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Phifer drops out of Eighth District race
Leah Phifer announced today she would not seek the DFL nomination for Congress in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. Phifer had lead all ten ballots at last Saturday’s MN-8 Convention in Duluth. “My goal, since first declaring my candidacy in October 2017, has always been to win the DFL endorsement, bring new voices to the table…
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After 10 ballots, 8th District DFLers opt not to endorse
Forty-four years ago, DFL delegates in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District met in Grand Rapids for a convention that lasted 30 ballots. They endorsed Iron Range State Sen. Tony Perpich. Perpich would, however, lose the primary to the candidate he beat at that convention, Jim Oberstar. Oberstar would go on to serve 36 years in Congress,…
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Watch MN-8 DFL Convention live
The Uptake is providing live coverage of the Eighth District Minnesota DFL Convention in Duluth today. You can watch all day (or all night, if it goes long) here at MinnesotaBrown.com thanks to the hard work and generous efforts of The Uptake. The convention will convene at 9 a.m. and will close after endorsing a…
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Taut political drama on tap for Eighth District DFL
Starting at 9 a.m. this Saturday, April 14, delegates will gather for the Eighth Congressional District DFL convention in Duluth. Their task: endorsing a candidate for Congress to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan. The outcome is far from certain. Five candidates are running for this Northeastern Minnesota congressional seat. They include North Branch mayor…
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8th District DFLers walk tightrope on mining as convention nears
The five Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidates for Congress in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District have just eight days until their April 14 endorsing convention. On April 4, the group participated in a DFL-sponsored forum at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet. The UpTake covered the event. We’ve already established that, barring something truly extraordinary…
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Comparing MN-8 candidates in first public forum
On Sunday, the seven announced candidates for Congress in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District participated in their first major public forum. The event was sponsored by student groups from the College of St. Scholastica and the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The Uptake was there to gather video. Five DFLers — including Kirsten Kennedy, Michelle Lee, Jason Metsa,…
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Phifer, Radinovich hold best cards for DFL endorsement
This weekend Leah Phifer expanded her delegate lead for the DFL endorsement for Congress in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. Phifer, a former homeland security analyst from Isanti County, drew a large number of named and uncommitted delegates in Duluth while carrying Lake and Cook county conventions as well. Phifer’s chief rival for the endorsement, former…
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Phifer scores early wins; DFL convention, primary loom
Local Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party delegates convened county conventions across Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District these past few weeks. Through hours of messy, complicated political wrangling, they elected delegates who will endorse one of five announced candidates at the April 14 DFL convention in Duluth. And Leah Phifer is winning. She hasn’t won. She doesn’t have the endorsement…
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Endorsement politics in Minnesota’s Eighth District
On April 14, almost 200 Eighth District DFL delegates will meet in Duluth to endorse a successor to retiring U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan. Five candidates want the job. Five candidates will seek the endorsement. But considerable speculation remains over whether some of them press on to a Aug. 14 primary regardless of the convention outcome. Former FBI…
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DFL lawmaker Jason Metsa enters Eighth District race
Today, State Rep. Jason Metsa (DFL-Virginia) announced his bid for the DFL nomination for Congress in Minnesota’s Eighth District. “I am running for Congress because I know that we only make progress for Northern Minnesota families when we have each others’ backs and stand up to fight for each other,” said Metsa in his announcement.…
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Mills opts out, leaving Stauber for GOP nod in MN-8
As coverage of the suddenly open Congressional seat in Minnesota’s Eighth District intensifies around the DFL candidates, Republicans had also been waiting to see who was in and who was out. Well, their math got easier today. Yesterday Stewart Mills III, twice a candidate for the job, announced he was sticking with his original decision…
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With Anderson, Lourey out, MN-8 race grows complex
Yesterday, Jeff Anderson announced he would not run for Congress in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. He had been considering such a run. However, the former Duluth City Councilor and District Director for retiring U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) didn’t stop there. Anderson endorsed Iron Range State Rep. Jason Metsa for the job. Metsa (DFL-Virginia) has…
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Digging deeper into environmental policy
This month, the “Dig Deep” podcast explores environmental policy, a ferociously hot topic here in Northern Minnesota. “Dig Deep” is a production of Northern Community Radio, and appears both on the radio and as a podcast. My friend Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns represents a more conservative approach to issues while I present a more…
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Notes from my interview with Rick Nolan
This week I interviewed Minnesota Eighth District Congressman Rick Nolan for today’s newspaper column. We spoke for almost an hour, so much of it couldn’t fit in an already overstuffed 900-word column. Here are a few more thoughts from the Feb. 15 Rick Nolan interview after he announced his retirement from Congress. Of course, you…
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Nolan to retire, but ‘political journey’ goes on
“Politics is not a destination, it’s a journey,” Congressman Rick Nolan told me this week. “It’s an American journey, and a beautiful one.” On Feb. 9, Nolan announced that his leg of that journey will end with his current term representing Minnesota’s Eighth District, creating a wide-open race in Northern Minnesota’s tumultuous political climate. I…