‘Uniquely Ill-Suited’: Is MN-Launched DNC Chair Ken Martin Cooked?

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.

Dems Continue to Slam "Utterly Incapable" Minnesota Man

Ken Martin's 15-month reign as head of the Democratic National Committee could be defined as "choppy" for about, well, the past 15 or so months. There was his leaked Dem-on-Dem fight with then-Vice Chair David Hogg. There was the subsequent Politico hit piece. And, bubbling beneath the surface, there has been Martin's decision to not release the post-election autopsy conducted to determine why Democrats got stomped by Trump in 2024.

That latter issue made life hell for Martin last week, when the ex-DFL chair appeared on popular lib podcast Pod Save America. Host Jon Favreau pressed Martin on the hidden postmortem report, and our guy went full Jerry Lundegaard from Fargo as he danced around the issue, according to an article in The Nation headlined, "Why Is the DNC Covering Up Its 2024 Autopsy?" The knives are still coming out this week, with Never Trump centrist site The Bulwark letting several folks tee off on the embattled DNC chair.

“I think that would be a very hard job, no matter who has it. But [Martin] seems to be uniquely ill-suited for it,” Dem strategist Jesse Lehrich says. “The Pod Save interview was mind-blowing to me.”

“The biggest strike against him is that he seems to be utterly incapable of managing a budget," an anonymous DNC member says. "To put the DNC in such a bad financial situation going into what is... likely be the most wild [presidential] primary we’ve had in a while—it reeks of irresponsibility and immaturity. It just feels like we’re being gaslit at this point.”

“The DNC should not be a useless or irrelevant institution,” says Ross Morales Rocketto, another Dem strategist. “It’s currently irrelevant because of the leadership.”

Oof! The Bulwark's Lauren Egan does chat with a couple of Martin defenders, but her piece leads with the reveal that some DNC members have "privately discussed trying to force Martin out of the job." The idea was reportedly tabled because... they couldn't come up with a viable replacement. The Democratic braintrust at work, folks.

Strib Wins Pulitzer for Annunciation Mass Shooting Coverage

Major congrats to the Star Tribune, whose entire newsroom was just awarded the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in the Breaking News category for its coverage of last summer's deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School. Strib reporters, photographers, and editors produced “powerful stories marked by thoroughness and compassion," according to Pulitzer administrator Marjorie Miller.

“For the journalists in our newsroom, it was personal and up-close,” Strib Editor/VP Kathleen Hennessey says. “I’d be crazy to say in a newsroom full of parents, it didn’t hit a certain nerve.”

Strib reporter Jeff Day heard the gunfire that morning from a nearby yard; he called 911 and sprinted to the scene. The child of one editor was attending the church service that shooter Robin Westman stormed, killing three and injuring 28. Throughout that horrible day and in the ones that followed, the newsroom deployed dozens of journalists from its roster of around 200 to give a grieving community as many answers as possible. “We’re grateful to the Annunciation families for trusting us with these stories,” Hennessey says.

In its application to the Pulitzer board, the Strib described a newsroom mindset of not letting yet another mass shooting be forgotten, and to instead “hold up Annunciation’s pain and ask our readers to reckon with it.” The newspaper last secured journalism's top award for its 2021 coverage of aftermath of George Floyd's murder. Here's the full list of 2026 Pulitzer winners—special shoutout to staffers at the terrific podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out. (It'd be Racket wins across the board had we even considered applying.)

Will Ant Come Back Tonight?

Your Minnesota Timberwolves begin a best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series Monday night against the San Antonio Spurs. (The NBA, in its infinite wisdom, is forcing CST-living fans of both franchises to endure at least three 8:30 p.m. start times, including tonight.)

But the biggest story isn't the timing of the games, which sucks and should be rectified because some of us are tired all the time from raising a baby. No, it's if and when Wolves superstar Anthony Edwards will return from nasty knee injury he suffered last series against Denver.

Remarkably, after just nine days of recovery from that bone bruise, Edwards is expected to return tonight, league sources tell ESPN's Shams Charania.

"I'm on record calling him a Wolverine," teammate Julius Randle tells reporters. "I remember last year being here at the beginning of the year and he'd take a nasty fall or a hit, we'd have to call timeout and [I'd think], 'Damn, he might be hurt for real.' Then he just gets up."

Wolves guard Ayo Dosunmu isn't ready to get up yet after missing Game 6 in Denver. He has been ruled out for tonight. Exactly zero of ESPN's 10 "experts" predict the Wolves will beat the Spurs, which is exactly how many expressed confidence they'd get past the Nuggets. Fueling the fire, indeed.

At the risk of shedding Racket's ironclad armor of objectivity: Awooooooooooooooooooooo! Let's fucking go, T-Wolves!

Let's Look at Some May Day Parade Photos

Happy belated May Day, fellow workers! Minnesota Reformer photographer Nicole Neri was on the scene Sunday along Bloomington Avenue in Minneapolis, where for the 51st time lefty revelers celebrated International Workers’ Day via puppets, stiltwalkers, tall bikes, dinosaurs, Aztec dancers, and steampunk vehicles—hey Ken Martin, there's a platform for ya.

This year's MayDay Parade was animated by surplus "fuck you" messages directed at ICE, which makes sense considering the hell the feds put our city through this year. The prevailing mood among the tens of thousands who attended the procession, however? Celebratory. “It brought up a lot of feelings, seeing so many people, different cultures, different traditions, dancing in the streets. This is a really good thing," says Fabiola Rodriguez, one of the caretakers to the memorials established for Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Be sure to check out Neri's many wonderful photos.