Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
The Victorious Conclusion of WALZ WATCH: MN Guv Scores VP Nod
Look, we're as provincially stoked on this morning's big news as anybody, and Racket readers appear to be, too. Democratic presidential nominee/current VP Kamala Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, making him the third politician from this state to secure such a nod. It's exciting. It's the right choice for this moment in history. Walz comes across as an authentic, likable, and articulate flyover populist pick with solid center-left politics. Bonus points for attending state schools and becoming a teacher instead of a lawyer.
While the Star Tribune has already rattled off Walz's vulnerabilities from the right (Feeding Our Future fraud, the rioting after George Floyd's murder), we'll be killjoys and do the same from the opposite end. When pressured during high-profile labor battles—be it Mayo Clinic vs. nurses, rideshare duopolies vs. drivers, or school boards vs. teachers—the Walz administration hasn't been willing to stick its neck out for workers; he has been a sometimes timid protector of the environment, whether we're talkin' BWCA or talkin' pipelines; he's a one-time darling of the N.R.A.; and he hasn't called for a full-throated ceasefire to end the slaughter in Gaza, even as some sitting governors have.
But! As many Minnesotans already know, Gov. Walz signed a historic tally of progressive DFL legislative accomplishments into law last year, including: codified abortion rights, paid family/medical leave, sick leave, LGBTQ+ protections, rebate checks (the so-called "Timmy Stimmy"), labor-approved worker protections, $1 billion invested into housing, free school meals, free college for low-income students, legalized marijuana, and almost 40 climate initiatives, just to name a handful.
And goddammit, as much as I'd like to fault him for being a native Nebraskan, the 60-year-old Walz really nails the folksy Upper Midwestern dad bit. Here he is beaming with a pig and being swarmed by smiling schoolchildren; here he is having a blast with his daughter at the State Fair; here he is repairing a 2014 Ford Edge; here he is going gaga for cartography; here he is properly outraged that Warren Zevon hasn't been enshrined in the Rock and Roll HOF; and here he is advocating for cinnamon roll chili to Racket.
Queue up the new national anthem! We welcome hell on earth.
Four Quick-Hitters in the Restaurant Speed Round!
Slow down, food/drunk industry news: We've only got so much cyber ink to spill...
First up! Fair State Brewing Cooperative, whose financial challenges were explained earlier this year by CEO Evan Sallee, has some good news: The northeast Minneapolis brewery/taproom has successfully exited chapter 11 bankruptcy. "Thank you to everyone who has supported us and stood by us over these past few months, and the past 10 years," Sallee wrote in a press release Monday. "Cheers to new chapters, great brews, and a promising future ahead."
Next up! Around 88% of the workers at the Daniel del Prado-owned coffee chain Café Ceres, whose union drive you read about last month, voted Saturday in favor of joining United Here Local 17, MPR reports. "I hope this sends a message to other service and restaurant workers in the Twin Cities and beyond about what we all deserve," barista Mariam Karkache said via press release.
Let's not forget! Workers at May Day Cafe in Minneapolis's Powderhorn neighborhood recently launched a fundraising drive with hopes of purchasing the restaurant and running it as a collective; they've so fair collected $31,000+ of their $250,000 goal. "I know my delicious almond croissant and americano will taste even better when May Day becomes our neighborhood worker-owned coop,” customer Imogen writes in a testimonial.
And finally! We received a winking press release earlier today that read, "Sharing what is undoubtedly the biggest news of the morning that Animales will be moving into a brick and mortar next year!" It came from Jon Wipfli, founder/co-owner of the killer Animales food truck, who told us that the 300-capacity restaurant will begin construction soon inside the former Royal Foundry Distillery space at 241 Fremont Ave. N., Minneapolis.
Minneapolis Property Taxes Expected to Spike
No matter your political persuasion, it's your civic duty to grumble mightily when property tax hikes are on the horizon. And that's exactly what Minneapolitans can expect when Mayor Jacob Frey announces his 2025 budget next week, reports Nick Halter of Axios.
Homeowners already shoulder 51.6% of the city's tax levy burden, but with downtown Minneapolis still sputtering along, that figure will soon rise. By how much is the question: Frey has stated that his previously proposed 6.1% tax levy hike won't be enough, while the straight-faced Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board is suggesting 10%. The mayor is "making all efforts to keep the levy (increase) below double digits," a city spokesperson tells Axios. Hey, those 22% MPD raises ain't gonna pay for themselves.
Steve Brandt, who sits on the Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation, tells Halter that he urged Frey this past June to stick with the original 6.1% pitch. "I reminded the mayor that next year is an election year, so whatever levy is adopted, people are going to have to run for re-election on that," Brandt says. Meanwhile the demographic for whom Frey bends most backward, corporate real estate developers, is slowing the construction of new buildings due to high interest rates, thus fully removing relief from sight.
Not to Be Lost Amid Walz Mania: Flanagan in Line to Become First Native Woman Guv
There've only been a couple U.S. governors of Native American ancestry (the very dead Johnston Murray and the still sitting Kevin Stitt, both of Oklahoma), and soon Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota should become the first Native woman to lead a state. She'll also be the first woman governor in Minnesota history. A member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, Flanagan is listed as the "country’s highest ranking Native woman elected to executive office" via her official bio. She has been an outspoken advocate for Indigenous rights, NBC News reports, having overseen the creation of Minnesota's first Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office and having championed the redesign of our ol' "cluttered genocidal mess" of a state flag.
The current Walz-Flanagan term isn't up for reelection until 2026, so per the state Constitution, the 44-year-old Flanagan would assume the Governor's Mansion if Walz bails for D.C. Writing today via Twitter, she offered praise for the freshly minted VP candidate: "I’ve been friends with Tim Walz for almost 20 years. And for more than five years, he’s been my partner in justice at the Minnesota Capitol. He has the grit and the grace to keep our country moving forward alongside Kamala Harris. Let’s get [them] elected!"
If Flanagan rose to governor, Bobby Joe Champion, the president of the Minnesota Senate, would take over the lieutenant governorship, becoming the first Black person to serve in that role. Curiously, this would also mark a milestone for... men in politics? Champion would be the first male second-in-command here in Minnesota since 1983, when Gov. Al Quie's lieutenant, Lou Wangberg, left office. And Flanagan's husband, ex-MPR News host Tom Weber? He'd be the state's first-ever first gentleman.
