Minnesota Democrats tout legislative session on national stage

It's marketing season for Minnesota Democrats.

Local lawmakers are offering their takes on legislative accomplishments to national outlets from the Washington Post to the New York Times.

The state DFL Party is selling T-shirts that proclaim the Democrat-controlled state government is "Getting things done!" with a crossed-off checklist of goals like abortion rights, fully funded public schools and legalized marijuana.

And Gov. Tim Walz is taking the state's story on the road. He planned to make the case at an Indiana Democratic Party event Friday that other Midwest states can follow Minnesota's lead, and said he will be "barnstorming" the country with that message.

The work of the 2023 legislative session is over, and Democrats are walking away with what an article on New York Magazine's Intelligencer site described as "a frenzy of reform so ambitious and comprehensive that it puts New York and California Democrats ... to shame."

With one-party control for the first time in nearly a decade, and a mammoth $17.5 billion budget surplus at their disposal, Democrats passed goals from paid family leave to clean energy regulations to ensuring access to gender-affirming care.

Former President Barack Obama tweeted that Minnesota is a reminder that "elections have consequences."

Now DFL leaders are trying to share their story of the session with local audiences and on a national stage, with multiple goals for the message.

One is to entice more people to move to Minnesota.

"You've got affordability in housing. You've got good quality schools, you've got paid family and medical leave. And oh, by the way, we're going to let you protect your own personal freedoms around health care choices, your children, those types of things," Walz said in an interview.

They are also trying to parlay policy changes into campaign season wins.

Walz sees himself as a "drum major," making the case for Democrats and President Joe Biden. He plans to start by telling Minnesota's story around the Midwest, in states like Indiana and Nebraska, but said he is willing to go anywhere. He said he would tell people in California or on the East Coast that they shouldn't write off large swaths of the country.

"Don't believe this idea that you see of the red-blue map, that there aren't a lot of progressive folks there," Walz said, noting that the state also has "folks that might consider themselves leaning Republican but are going to say, 'Damn, my road got fixed, my school is pretty good, my property taxes went down. This isn't a bad deal.'"

Republicans are also seeking to use the sweeping DFL policies to score electoral wins. They argue voters did not want many of the changes Democrats enacted, and have decried government growth and tax increases.

"While Tim Walz and the Democrats are busy chasing headlines bragging about being even further to the left than New York and California, Minnesota Republicans are laser-focused on continuing to bolster our organization to capitalize on the DFL's razor-thin margins and hold them accountable for their extreme agenda up and down the ballot in 2024 and beyond," Republican Party of Minnesota Executive Director Mike Lonergan said in a statement.

There is no orchestrated Democratic effort to talk about the outcomes of the session with national media, Minnesota DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin said, noting there's widespread curiosity about how a Midwest state passed that agenda.

However, he added, he's not avoiding talking about it.

"There's really no state that's done what we've done and as I've said to folks, we should tell that story," he said. "For me, it's not about trying to be boastful or braggadocious as much as it is to give people a sense of the things our party cares about. The values that we're fighting for are possible, even in a state where you have a slim majority."

Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic are working on plans to visit Washington, D.C., soon to talk about legislative session-related issues, such as paid leave, according to legislative staff. They also have been talking to national publications.

But Senate DFL spokesman Marc Kimball said they will focus on getting news about the session out to Minnesotans.

"We want to make sure Minnesotans understand what we did and how it impacts them, and how it improves their lives," Kimball said.