Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Sen. Tina Smith Will Not Seek Reelection, And Everybody Wants Her Job
Calling the job "the honor of a lifetime," U.S. Sen. Tina Smith announced today that she will not be seeking reelection in 2026.
“After 20 years of hard and rewarding work in the public sector, I’m ready to spend more time with my family," Smith says in her video announcement, which was posted to social media. Her father will turn 95 this year, and Smith says she's like to be with him and her four grandkids—none of whom were born when she first came to the Senate.
"This decision is not political," Smith continues. "It is entirely personal. But it's not lost on me that our country is in need of strong, progressive leadership right now, maybe more than ever."
To quote state Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, “Well shit.”
The Minnesota Reformer's Max Nesterak has a nice recap of Smith's career, from her time in the private sector (she worked in marketing for General Mills) to her work at Planned Parenthood (where she was vice president of external affairs) to her time as lieutenant governor and eventually U.S. Senator (Gov. Mark Dayton appointed her to the seat left vacant after Al Franken resigned due to sexual misconduct allegations in 2018).
Now the question is: Who's gonna run for that Senate seat? Or: Who isn't?
Smith's announcement references the "deep bench of political talent" in Minnesota, and already, Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan has announced she's running. (Tim Walz "has not ruled out" a Senate run, per MinnPost, but he's also considering a third term as governor.) Axios reports that Reps. Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig are "being pushed to run," with Axios's Torey Van Oot floating Secretary of State Steve Simon as a "name to watch." On the GOP side, State Sen. Julia Coleman (R-Waconia) is reportedly considering a bid; so are Karin Housley (R-Stillwater), who ran against Smith in 2018, and Rep. Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove).
Hm! The Strib Hasn’t Addressed Glen Taylor’s Dogshit Legacy as T-Wolves Owner.
You could call Glen Taylor a shriveled, grimacing goblin who tortures chickens, a billionaire wealth-hoarder whose conservative politics bleed into the Upper Midwest’s largest media company, which he owns. Just don’t call him a competent sports owner! When news broke Monday that the longtime T-Wolves owner lost his arbitration battle with Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, thus losing majority ownership of the team, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons was quick to dance on Taylor’s grave, tweeting:
Historic run for Glen Taylor: 30 years, but only 2 seasons with a playoff series win. Plus, no NBA Finals appearances, a huge scandal (Joe Smith), a slew of truly horrible trades/signings/hirings, and in the end, he couldn’t even sell the T-Wolves correctly. He’ll be missed.
You forgot alienating the franchise’s greatest player, Bill! Kevin Garnett famously labeled Taylor a “snake mu’fucka,” and refused to have his jersey retired under his ownership. But here’s the only figure that really matters: In 2021, the Wolves, er, achieved the all-time worst winning percentage among all major American men's sports teams. (In fairness: The hapless first five years came before his reign, and the team has competed since 2021… the same year he sold a 20% stake to A-Rod and Lore; also the Taylor-owned Lynx are a dynastic success story.)
But at the Star Tribune—surprise, surprise—the Wolves slipping through Taylor’s (presumably gnarly) fingers has been treated with kid gloves.
When reflecting on legacy, the big Strib news story heralded Taylor as the “savior of the Timberwolves,” and went out of its way to rub A-Rod’s face in his steroid scandal. Strib columnist Jim Souhan, the guy with the longest hot-take leash, would only acknowledge the “mediocrity” (not what that word means!) of Taylor’s tenure while pledging loyalty to him over the new guys. Reusse, meanwhile, devoted his column to relitigating A-Rod as "the worst of the steroids superstars." Elsewhere: The PiPress didn’t address the merits of either ownership party; The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski yielded that, “For decades, the Wolves were one of the most unsuccessful teams in professional sports.”
The A-Rod/Lore era could stink—hell, they could move the team! All we have to go on is A-Rod’s wishy-washy 2021 assurance of "we have no plans to move,” plus the apparently flimsy stay-in-Minnesota provisions Taylor baked into the sale contract. Until that happens, however, the new owners will barely have to leave the ground to clear the bar set by Taylor.
Does Love Is Blind Have a 'Small Town' Problem?
That's the thesis of this Allie Jones story in The Cut today, which takes a look at some of the TikTok drama already unfolding around the upcoming Minneapolis-based season of the show. "With a little more than 425,000 residents, Minneapolis has the smallest population of any city featured on the show," Jones writes—and that's her theory for why so many social media users have come out ahead of the season to say they know/dated/already hate people who will appear on season eight.
Now, if you've dated in the Twin Cities, you know it can feel like a small town; you'll date your friends, and your friends' exes, and your exes' exes. No disputing that.
But as MPR's Gretchen Brown points out, the Twin Cities metro area (population 3.69 million) is certainly bigger than the Charlotte metro area (population 2.8 million), where LIB season six was filmed. Brown notes that "perhaps it only feels like a small town because they're recruiting within friend/social/income groups ... when everyone u recruit looks like they go to corepower yoga they probably do." Hmmmm! (As I have long said: They need to put a goth on Love is Blind.)
Also, hear us out here... maybe people have realized that LIB is a hugely popular show and that it's easy to go viral on certain algorithmically inclined apps if you say you have goss about one of the cast members—especially if you do so before the season airs, when people are starved for any info about the cast members and what's ahead.
Saturday Night Live at 50: The Minnesota Connections
Did you hear? Of course you heard: There are multiple documentaries, endless promo teasers, and, now, locally angled hoopla around the fact that Saturday Night Live will celebrate its 50th anniversary via a star-studded blowout this... well, this Saturday night. (Jay here: I will admit to being a lifelong SNL-head, despite that being unfashionable to admit—sue me!)
Last night NBC affiliate KARE 11 ran a seven-minute segment, embedded below, about how the sketch show has been influenced by Minnesotans, chiefly early staff writers Al Franken and Tom Davis. Also mentioned: locally sourced hosts like Vikings QB Fran Tarkenton (the first-ever athlete to host), Seann William Scott, Josh Hartnett, and Winona Ryder.
KARE notes that several performers portrayed Prince over the years and, on the political satire side, Rachel Dratch played Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Jim Gaffigan played Gov. Tim Walz, though there's no mention Kristen Wiig as Rep. Michelle Bachmann in this 2013 cold open. The most shameful omission from the story? Has to be the Replacements who, depending on who you ask, did or didn't get banned for life by SNL sheriff Lorne Michaels for getting host Harry Dean Stanton drunk then drunkenly rocking the living shit outta 30 Rock in 1986 (also embedded below).
