Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Happy Primary Election Day
It’s primary election day in Minnesota, when we get to vote for the people we hope to vote for again in November. And while these kinds of elections tend to have depressingly low turnout (registered voter turnout was only 32.7% in 2022), there’s still a lot at stake.
After narrowly beating Don Samuels in 2022 (the margin was just 2%), U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar is hoping for a bigger win tonight. Meanwhile, Samuels is accruing some weird endorsements, including GOP-endorsed Senate hopeful/strip club food enthusiast Royce White and Parkland conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, both of whom are encouraging Republicans to spite vote for him in hopes of pushing Omar out. Cool! The Intercept also reports that Samuels got a last-minute cash infusion from a WhatsApp group called “Zionists for Don Samuels.”
Speaking of Royce White (sorry!), tonight could be the last we hear from him for a while (we hope!). The proud conspiracy theorist/noted antisemite is up against seven candidates, including the Tim Pawlenty/Norm Coleman-backed Joe Fraser. Whoever wins that race will (almost certainly) face DFL incumbent Amy Klobuchar for the U.S. Senate seat in November.
Perhaps the weirdest race is in the 2nd Congressional District, where Tayler Rahm, who dropped out of the U.S. House race in July to make way for Trump-endorsed Joe Teirab, could still actually win.
Anyway, this is just a friendly reminder to vote. You can use this link to look up your polling place and see your neighborhood’s sample ballot. The polls are open until 8 p.m.
Feds Warn Predatory Deed Contractors They'll End Up In Court
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released an advisory opinion and research report today warning sellers of bad contract for deed loans that they can end up in court, further clarifying that these types of deals are subject to scrutiny under the Truth in Lending Act just like any other loan. Pew Charitable Trusts estimates that as of 2022 1.4 million Americans are under a contract of this type.
While buying a home directly from the seller might sound like a good way to cut banks out of the equation, these deals often come with their own garbage bag of problems, including higher interest rates and unrealistic monthly payments. Buyers may also be led to believe their money is going toward the total price of a house when they are only paying off a fraction of the amount, leaving them to either pay the massive difference at the end of their contract, renew their deal, or walk away at a major loss.
Abdinoor Igal “purchased a newly built, five-bedroom Lakeville home in 2022 for more than $727,000 for himself, his wife and their six children,” writes Joey Peters of Sahan Journal in a piece on these types of deals. “It wasn’t long before Abdinoor, a trucker, couldn’t afford the $4,000-plus monthly payments on his home. He walked away from his home last fall, losing an estimated $170,000.”
“Today, contract for deed loans are disproportionally concentrated in low-income, Black, Hispanic, immigrant, and some religious communities,” CFPB’s research report concludes. This 2022 Sahan Journal/ProPublica collab found that contract for deed sales are on the rise in Minnesota, especially in the Somali communities where religious practices encourage the avoidance of interest payments.
The Tilt-a-Whirl Is One of Us?
In my humble opinion, some of the best rides at fairs are the (slightly rickety) spinny ones, and the Tilt-a-Whirl is one of the O.G. people spinners. Turns out this banger of a ride is from Faribault, MN; the first one was built in 1926 in the backyard of Herbert W. Sellner. It was a big moneymaker from the start. “The original Tilt-a-Whirl was purchased for $4,500 by the Wildwood Amusement Park in White Bear Lake for its 1927 season,” writes Mary Laine for MinnPost’s MNopedia series. “Gross profit that year was $30,000.” Dang!
These days, Tilt-a-Whirls from Sellner Manufacturing can be found all over the world. It’s no longer a MN-made product, however; the company was purchased in 2011 by Texas-based Larson International. Still, a ride car sits in downtown Faribault honoring Herbert’s contribution to carny culture.
Yes, This Is How Americans See Minnesota
Or, at least, this is how writers on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert see us. Look, that classic Minnesotan accent is a.) easy to mimic and b.) one of three things the average person knows about the state, so just accept that everyone thinks we talk like this… and we’ll probably be hearing a lot more of these impressions with Walz on the national stage. (I’m from Ohio, and even my parents say I say “bayg” instead of “bag” now.) Anyway, there’s lots to love in this (kinda cheesy) skit: references to Chanhassen Dinner Theater, gifts of bars and hotdish, and a shoutout to Lake Minnetonka, “where the kids from Orono go out on the boats and do hand stuff.” Watch the short clip below.
