and reporters Andy Mannix and Liz Sawyer, who were actually there, wrote a convenient memory-refresher earlier this month). Republicans have been criticizing Gov. Tim Walz’s response, and hitting Vice President Kamala Harris for promoting a bail fund in the days after Floyd’s death.
Reps. Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber and Second District candidate Joe Teirab also took field trips to the south Minneapolis precinct for a photo op with Johnson.
“Right here, the hopes and dreams of countless small business owners and families literally went up in smoke,” Johnson said. “And as you can see from the charred and barricaded building right behind us here, four years later, this community still has not recovered from the aftermath.”
Dems shot back. “There’s only one candidate for president who is responsible for starting a riot, and that was Donald Trump on January 6th,” Walz campaign spokesperson Teddy Tschann said. “Trump’s only contribution that week was sending tweets from his bunker saying the military should shoot protesters.”
It does not appear Johnson and co. visited the rebuilt Coliseum small-business incubator across the street, or stopped in at the brewery, bike shop or either of the two book stores on the same Minnehaha Avenue block.
