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Minnesota politics is set to enter one of the most volatile and high-stakes cycles in a generation — a sitting governor seeking a third term, a competitive open U.S. Senate race, shifting coalitions in the suburbs, and an open question of whether the DFL’s “One Minnesota” project can still hold together a state that is increasingly living in separate economic and cultural realities.

What’s missing right now is a space for candid, smart, evidence-driven, non-performative political news and analysis — one that is progressive in policy instincts but pragmatic about persuasion; attentive to urban equity movements AND increased costs for farmers AND Iron Range labor concerns.

Fluent in policy substance, candid about political dynamics, and certainly not allergic to the political art of (and need for) winning majorities. This substack is aimed at those who care more about winning coalitions than political dunking contests and for folks who still believe governing outcomes matter more than performance politics

Minnesota has voted blue for decades — but it’s now governing in undeniably purple terrain, bordered by deep-red states and held together by coalitions that are shifting in ways the national media often overlooks. This substack exists to explore what still holds in that purple — and what doesn’t.

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