Welcome to this week’s edition of the D.C. Memo. This week from Washington, Omar and Fischbach win their primary races, USPS gets a threat and Kamala Harris is the VP pick for Joe Biden. Let’s get on with this.
Primary conclusions
August 11th, election day, came and went. By the night’s end, the Associated Press and Cook Political Report, a non-partisan organization that rates house races, called the race in Minnesota’s Fifth District in favor of Rep. Ilhan Omar over Antone Melton-Meaux. Several news organizations said that Melton-Meaux’s primary challenge was serious: he had more money behind him than any other challenger to a member of “The Squad,” which includes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
Where did Omar’s victory come from? MinnPost’s Greta Kaul analyzed Omar’s 18 point lead over Melton-Meaux. Mainly: Omar trounced Melton-Meaux in Minneapolis, where most of the votes come from. Even then, Omar did well in smaller cities and the suburbs.
ICYMI: Here’s a few MinnPost stories from the CD-5 primary.
- What Antone Melton-Meaux’s primary challenge to Ilhan Omar is all about
- Antone Melton-Meaux’s campaign paid almost $100,000 to two consulting companies — but won’t say who is involved or what work they do
- How political newcomer Antone Melton-Meaux managed to raise six times the money that Rep. Ilhan Omar did
Meanwhile, former Lt. Governor Michelle Fischbach will be the Republican candidate in the Seventh District. With all precincts reporting, Fischbach took in about 58 percent of the vote, while Dave Hughes, the Republican endorsed candidate from 2016 and 2018, took in about 22 percent of the vote.
ICYMI: Here’s a few MinnPost stories from the CD-7 primary.
- In Minnesota’s Seventh District, Republicans weigh who’s best to take on Collin Peterson
- Legal complaints and nasty tweets notwithstanding, Minnesota Republicans endorse candidates in Second and Seventh Congressional Districts
- Fischbach the favorite? CD7 Republican challengers say ‘not so fast’
The Postal Service
Repeating the lie that mail-in voting is fraudulent or not verifiable, President Donald Trump said he would not provide requested emergency funding to the United States Postal Service. “They want $25 billion … for the Post Office,” he said. “Now they need that money in order to make the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots.”
The USPS, hit hard by COVID, is facing a massive deficit. And behind the scenes, postal workers unions say critical equipment is being recalled.
192 Democrats rebuked the changes at USPS in a letter to the Postmaster General, including every single Minnesota House Democrat except for Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota’s Seventh.
By the numbers
- 1 year: After losing a lawsuit in California, Uber has threatened to shut down for one year in the state, saying it will take them time to reclassify drivers as employees.
- 13: The minimum number of women who were being considered for vice president by Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden.
- $2.5 million: Americans for Tomorrow’s Future, a group with Republican ties “committed to America’s alliance with Israel,” spent around $2.5 million to defeat Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Harris is the choice
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) is Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick.
At the Strib, Maya Rao breaks down how Minnesota’s progressives feel about Harris. “What I am excited [about] with this pick is this is someone who’s been really strong on environmental issues and on climate, but also in energizing a base that feels taken for granted by the Democratic Party,” Rep. Ilhan Omar said.
In other news
- Walker Orenstein for MinnPost: What a progressive DFLer’s primary victory in Duluth says (and doesn’t say) about politics and environmental policy in northern Minnesota
- Becky Z. Dernbach for Sahan Journal: Esther Agbaje leads Raymond Dehn in Minnesota House race
- Joey Peters for Sahan Journal: Omar Fateh defeats Jeff Hayden as DFL progressive wing takes on establishment
Quote of the week
“Some of our readers have reacted strongly to the op-ed we published by Dr. John Eastman, assuming it to be an attempt to ignite a racist conspiracy theory around Sen. Kamala Harris’ candidacy,” the editors of Newsweek wrote, after publishing an op-ed questioning Kamala Harris’ citizenship.
What I’m reading
Ryan Mac and Craig Silverman for BuzzFeed News: Facebook’s Preferential Treatment Of US Conservatives Puts Its Fact-Checking Program In Danger
If you’ve been following coverage of Facebook closely, it may come as no surprise, but BuzzFeed News has a longer story on how Facebook has been prioritizing the opinions of conservative groups and websites, to the detriment of their fact checking program.
Astead W. Herndon for the New York Times: Support of Racial Justice Has Risen. Some Black Activists Aren’t Buying It.
While the vice presidential pick speculation continued, Astead Herndon talked to Black activists in the South Side of Chicago. What people told him: community activists, who have been ignored when it comes to policy change, want to see more than words (from both Democrats and Republicans).
That’s all for this week. Thanks for sticking around. Until next week, feel free to send tips, suggestions, and sound advice to: gschneider@minnpost.com. Follow at @gabemschneider. And don’t forget to become a MinnPost member.
