Tara: Welcome to Spin Sisters, I'm Tara Erickson.
Mary Lahammer: And I'm Mary Lahammer and backed by Popular Demand, former legislative leaders, Democrat from up north, Tony Sernich, and Marty Seifert, Republican from Southern Minnesota. Well, we're gonna talk about the primary election and the general election ahead. And let's start Marty Seifert, because you're out on the campaign trail. Full disclosure, your son is running for the state senate, earned the endorsement of the party. Let's talk about lawmakers who have. Primaries 'cause there's a handful. Can we put in a bucket? Is there any generalizations of people who got challengers?
Marty Seifert: You know, I that's a good question, Mary. I think part of it is the district you're in. If people feel like, hey, for example, Senator Utke up in in the Park Rapids area is being challenged by one of his own House members. Part of that was provoked. I don't think it's a personal dispute. I just Representative Wiener promised his constituents I'd only serve two terms, but still loves being in the legislature. So then you look around, you're like, Okay, do I break my promise? Or what else can I do? I guess I'll challenge my incumbent senator of the same party. And so I don't know that there's a lot of policy differences per se in some of these races. I know that there's some primaries going on. for example, in Little Falls, Sen Senator Wiesenberg, who is you know, arguably the most conservative member of the Senate, is being challenged by businesswoman Deb Holthis. And that one is a very closely watched race, as well as the Otke Wiener one. And then there is also one an open seat in that central Minnesota area in Sartell. Jeff Howe is retiring from the Senate, and there's two candidates running. The endorsed candidate is being challenged by a county commissioner. so that one I those those three races I think are probably the most watched races on the Republican Senate.
Mary Lahammer: More Republicans, right, Marty, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, and if I could jump it, I think it's more Republican lawmakers, more Republican primaries. I I mean there's some DFL but Yeah.
Marty Seifert: Senator Latz is probably the highest profile Democrat in St. Louis Park. he has a challenger that was recruited by one of his House members. So that one is being really that's gonna be an expensive race, and I think it's gonna write down to the wire. Their endorsing convention was within two votes and they agreed after the first ballot. Let just never mind. Let's just go to the primary.
Mary Lahammer: Tony, how do you manage that? Cause some of this is House versus Senate, intra party battles. I mean, as a former leader, how do you does the caucus spend money? Do you stay out? Like what what do you do?
Tony: Yeah, there's different lanes of thought on that, but really the buckets I I would put this into is you see primarily these primaries happening for the Republicans in Greater Minnesota and for the DFL side of things in the Metro or Twin Cities. And you don't see this in swing districts either. There's not a competitive race really where they're trying to figure out who the best candidate is. So I think it really comes down to folks on more of the more extreme sides mostly saying you've either haven't done enough or you've been there too long. Those are really, I think, the two messages that come out. And and Marty, you talk about folks who make promises about term limits. I see that happen in my time in the legislature. People come in and say, I'm only gonna do this so long. And then they get intoxicated by the legislature and politics. And it's like, well, let's figure out a way to stick around for a while. Term limits always sound better, I think, on the outside, but once you get in, it's hard, I think, for some folks to get away. Even though I'll just remind all my political friends, life is really good on the outside.
Mary Lahammer: Where both of you live, right.
Tara: So we did see
Marty Seifert: I agree
Tara: that. Yeah, we did see
Marty Seifert: with the
Tara: that like with Senator Wellstone, right? I mean, he said he was only going to do a couple of terms and then decided to run
Marty Seifert: Right.
Tara: for a third. Tony, what are you hearing up north on what has kind of happened with the wildfires up north? how are voters feeling about that issue. It does look like there was quite a bit of funding cut that had already been appropriated to kind of deal with a lot of, you know, the brush and maybe to thin out part of the superior national forest where the fires were. What are you hearing from voters up north?
Tony: a a big sense of fear actually about the economy. And up north, and actually most voters mostly care about the economy these days, but for up north you're talking about outfitters and communities like Ely and all the way up the North Shore, where they make the bulk of their money for the entire year in the months of June, July, and August. And if you take two, three, four weeks off the rolls of their ability to make money, they might not be able to survive. And there's another interesting factor as well. The air is very clear up here today and has been for a long time. But if you're in the metro area or if you're somewhere else in Minnesota and you read that there is smoke and fires, you assume that that's happening every day, all the time. And
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Tony: so there's just a general sense that this is really going to hit those communities hard. And we might see some businesses who might not make it because they've lost revenue here in this month.
Mary Lahammer: Tony, could it affect a legislative race? Because that was a national headline. National news organizations were publishing stories saying doge cuts could affect a race. And that came from a DFL challenger to the Republican incumbent. And the range has turned red. Could it really be an issue up there?
Tony: I it may. I mean, it certainly that would be more in Congressman Stouber's wheelhouse, but that
Mary Lahammer: Mm-hmm.
Tony: would be an accumulation of things, whether you're talking about these cuts, the cuts to health care that are gonna impact hospitals and others. If there is a a building sense that once again, a legislator who's been there for a while, in this case a congressperson, who is not ta kind of tending to the home issues, certainly this could be a case. I don't think a one off it wouldn't be a one off issue though.
Mary Lahammer: Okay, but really it's not gonna probably be competitive on a congressional or legislative layer up there. Or or you don't know. Who knows? Okay.
Tony: This I this won't be the tipping issue. I was at a a meeting up in Ely where Senator Hoschild, a Democrat, and Representative Scrabo a Republican,
Mary Lahammer: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Tony: were sitting side by side trying to figure out how to solve this issue.
Mary Lahammer: It's yeah, it's been very bipartisan. Marty, there's talk about special session. I thought, you know, you're still at the Capitol quite a bit. I thought we had cured the need for special session for any natural disasters. Is it still necessary or is this so big that maybe we do need a special session?
Marty Seifert: it's a good question, Mary. I honestly don't know if they kept enough money in that set aside fund. That was a Representative Pulowski idea to prevent special sessions, was have the set aside money that could be signed off for disasters of sorts. I don't know how much is in that, but it's a good idea. Yep. Right, exactly. right.
Mary Lahammer: a good idea in theory, right? So that governors didn't constantly need to be calling the legislature back because natural disasters were the norm. Right.
Marty Seifert: And they have to quantify, you know, obviously all the the matching money, usually the lot of this is is shouldered by the federal government, but there's some cost shares that have to be put in place. But I wouldn't be shocked if there was a special session at some point. But I just think with the rhetoric around the elections, it's gonna be pretty difficult to have one before before November fourth, I think it would be difficult.
Mary Lahammer: Right. And other things could get rolled in, right? I mean, that's the problem.
Tara: Yeah.
Tony: And this is a unique yeah.
Mary Lahammer: You open up a can of worms when you call lawmakers back in an
Marty Seifert: Right. Yep.
Mary Lahammer: election year.
Marty Seifert: Yep. I
Tony: And this is a unique natural disaster as well, is where it's a lot really about the smoke and it's a lot about what happened somewhere else in other natural disasters and Representative Seifert and I were involved in quite a few of them where we would go visit someplace that got flooded out and you could see the businesses and the homes that were impacted. In this case, it's more operations. The fire happened in the boundary waters wilderness area. So businesses weren't directly impacted. You couldn't go to an outfitter and look at the damage. The damage is to their bottom line
Tara: Sure.
Tony: because people then show up. And so it's a different type of natural disaster that has more of an economic impact. And if I can equate it to something else, it's more or more operational. So it would more be like what the response happened in COVID, saying your business was damaged because of something that happened elsewhere or something that is impacting a barrier to your business than looking at actual damage. And so I think that's a uniqueness about this. But Mary, I think you're exactly right. You try to call a special session about this and many would say that not enough was done for the response to Operation Metro surge. And then you get all two hundred and one legislators who are on the ballot in various different ways who have their needs and wants and a microphone and cameras there at a grandstand and it gets really hard really fast.
Tara: Yep. I just don't believe that you could wrangle and herd those cats on either side of the aisle, especially yeah.
Marty Seifert: I think it'll be tough.
Mary Lahammer: Right. Paid family leave. We ha we had some of the Republican candidates for governor on Almanac Friday night and they were asked special session. They both said, Yeah, great idea. And let's address paid family leave because that is a crisis hitting Minnesota businesses statewide as well. And they said, Let's let's deal with that and maybe repeal that or reform that. So that was another preview of issues that would bubble up. Don't you think, Marty, you're hearing that when you're out on the campaign trail?
Marty Seifert: Yeah. I th I think I think it's difficult. you know, if Speaker Damuth is the nominee after next Tuesday, you know, how how does she thread that needle of telling Republicans like, yeah, we should have a special session, but only for stuff we want to talk about. or how do you not put things on the table they do want to talk about? that's why I just think it's untenable to try to put something together. between now and the election because there's there's all these kind of sub dynamics of politics.
Tara: So Marty, that's a good segue. I'm assuming that you are supporting Speaker Damuth for governor. And I guess I maybe shouldn't assume, but I don't know if you're supporting my pillow guy, Mike Lindell.
Marty Seifert: I'm I'm I'm I'm keeping my my head down on the governor's race a little bit. I have my preferences,
Tara: Okay.
Marty Seifert: but you know, with my son running for the Senate, we've got people in the campaign committee that are frankly for all three candidates, and it's a topic that is purposely avoided in discussions because you just have people that they're they're they're all for ciphered for Senate, but then you get into these other races like US Senate and governor and people are at each other's throats, and so we just kinda sidestep that for now.
Tara: So what are you hearing from Republicans right now? I mean, every
Marty Seifert: No.
Tara: poll kind of shows Lindell looks like he's probably gonna take this because of the Trump factor. with
Marty Seifert: That's
Tara: very short on policy, very short on seeming to understand, you know, a lot of different things. And I would you know, I just think it would be unfortunate if Republicans pass by obviously a very qualified candidate again.
Marty Seifert: Yeah, I mean the primary electorate is it averages about thirteen percent in Minnesota. Half of that or over half of that is DFL. less than half of that is Republicans. So essentially they're gonna be fighting over about six percent of six out of one hundred people are gonna decide who these nominees are. So when everybody's like,
Tara: Yeah.
Marty Seifert: you know, this is a consensus. It is it is a very difficult thing to poll when people say Lindell's ahead or Damuth is ahead or whatever, these various polls. none of them mean a whole lot because you have a huge 20 to 30 percent undecided. And then how do you know who's gonna vote? There's people are gonna be voting in these primaries that have never voted before or rarely vote in primaries, and then you look at the turnout will bump up in places like you know, Morrison County where Senator Wiesenberg has this challenge. Senator Utke has this challenge. So you're gonna have these areas of the state that have maybe 20 to 30% turnout because they have a a a hotly contested sheriff's race,
Mary Lahammer: So
Marty Seifert: house race in Little Falls, Senate race in Little Falls. So you're gonna have like this, I think you could have a third to half the turnout in in some of these counties. And then you have other areas that are very laxadaisical, ho hum, no local races, no nonpartisan races, and you're gonna be down at 10%. So I I think it's an open I I mean, I think it's gonna be between Speaker Damuth and and Mike Lindell, just based on what I'm hearing and observing. That's no ding on Kendall Falls.
Mary Lahammer: And the endorsed candidate will not get through, which is huge, huge news for the Republican Party where the endorsement has held for you know decades. Right. Yeah.
Marty Seifert: I mean we we Yeah, for sure. I mean we don't know yeah, we don't know, but I just think the the lack of resources are really trying for both
Mary Lahammer: James.
Marty Seifert: of the endorsed candidates for Senate and Governor on the Republican side. And you don't have money for ads and you don't have a super PAC supporting you, and you don't have na natural name ID like Mike Lindell has this kind of built in name ID. It's really tough, I think, to to survive that. It it's getting testy, but on the flip side, the Democrats have a testy race for US Senate. And so, you know, I'll be down at Farm Fest on Wednesday to watch all of this drama play out.
Tara: That is a big venue for people. definitely for, you know, rural Minnesota and and for rural citizens to just hear from most of the big candidates on both sides of the aisle. Marty, what do you think? you know, folks from your area that you represented out by Marshall, a lot of farmers, what do you think they're hoping to hear?
Marty Seifert: You know, I think there's obviously concern about tariffs and exports, but that's more of a federal issue. You're the governor's not gonna solve that. That's but on the US Senate side, that certainly is gonna be a a discussion point. What are you gonna do for value added, particularly on the grain side, soybeans in particular? I mean, if you're a cattle farmer, beef prices are very, very good right now. So, you know, if you're if you're on if you're on the cattle side, you're doing okay and you're feeding them cheap corn. So you're doing all right. Ethanol industry is good. I'm on two ethanol boards. I mean, ethanol is doing well. I think it's it's mainly those who are are particularly on the soybean side, on the corn side, looking for answers on new uses, new markets, value added processing and exports. and also the the clumsiness I I would say of of permitting. you know, we're going through putting in a new boiler. You have to get new air permits. We're turning trucks away at two o'clock in the afternoon because of the ambient air permit issue. And you know, as Tony mentioned earlier, some of these things aren't necessarily Democrat Republican. Like, you know, the Iron Rangers would be frustrated with some of that time consuming MPCA stuff too. So I think all of those things will be discussion items on the governor's race.
Mary Lahammer: And and one more thing, Marty, because people like Michelle Tefoya, NFL broadcaster, or Mike Lindell, they need to get briefed so that they sound knowledgeable in front of a group of farmers, right? So they should be doing their homework and getting up to speed ahead of this so that they sound
Marty Seifert: Yes.
Mary Lahammer: slightly knowledgeable.
Marty Seifert: Yes, the people the people listening in the tent, there'll be over a thousand people in the tent,
Mary Lahammer: Yes.
Marty Seifert: but you know, almost more importantly, if they have the Linder Farm Network simulcasting this or WCCO or whoever, that's your main audience is this big broad audience. The t the tent is
Mary Lahammer: Yes. Yep. Yes. Yep.
Marty Seifert: important because if you get interrupted with applause or you get booed, obviously that's not a good thing.
Mary Lahammer: It's the mood. Yes.
Marty Seifert: And so you have to perform you don't necessarily have to hit it out of the park, but they can see through the BS pretty quickly.
Mary Lahammer: Absolutely. And Tony, on the flip side, it's the DFL is still technically the Democratic farmer labor. So, you know, somebody like Peggy Flanagan has to prove Angie Craig, you know, sits on egg. She can talk ag. She's been there a million times. But somebody like Flanagan still has to prove she's got the farmer part of the farmer labor. And Democrats have to try and hold on to the farmer part of the farmer labor at FarmFest, don't they?
Tony: Hundred percent, yes. And the good news on on our side is both of them and Amy Klobuchar have spent time at Farm Fest in the past. So they've they've had their reps and have been immersed in these issues and I think will be more comfortable being there. And of course, if you're talking about that US Senate race, tariffs are gonna be front and center. on that issue and we know that both Lieutenant Governor Flan Flanagan and Congresswoman Craig really want to see a change of what's happening in Washington DC on those issues.
Mary Lahammer: So lots of briefing happening and Flanagan has the most to prove, right? That she is well versed in farm issues and and can talk egg and, you know, knows her way around a a tent and a combine and all those things at Farm Fest.
Tony: Absolutely. As a as a metro politician, definitely. But you know, in her time as Lieutenant Governor, she's been out there as well.
Tara: Yeah.
Tony: And so she she's had her time in developing those relationships and learning and understanding the issues.
Tara: So let's go ahead.
Marty Seifert: Think I think there's a fulcrum point partly with Farm Fest that Angie Craig, Amy Klobuchar, having been like involved in the agriculture committees, both in the House and Senate, are very adept at navigating some of the issues where the Democrats have a left right on on egg issues like animal rights, for example. are you gonna require these really restrictive California standards? That would really hurt animal agriculture in Minnesota, make it expensive, price people out from expanding or being able to have their hog barns and so forth. where Amy Klobucher and Angie Craig kind of know how to maneuver that and say, hey, farmers know best. we've trusted them to run their farms. What we've done in Minnesota works, it's a local issue, whatever. Is Peggy Flanagan able to navigate questions like that if they're brought up? Or is she going to kind of take the side of, well, We we need to have more restrictions, et cetera. So that that's the that's the issue that I've always been fairly impressed. I've got I've been a farm fest since I was a little kid. And Tim Walls, Amy Klobuchar, they knew how to maneuver those issues. And that's the trick for a new Democrat coming in is are they able to kind of maneuver to be what I would say is at least minimally acceptable to the old FL and the DFL.
Tara: Mm-hmm. Let's switch to this US Senate race. Obviously, we have a primary on for you know for both parties. Tony, I wanna start with you. what are you hearing from northern Minnesota? you and I, grew up up, you know, in the Iron Range and where it was a real, you know, DFL stronghold for a really long time and and it and it isn't anymore. What are some of the issues in northern Minnesota that people are talking about? And who do you think is probably placating to those issues the most?
Tony: Yeah, I'll start with what Marty said a while ago is the universe of people that are going to be voting in this primary is very tiny. And so a lot of them are the very committed, the ones that have been involved in endorsing conventions and and likewise. And so they're a little bit more on the inside baseball and the palace intrigue that happens. And so that's why I think you see two candidates who are both of the same political party and trying to figure out where are those few issues that differentiate us. So that we can be the choice for our party. And so a lot of it has, I think, unfortunately centered on who's raising money from who, which candidates have gotten endorsements from other politicians. And for the voters, and even the ones that are really committed in the primary, those aren't their top issues. Their top issues are affordability, other top issues are the economy. You know, I'm gonna be going to national night out tonight. and we're taping this on on this Tuesday, and I'm gonna go grab my hot dog and talk to my neighbors. And they're not gonna talk about who's fundraising from who. They're probably not even gonna talk about politics, but what they're gonna talk about is God, gas is way too expensive. And that fire up in Ely has ruined my summer vacation plans. And so who is speaking to those issues? And quite candidly, I haven't heard either one of them really spend a lot of time talking about those issues. But on the plus side, I heard their debate, their one and only debate on MPR. And the only question I cared about that they answered was If the other candidate wins, are you going to support them? And the answer was yes. And so my hope is, you know, in this era where there aren't a lot of differences. Now, granted, if you're in our party, the differences that have been brought up around a few key votes matter and fraud matters. But at the end of the day, the other one's going to support the other candidate. And we've got to really pivot to be talking about those issues that everyday Minnesotans who are going to decide this general election are going to be thinking about. And those are issues around affordability. I and what's gonna be better in their lives.
Mary Lahammer: And I will say, Tony, they did also debate on public television at the beginning of the campaign. So public radio and public TV both had the DFL US Senate debate. Marty, Republican US Senate candidates are not debating anywhere. Michelle Tavoya, who is a media professional, is not doing media other than paid media.
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Mary Lahammer: talk to me why she's playing it safe. Is her name ID so great and her money so great that she doesn't need traditional media and are Republicans really poised to pick a pro choice Republican? Is that gonna happen?
Tara: How pro choice though.
Marty Seifert: Yeah,
Mary Lahammer: Yeah.
Marty Seifert: my my understanding is she is gonna be at FarmFest tomorrow. They're having they're having the forum. I wouldn't really call it a debate. I mean I was I I I ran for governor and it's it's more of a forum than debate, but she's yeah, she's she's definitely not
Mary Lahammer: Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But she's not really doing interviews. She's not really doing traditional media.
Marty Seifert: pushing around with the media and hungry with the media because I think she has the resources to to to lay her message out without gotcha questions or being chased around. And I know that's frustrating for the other people. running for the US Senate, but you know, at the end of the day, you know, why should she? I think she she probably feels that she's in a comfortable position. She's in a pole position right now to to win the primary. you know, I hear people at parades and door knocking just, you know, in my neck of the woods. And I I would think that right now she probably would would have the edge. But you don't know like Tony said, it's a small electorate, it's the people that are very involved. I could I could see her getting snuck up on, but you know, when I open my Facebook feed, when I turn on the television, when I open the mailbox, I see two candidates on the Republican side that are very overwhelming in all of those markets, and I don't see anybody else. And so
Mary Lahammer: And what are those two candidates, just to be clear? Yes.
Marty Seifert: The it it's the two female candidates. It's Lisa Damuth and and Michelle Tefoya. you know, I've probably have gotten three or four mailings in the last couple weeks. I did get a super pack mailing on behalf of Schwarzy yesterday. That was I think the first one that I've gotten. but my Facebook feed is is overwhelmingly full of stuff from those two. And then my my wife and I make it at kind of a a point to watch the news. at at noon six or ten, at least a few times a week. there's a there's a lot of ads and it it seems like overwhelmingly Angie Craig on the DFL side and Lisa Damouth on the Republican side for governor and then to a lesser extent Tefoya during those media. They have the money to do it.
Mary Lahammer: They have the money. They have the money. It does look like the boy is doing a lot of parades. Have you I know you've been out w with your son. On the parade circuit. Yeah. Have you seen her? Okay.
Marty Seifert: She's she's been at some. I n I know she did quite a few over Fourth of July. I know she was in Blaine. I know Schwarzy has done a lot of parades. I don't know that Royce White has done many, he's polling in second place. I know Damouth has done a a lot of parades. Lindell was doing parades and then kind of announced like a month ago I'm not doing any more parades, and I don't know what that that was, but it was kind of like
Mary Lahammer: Well, he does have a complaint against him and there was a hearing because yeah, 'cause he was like
Tara: For throwing out pillows, yeah.
Marty Seifert: Well yeah, I mean the fully fund days I I talked to a legislator up there and he said they were throwing, you know, like forty dollar pillows out and I'd you know, when I ran for the legislature and the campaign finance board said advisories out, they cautioned against handing candy out or fly swatters
Tara: Bamble. Yeah.
Marty Seifert: or oven mitts. They said anything that smacks of something of value, we were supposed to stay away from that and we were cautioned very heavily about boy, I don't know that you should be handing Tootsie Rolls out because that that has some intrinsic value. Just literature and stickers is what my campaign did, just to play it safe. And then your campaign signs. So this business of throwing a hay rack full of pillows out, I just kind of, you know, whether you're for or against Lindell, I was like, I d you know, what if you handed out gold bars that's that paid and prepared for by so so for governor? People would say, gee, I don't think that would would meet the smell test. So as you go down from gold bar to pillows, you know, to candy, the pillows are somewhere between that. And I think the campaign board is gonna frown on that. I that's just my gut feeling.
Tony: Well, I want to take it back though to this whole conversation about primaries and who's showing up and who's getting interviews. I actually like the fact that we have a very competitive US Senate race because you have two candidates and yes, they have a lot of name ID, and yes, they have a lot of experience. And not that the Republicans would listen to advice from a former DFL guy like me, but if Michelle Tefoya is gonna stay in this bubble wrap, yes, she has resources to do campaign ads, but that then really just ratchets up. when she is eventually interviewed or when she eventually debates a Democrat and is confronted with not the comfort of a sideline interview or reading a teleprompter, but in real time having these interactions. And so that just really I think ratchets up the pressure. And so Republicans, if they if if she's the candidate, they're putting a lot of eggs in the basket of somebody who's untested on the campaign trail. Politics is a different beast than sports reporting. And yes, you can you can
Mary Lahammer: She never does a debate and never does an interview. And what if the DFLer ends up beat up, bludgeoned, and has really high negatives because they come out of this, you know, two-tested? Is that possible, Tony? Okay.
Tony: I have never seen a candidate be two tested. you know, I think I this is kind of when you weed out the folks who who can't make it. and that's why I think there there is some beauty in having a primary for these these hotly contested elections.
Mary Lahammer: Marty, can you take that too? Is it is it possible? Is it could Tefoya end up bubble wrapped all the way till the end and a Democrat ends up blewing?
Marty Seifert: I mean I I don't think it's gonna be that controlled. I think you do have to emerge at some point. I think on the Republican side, for the primary anyway, I think she feels she's in the position to to be in a s a stronger spot and not have to be doing a lot of these interviews and chasing the the free media around. I do see a challenge, if you will, on the DFL side, if it's an extremely close race, it looks really close between Angie Craig and Peggy Flanagan. And I've got friends on Facebook who are Democrats, and the comment sections for those who are for both candidates are getting a bit barbed the last couple of weeks. And I and people I'm a little
Mary Lahammer: ab absolutely. Yep.
Marty Seifert: surprised at, frankly, that are ordinarily very genteel Democrats,
Mary Lahammer: No.
Marty Seifert: you know, but they are very passionate about their candidates. And
Mary Lahammer: And I know Republicans who won't vote in in the US Senate race because they won't vote for Michelle Tafoya. I know a a very dear person who will not the the abortion issue is such a big issue, they will not vote in that race and they're going over to vote. Yep.
Marty Seifert: Yeah, there's there's some people that'll just say they'll write in somebody or whatever. I mean, I remember people saying that with Arnie Carlson in nineteen ninety-four. That was the cycle before I was elected to the House. but he's running against John Marty. And you know, for all the people who were wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth in nineteen ninety four after the primary was done, Arnie Carlson up getting over sixty percent of the vote as a Republican because they just saw John Marty as too extreme. And if you end up with Peggy Flanagan and Michelle Tefoya, I I wonder if some of those people are gonna say, well, I got someone who's with me, you know, ninety-one percent of the time versus someone who's with me zero percent of the time. people do sometimes make pronouncements early on and then later on decide, you know. I mean, I've seen it with I'm not voting for Angie Craig because she's the APAC candidate, blah blah from some of my more liberal friends on on Facebook. They're gonna vote for Angie Craig at the end of the day. They're not gonna vote for a Republican or or stay home. I I just don't believe it. So they make these pronouncements now, but I just think at the end of the day they'll they'll come home. Most of them
Tara: So
Marty Seifert: will.
Tara: Marty, what is she running for? I mean, like what are I, you know, I've been to her website a couple of times trying to look at what maybe some of her policy positions are. the last time you were on the show here, you talked about we're just gonna talk about fraud, fraud, fraud, fraud, fraud. And so that is kind of what opens up for her on her websites, first thing.
Marty Seifert: Yeah.
Tara: what else? Like, why is she? running for US Senate.
Marty Seifert: You're talking about who, Michelle Tefoya? I
Tara: yeah. Yeah.
Marty Seifert: mean, I'm not her campaign spokesperson, so I I can't really answer that. What what I've observed is she is leading on the fraud issue, and then it's
Mary Lahammer: Saying it's nice.
Marty Seifert: probably gonna be the standard things you see on you know from federal government Republicans, which is trying to control spending and and grow grow business and grow the economy and so forth. I don't think I don't think she has any particular big Things that she's running on per se. The Democrats have to move beyond we don't like Trump. I mean, that's all they're running on. And I see it with the anti ICE and all that stuff, but at some point you have to be for something. And you know, at the end of the day, Walls is less popular than Trump in Minnesota. So both sides are gonna have to come up with some popular things that people are for. What I'm hearing in my just this is just in southwest Minnesota. fraud and affordability, like not being able to afford diapers, child care, health care, gasoline in your car, food
Mary Lahammer: Leave under colours.
Marty Seifert: on your table. And both parties are at their best when they can answer those basic questions on people's bread and butter kitchen table issues. you know there's social stuff obviously that that that factors into this but it but if you talk to the average butcher, baker, and candlestick maker out there, They're very concerned about am I gonna be able to afford the economy we're living in right now? Electric prices, what have you. The Republicans are gonna say the Democrats have all these electric mandates and windmill mandates and so forth. And that's making your electric bill higher, and that's pushing your grocery store bills higher because that they have to cool things and transport things. Democrats will say Trump's starting a war, and that's forcing up prices on on different things. They they've got to get back to solutions on that kind of stuff, in my opinion.
Tony: So so Marty talked about elections in the nineteen nineties, and and that's when he and I were in high school. Politics is very different now. we grew up in an era where all politics was local. And so maybe in some of these house races, swing seats, door knocking's gonna matter, but we've entered an era where all politics is national. And so this is where I disagree a bit with Marty is this is gonna be a change election. And I think that advantages Democrats. both here on the state level and the national level. And here's why. If you're mad at Governor Walls because of the fraud issue or the flag or any other issue, he's not on the ballot. And for the fraud issue, and I know that this is contested in the US Senate race saying, well, Peggy Flanagan was there, I've got a spoiler alert. Republicans are going to paint every DFL or whether you were the lieutenant governor or whether you're Angie Craig or anybody else, they're going to try to paint with the fraud issue as well. and so but but the case is, and this is where Marty's right, it's one thing to say fraud is bad, we should stop doing it. It's another case to say, and here's how we're gonna do it. And the good news is we have a different candidate than Governor Walls running for governor, and she has a plan already put out of what she wants to do to come combat fraud on the front end. And in Washington, DC, if you want to talk about fraud, it starts at the top. And this is gonna
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Mary Lahammer: this is great.
Tony: be the biggest thing about all politics being national. Regardless of if it's Lisa Damath or Mike Lindell or Michelle Tafoya, they're going to be hung with the least popular president in in history. And there's kind of a cult of personality and a cult in the Republican Party where you can't say one bad thing or disagree about anything with Donald Trump for fear of retribution. And so they're going to be forced to walk the plank with everything that Donald Trump is doing. And that is a war that has ended multiple times, but we're still there. That is the high price of tariffs. That's the price of oil that is affecting those gas pumps that Marty's talking about. It's about the ballroom and the helipad and all of this other extravagant spending that Donald Trump's doing for himself. And these Republicans who are going to be on the ballot can't disagree with any of it for fear of retribution. And so it's going to be a change election where all politics is national. And Marty's right, we've got to have a plan. And the plan starts with. Combating this corruption in Washington, DC, ending wars and bringing the price down. And if you go beyond that, you don't need to, because that's what's on Minnesota's minds right now.
Mary Lahammer: Guys, is it dangerous though?
Tara: So
Mary Lahammer: Walls is not on the ballot and Trump is not on the ballot. And I feel like we're we're talking about campaigns running against two people who are both not on the ballot.
Tony: But but Trump is on the ballot in this way. he's doing things unconstitutional, he's doing things by decree, and he basically controls Congress right now. They won't step out of line. We saw that this week with two retiring Republican US senators. So they don't even have any skin in the game. And they said, We're gonna go against Trump. And then we got through the weekend, they said, No, never mind, we're not gonna do that. And so
Tara: Both car went into into like they just completely caved on a one point eight billion dollar, you know the splash run, the exhausting.
Mary Lahammer: Let let's go back to Marty on it. Marty is Walls different than Trump on running against either of them?
Marty Seifert: Know it's interesting. I don't hear a lot about Trump per se on the campaign trail. the people who don't like him probably aren't talking to me a whole lot anyway, but you know, there are people that hate him and certainly make it well known when you are going by in a parade or run into him at the door or what have you. Well,
Mary Lahammer: What about walls? Do you hear about walls?
Marty Seifert: wall Walls it sparked up a little bit when the pardon of that The illegal alien that was the rape child rapist. I mean, that week or two, we had seven parades in that kind of that two week time period, and that was a really unpopular decision. I had Democrats were like, I don't know what he's thinking with that, but I'm not with him on that. So they were kind of running for the hills for a while on that decision. Yeah, Ellison was also part of the pardon board,
Mary Lahammer: And could that stick to Ellison? That was also on my list because we're starting to see that leveraged against him.
Marty Seifert: and the you know, the chief justice too, but At the end of the day, Ellison's the only one of the three that's unfortunately on the ballot and has to kind
Tara: On the ballot.
Marty Seifert: of deal with that. So I think, you know, if he loses narrowly, I would say it's that decision, frankly. I mean, people are not I mean, just the average person
Tara: So Marty, like I kind
Marty Seifert: doesn't like that kind of stuff. Like they're just scratching their head, like, what are you doing? It's a ninety five percent
Tara: So, Marty, I'm confused.
Marty Seifert: issue.
Tara: Like, I'm really confused by that. Like, do I understand that vote? Not really, other than the person that it happened to asked them to pardon him. So, and I'm not sure what her reasons were. I haven't followed that very closely. But like pedophilia and rape is bad, right? I mean, that's just a horrific situation.
Marty Seifert: Right.
Tara: But nothing has happened in the Epstein files. We have many women who have accused Trump of doing these things, like
Marty Seifert: Right. I mean that's the that that's the counter that's the counter argument that has nothing to do with the issue at hand though. I mean we're not talking about the up we're talking about this issue with Walls and Ellison. We're not talking about Epstein, we're not talking about federal stuff. That issue alone that issue alone frustrates people. And as my
Mary Lahammer: Right. And and Ellison had a c Allison had a close race last time. Yeah.
Tara: What I mean, do we care about it or not?
Marty Seifert: friend Steve Swiggum used to say, when you're explaining you ain't gaining,
Mary Lahammer: Mm.
Marty Seifert: people don't care if the victim said this or that, people don't care about the Epstein files. That one issue is a 95 plus percent. This is the wrong decision. This is a bad thing. We should not be pardoning child rapists. And so, you know, I know that frustrates Democrats when they hear that because there is no logical explanation for it. And it just looks like Walls is leaving office. Like, I don't care. I'm just gonna do this. Let's clean the prisons out. and we've had other examples. We've got at least three or four examples of r of violent people who have been released under their new program that was passed under the trifecta of people who have been rearrested for a violent offense. Now, if the Republicans had brains in their heads, they would be, you know, marching that around and talking to people about it. but unfortunately they're distracted with other issues. But I think that that issue is one. I've always told people running for office, find things where a super majority of the population agree with you and and think you're on their side. And that's one that the Republicans have. They don't have a lot to work with, as Tony outlined all the Trump stuff going on. That would be one that they'd have and fraud. So they've got to articulate those issues in a very succinct way. And and then they've got to run candidates that pe that have credibility.
Mary Lahammer: Tony, could Ellison be
Tony: Marty, when you're
Mary Lahammer: vulnerable with with fraud and that pardon? Is
Tara: Absolutely.
Mary Lahammer: are are you concerned about that? Is that flying under the radar right now with all the attention on the US Senate race and the governor's race?
Tony: Sure, absolutely. But when Marty was talking about violent offenders being let out, was he talking about the January 6th, the thousands of January 6th folks who are assaulting police officers? And I know he's saying one's not the other, but once again, when you're talking to average Minnesotans, they're not following the pardon board. they're just seeing all of this happening, fraud happening all over the place in Washington, D.C. and Minnesota. They're seeing pardons happen in Minnesota and in Washington, D.C., and they're gonna say, we want something different. And like it or not, Donald Trump is in your face. every single day. And so and and and Mary, back to your question, I see a difference between Walls and Trump because after November, and then when we get to January, Tim Wells is gone. He's done. Donald Trump's still going to be around. And so if you're looking to change things, we're going to have a new governor regardless in January. We're still going to have the same old president who's doing things that are frustrating, not just Democrats. And we're not talking about liking him or not. We're talking about the outcomes, the high gas prices, the never ending war. and Ingratiating himself financially with his position in office. And so at the end of the day, I think that supersedes all of these other issues that the four of us know about because we're kind of nerds for this stuff. But average Minnesotans are gonna have a feeling of whatever we're doing today is not working, we gotta try something different.
Tara: So, Tony, you know, I I think about this a lot. I'm again as a moderate Democrat, I literally don't know what Democrats want to do nationally. And all they're doing is running against the most corrupt politician I think in the history of our country, but they're not telling anybody. What they want to do for us. Like, what are you hearing from people? I I'm not hearing a strategic messaging from the Democrats on a national level. And I wonder if you think, is our party, is the party too big? And is our umbrella like just too big and we can't appease everybody? So they're just running against Trump.
Tony: Yeah, that's a that's a good question. And it reminds me of my favorite Marty Cypherism is the left hand doesn't know what the far left hand is doing. And I always appreciated that. That was his best line ever, and I'll give you full credit for it, Marty. And I love
Marty Seifert: You were never part of the far left hand, Tony. You were always part of the normals.
Tony: that's all right. But but I I love that because I I think there's some humor in it, but I think there's actually something beautiful in it as well. In order to get stuff done, you need a majority of people. And so we've always had a big tent. And as a former majority leader, I'm going to take you into caucuses. We're not supposed to talk about what happened in caucuses. and and and I've and I've heard from folks more recently that this still happens. And I actually heard that this happened before I was a caucus leader. I don't know if it happens in the Republican side. But when people had the vent about what wasn't working in our caucus, it always came down to two things. We need a message and we need a strategy. And even if you had one, people would say, well, you need a message and a strategy. And so this is age-old. This isn't something that's brand new to date. And when you have a super huge tent, it's hard to have that strategic communication, not just at the national level. And and and this is going to be a change election. And so it really You know, we could try to figure out what our 14-point plan is on changing the world, and people do need to have ideas to be brought forward. but what I'm hearing from average Minnesotans is the systems aren't working for us today. We need to blow this up. We need new systems. And so I think folks are more listening less to a particular
Mary Lahammer: So just do
Tony: idea or here's what I'm going to do, but that they're looking out for them and they want to change the system. And that's where I think it's showing up on both the left and the right. That's why I think Donald Trump got into office the first time is he said, I'm gonna blow the system up. Bernie Sanders said, I'm gonna blow the system up. And so for people on the Iron Range who were supporting Bernie Sanders, they said, I like that guy who wants to blow the system up because I'm feeling unseen and unheard. And then when he lost, they turned to Trump and said, Okay, here's another person who wants to blow the system up. And so that's why people even shifted ideologically from one end to the other. And so yes, Tara, better messaging, better strategy always. I think we could say the same about the Republicans because the Republicans' message is whatever Donald Trump says.
Tara: So, but I will say with that, like, I think about that it's seems really easy to run as a Republican because it's more about what you want to ensure that people don't have. We don't want to allow these people to have these things. So, I mean, like, you know, currently US speaker Mike Johnson is kind of talking about right sizing Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. I mean, essentially kind of running on we're gonna cut this for everybody. when you don't want people to really have anything, I think it's really easy to run on that. And we feel the opposite. And Marty, I'd like you to, you know, to jump in with that. But like I believe one thing that unites both parties and Americans is immigration reform. Hands down, 100% that's people want safe borders, but they also want legal And for people, Marty, you talked about people coming up and working, you know, working in your old district. We
Marty Seifert: Great.
Tara: need that. But he blew up, Trump blew up the bipartisan bill. They're not talking about doing anything on immigration. And we're just throwing people, brown and black people, into buildings where people are dying every week. People are dying. There's it's always about politics and never policy. And I'm And can you tell how mad I am? I'm so sick of it. Yep.
Marty Seifert: Yeah, like, well, yeah, it's like how do you get solutions done? And I I I think to your point and Tony's a minute ago is like the mess well to Tony's point exactly, the message gets muddled when the DSA people have the megaphone and say no borders. Because what you
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: just said made sense to a lot of people. And that's like, well, no, the the the Democrats are for no borders, which I mean most people that I know that are Democrats in my area are for having a controlled border. But they're not the ones with the megaphone. And
Tara: Absolutely. Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: so when Mondami is the my megaphone saying we're gonna have government owned grocery stores and the means of production and government needs to seize private property. I mean, that the same genteel Democrats I was talking about 15 minutes ago that like Angie Craig, for example, are very, very worried about the party veering way too far to the left. And then the middle has this choice of of this very you know difficult situation of like if the party keeps running people way, way, way to the left that say no borders, abolish the US Senate, kind of this crazy stuff. by default, the Democrats are gonna have to somehow figure out how to out-megaphone those folks. I don't know how you do it, but it it at at some point, and you don't want to silence them, obviously, but like Tony said you try to work it out in caucus years ago, but now the caucus has turned into the House floor. Yeah. And so you're like airing these like really crazy grievances out in on the national press, on Sunday morning programs and so forth. And and because of social media, which didn't exist that much when I was running the first time,
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: It w anytime things are said it it gets spread like wildfire. So I I feel like the Democrats need to like you know, p I know if you and Tony can somehow get you know, get in control of the message, but like they need people that are a little more on the mainstream side of things with the megaphone, if that makes sense.
Mary Lahammer: Right, but Marty
Tony: But I can tell you but I can tell you here's my prediction though. Democrats are gonna have a strong message right after this primary because there is one politician in Minnesota we haven't heard a lot of that we're gonna start hearing of right after the primary, and that's our governor candidate, Amy Klobuchar. And she's gonna have a laser s laser sharp message on affordability that prices are too high, gas is too high, food is too high, housing, child care, you name it. And she is one who's gonna come out with a list of policies. And and she's gonna be the leader on the ticket. And you can talk about US Senate or governor or anything, but we're gonna have a strong message in Minnesota about affordability that I think folks are gonna fall fall into and and get behind. And so so that's I think w right now, once again, we're talking about the variations of difference in primaries, and that's where messages can really get muddled because that's where the different sides of the political party are trying to cut out of like what what policy positions could be on top. But Come after this primary and starting on TV and starting all over the state, you're gonna see a strong affordability message from Democrats led by Amy Klobuchar.
Mary Lahammer: We haven't talked about Clobichar much. And Marty, it's quite possible if Republicans put somebody like Mike Lindell up, Clobuchar could do quite well against Mike Lindell. And meanwhile, Republicans, Marty, as we were talking, you're pretty excited about electability was gonna matter if Michelle Tefoya and Elisa Damath came out of the Republican side, Republicans were maybe gonna win a statewide race for the first time in a long time. Are there other races? We talked about attorney general. We haven't talked about auditor. That's wide open. Somehow, Marty, is this the year that Republicans break the DFL lock on statewide races and you still break through?
Marty Seifert: Un statewide. Yeah, I mean they they they came s ever so close four years ago with an a tenth of a percent an auditor, a tenth of a percent
Tara: The auditor.
Marty Seifert: on on attorney general. Those
Mary Lahammer: Yeah.
Marty Seifert: were the two. you know, some people argue that that the abortion issue just sunk the Republicans four years ago, just all the way up and down the ticket. that's what caused the trifecta, that you know, Jensen's campaign was struggling and was out fundraised and so forth. now you've got A whole d you know, you don't hear frankly about abortion a whole lot this year, but it's a whole different dynamic of Trump and Walls, the economy, whatever. you know, the the the s the fractured primary means something. I mean, in Colorado, they nominated an extremely bad candidate, and like the legislative candidates are all running for the hills trying to figure out what to say, what to do, to even be seen with this guy. And so, you know, as these states line up. I I have faith that the Republicans that vote in the primary are gonna make the right decisions. they often they use
Mary Lahammer: We don't think that'll sink the rest of the ticket if there's a weak governor or US Senate candidate at the top of Republican ticket. Yeah.
Marty Seifert: Yeah, I mean it it absolutely could sink a lot of these swing districts will be will be in in very difficult situation. I mean I just saw an analysis that was released yesterday in a a map Intel or whatever it's called or political Intel. you know, and they they give the Democrats the edge for the legislature, but not like a sure thing.
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: it is an off year of the president, and so they get kind of a natural a natural bump.
Mary Lahammer: Yep. Yep. That always happens in my terms. Yep. Yep.
Marty Seifert: But because of the geography of things, there there are some rural Democrats that could be in trouble. But then on the flip side you have some Metro Republicans that could be in trouble. So you even that all out and you end up with this situation of the very close race.
Mary Lahammer: The other thing we didn't talk about is Democrats
Tara: I think it's the same.
Mary Lahammer: for the first time apparently in Minnesota history filed in all 201 seats. Let's talk to both of you because it was I think each of your responsibilities to help recruit candidates. Does that matter much? Because if a wave is coming, does it help to just at least have someone there on the ballot if a huge issue drops, if a huge wave hits? You mentioned, you know, abortion ended up being that wave. We still don't know. Politics has gotten so volatile and so unpredictable. How big is it to just file somebody in every single district?
Marty Seifert: I think it's a big thing. I congratulate the Democrats for for doing it. We had when I
Mary Lahammer: Yeah.
Marty Seifert: was leader, we had both cycles. We had 134 seats, and I think it it it means something. You know, are there some Democrats in Minneapolis that might go on a post because you can't find someone these 85% districts? Yeah, I get that. But Woodbury, Minnetonka, Mankato, Plymouth, like really? I mean, these seats are not monumentally
Tara: They couldn't find a republican.
Marty Seifert: Democrat seats. They are at best 53 to 55%
Mary Lahammer: Those used to be swing districts, yes.
Marty Seifert: districts in some cases. I'm just like the House candidate Mankato, I think, had 43% last cycle, and and now nobody. So what does the what does Luke Frederick probably do? He probably goes into North Mankato and campaigns against a refreshman Republican who barely won last cycle. That's what
Tara: Uh-huh.
Marty Seifert: happens. It it's not necessarily about Is Luke Frederick gonna win or not? He probably is gonna win. But at the end of the day, when you have to look over your shoulder and you have to do a little bit of this and that, get some signs up, do some fundraising, it just keeps you a little bit busier in your district because you are in a you know 55 to 57 percent DFL seat, but you have to kind of mind your P's and Q's. Now you don't have to do anything. Now you can just go camp out in Erica Schwartz's district 24/7. And if she ends up losing by 50 votes. I would attribute it to what Mary just said. You need to have people in all these seats.
Mary Lahammer: Yeah. And that's the St. Peter district that has been swinging back and forth. Yeah. You know, control the legislature, Tony, is a big deal. Could you know this could mean a trifecta, right? If if those swing districts, like Marty said, if you don't have to run at home and you can go to the neighboring district that decides control the legislature, and if you you win governor, I mean it's it's huge, right? Control the legislature is huge.
Tony: Absolutely. But first to the point that Marty was making is when when you have people in every legislative district, when you have candidates in every legislative district, that helps the whole ballot. And so as well, when we're talking about an attorney general's race or an auditor's race last time that was so razor thin, if you've got candidates in every district, you have a little bit of organizing that's happening. And if you pull even a few more from your party onto the ballot to vote your side of the ticket, you're helping statewide. But then to your point, Mary. For those Minnesotans that are frustrated that stuff doesn't get done and why is there gridlock and why is there fighting and why can't we get something done? It's usually not the governor's fault. It's usually the legislature and they're your friends and neighbors and the people you might not know about. And and and that's where also candidates, if they've got shoe leather and they door knock and they develop those relationships, they can help stem some of the tide of these wave elections that we may be seeing. Now you can't completely fight it sometimes, a wave election, but you can You can fight through it in some of these close races. And and that's where actually I think the magic happens. And that's where things get decided, is in that in the legislative body. And so it it that that's gonna matter to Minnesotans' lives probably more than who their US senator is, quite frankly, because they're gonna get stuff done here in Minnesota and it's the elections that don't get as much attention.
Tara: Tony, can I ask you a question? you know, I mean, I know people think that there's going to be a trifecta, you know, again. And I think a lot of policies that Democrats did were popular, but I also believe some of them went, you know, too far. So maybe our paid family medical leave, which is something that seems to be very popular on a national level. We're one of the only industrialized countries in the world that doesn't have something like that. But maybe our bill went too far. Are do you believe that there is a way to maybe temper what you know the very extreme liberal DSA are going to be pushing for if the trifecta comes? And I do believe it'll be helpful, I guess, if Amy Clobuchar is governor during that time.
Tony: Yeah, I I think regardless of who's in the legislature, I think your mini average Minnesotan voter wanna see things get done. And we're in an era right now when you have divided government, gridlock happens. And I think that Minnesotans hate that more than dislike paid family leave for their families. And so I I di I didn't see it going Too far. And so I think I think at the end of the day, Minnesotans want to get stuff done. And
Mary Lahammer: Yeah, I think.
Tony: I kind of find it humorous sometimes when my Republicans say, well, divided government is great because there's a check and balance. And wouldn't that be fun? But I think if you would get them away from microphones and the press and ask them, wouldn't you want to be in charge of everything? They wouldn't be saying, Well, divided government's great. We should really go back to divided government. And so I think that's just what some folks say when they haven't been in charge for a while. And so I just fall back to Minnesotans. want to blow up the system. They want they want their government to run better. They do not want gridlock. And I think that they rate that ahead of having all all of one party in charge.
Mary Lahammer: Marty, we take the flip side of that. we've been quoting lots of leaders. I remember Steve Swiggham saying balance. You want balance.
Marty Seifert: Right. Right. Well, I mean, it it's for those of us who have observed the trifect of the Democrats, the the the people shaking in their boots the most were the Democrat lobbyists because they're just like, Where is this gonna like this is just way out of control. There's no chat there's no gov not governor meaning walls, but like governor on the engine to slow things down and to be deliberate. It just was like ram things through. We don't care what the consequences are. And the paid family leave. My son's opponent is saying the paid family leave thing isn't working right. I mean, so you know, for the de for the Democrats in some of these seats, I think they talk to their small business people and they talk to employers and say there are some changes that need to be made. But then you've got like Education Minnesota's questionnaire said, Will you oppose every single change, any change to paid leave? Like you are not allowed to deviate. You're not allowed to do anything different. No, Nick Friends just put no.
Tara: yeah. Yeah.
Marty Seifert: I read his questionnaire online and he was honest about it. He just said, no, I am not gonna oppose any change because there are problems with it. So hats
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: off to him for at least being honest. But I'm sure a lot of the candidates are like, hey, I have to answer, I have to answer what the yeah,
Mary Lahammer: We did a whole Spin Sisters podcast with him about it, by the way. We will plug that.
Marty Seifert: what the interest groups want. And so, I mean, I'll give some some credit where credit is due. And someone just says, No, we do need some changes. But at the end of the day, Steve Swiggham was right. We need balance. So there's balance within the party, and you tell the DSA people to kind of go away, or the Republicans have to tell fringy people to go away. that's where maturity comes forward. And you just have to say to the kids in the candy store, hey, we you're not allowed to just break the glass and take whatever you want. we we do need to have some semblance of competitiveness with our other states. We can't just be ridiculous. So I d I don't know if people are gonna purposely go into the ballot box and say, hmm, I think we need a Republican Senate and a Democrat House. And I mean, I just don't think people vote like that. I they just don't. And that it doesn't work that way. It's all district by district. As Tony said, a lot of this is federalized. Th I do think that some districts will tilt one way or another. I mean, you talk about Grand House Child. He has two Republican House members. So
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: obviously someone's splitting their tickets up there. or
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: we wouldn't have the situation that we have. Judy Seeberger has two Republican House members. So obviously somebody is is flipping around. Jim Abler, I think, might be the other way with two Democrats. So
Mary Lahammer: And that's why Minnesota
Tara: Yeah.
Mary Lahammer: is so interesting and we love talking about politics.
Tara: okay.
Mary Lahammer: And I think you guys honestly maybe agreed more than you disagreed to. Another reason we enjoy Minnesota politics and you too, Marty and Tony. Really good stuff, Tara.
Tara: be honest, I don't really enjoy any of it right now. I'm I'm getting angrier
Mary Lahammer: sorry.
Tara: by the month. I don't know. I I just yeah I'm angry all the time about politics in this country and in the state and I just want people to work together and I want it to be about policy and not politics and it never is and that's frustrating me. Yeah.
Marty Seifert: We just want normalcy. I've told people a lot of us just want normalcy. And yeah, it's tough.
Tara: Mm-hmm. Yeah. But I do like talking to both of you. So that is great. so thank you for doing this. And obviously we're gonna ask you again. Ca I just think it's really good to have your take on, you know, what's happening and especially from a geographic level as well, but then just your experience and leading your caucuses. So thank you for this. Next week's gonna be really interesting.
Marty Seifert: Thanks for having
Tony: Thank you.
Marty Seifert: us.
Mary Lahammer: Thank you.
Tara: Thank you. Bye.
Marty Seifert: Right.
Mary Lahammer: And I'm Mary Lahammer and backed by Popular Demand, former legislative leaders, Democrat from up north, Tony Sernich, and Marty Seifert, Republican from Southern Minnesota. Well, we're gonna talk about the primary election and the general election ahead. And let's start Marty Seifert, because you're out on the campaign trail. Full disclosure, your son is running for the state senate, earned the endorsement of the party. Let's talk about lawmakers who have. Primaries 'cause there's a handful. Can we put in a bucket? Is there any generalizations of people who got challengers?
Marty Seifert: You know, I that's a good question, Mary. I think part of it is the district you're in. If people feel like, hey, for example, Senator Utke up in in the Park Rapids area is being challenged by one of his own House members. Part of that was provoked. I don't think it's a personal dispute. I just Representative Wiener promised his constituents I'd only serve two terms, but still loves being in the legislature. So then you look around, you're like, Okay, do I break my promise? Or what else can I do? I guess I'll challenge my incumbent senator of the same party. And so I don't know that there's a lot of policy differences per se in some of these races. I know that there's some primaries going on. for example, in Little Falls, Sen Senator Wiesenberg, who is you know, arguably the most conservative member of the Senate, is being challenged by businesswoman Deb Holthis. And that one is a very closely watched race, as well as the Otke Wiener one. And then there is also one an open seat in that central Minnesota area in Sartell. Jeff Howe is retiring from the Senate, and there's two candidates running. The endorsed candidate is being challenged by a county commissioner. so that one I those those three races I think are probably the most watched races on the Republican Senate.
Mary Lahammer: More Republicans, right, Marty, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, and if I could jump it, I think it's more Republican lawmakers, more Republican primaries. I I mean there's some DFL but Yeah.
Marty Seifert: Senator Latz is probably the highest profile Democrat in St. Louis Park. he has a challenger that was recruited by one of his House members. So that one is being really that's gonna be an expensive race, and I think it's gonna write down to the wire. Their endorsing convention was within two votes and they agreed after the first ballot. Let just never mind. Let's just go to the primary.
Mary Lahammer: Tony, how do you manage that? Cause some of this is House versus Senate, intra party battles. I mean, as a former leader, how do you does the caucus spend money? Do you stay out? Like what what do you do?
Tony: Yeah, there's different lanes of thought on that, but really the buckets I I would put this into is you see primarily these primaries happening for the Republicans in Greater Minnesota and for the DFL side of things in the Metro or Twin Cities. And you don't see this in swing districts either. There's not a competitive race really where they're trying to figure out who the best candidate is. So I think it really comes down to folks on more of the more extreme sides mostly saying you've either haven't done enough or you've been there too long. Those are really, I think, the two messages that come out. And and Marty, you talk about folks who make promises about term limits. I see that happen in my time in the legislature. People come in and say, I'm only gonna do this so long. And then they get intoxicated by the legislature and politics. And it's like, well, let's figure out a way to stick around for a while. Term limits always sound better, I think, on the outside, but once you get in, it's hard, I think, for some folks to get away. Even though I'll just remind all my political friends, life is really good on the outside.
Mary Lahammer: Where both of you live, right.
Tara: So we did see
Marty Seifert: I agree
Tara: that. Yeah, we did see
Marty Seifert: with the
Tara: that like with Senator Wellstone, right? I mean, he said he was only going to do a couple of terms and then decided to run
Marty Seifert: Right.
Tara: for a third. Tony, what are you hearing up north on what has kind of happened with the wildfires up north? how are voters feeling about that issue. It does look like there was quite a bit of funding cut that had already been appropriated to kind of deal with a lot of, you know, the brush and maybe to thin out part of the superior national forest where the fires were. What are you hearing from voters up north?
Tony: a a big sense of fear actually about the economy. And up north, and actually most voters mostly care about the economy these days, but for up north you're talking about outfitters and communities like Ely and all the way up the North Shore, where they make the bulk of their money for the entire year in the months of June, July, and August. And if you take two, three, four weeks off the rolls of their ability to make money, they might not be able to survive. And there's another interesting factor as well. The air is very clear up here today and has been for a long time. But if you're in the metro area or if you're somewhere else in Minnesota and you read that there is smoke and fires, you assume that that's happening every day, all the time. And
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Tony: so there's just a general sense that this is really going to hit those communities hard. And we might see some businesses who might not make it because they've lost revenue here in this month.
Mary Lahammer: Tony, could it affect a legislative race? Because that was a national headline. National news organizations were publishing stories saying doge cuts could affect a race. And that came from a DFL challenger to the Republican incumbent. And the range has turned red. Could it really be an issue up there?
Tony: I it may. I mean, it certainly that would be more in Congressman Stouber's wheelhouse, but that
Mary Lahammer: Mm-hmm.
Tony: would be an accumulation of things, whether you're talking about these cuts, the cuts to health care that are gonna impact hospitals and others. If there is a a building sense that once again, a legislator who's been there for a while, in this case a congressperson, who is not ta kind of tending to the home issues, certainly this could be a case. I don't think a one off it wouldn't be a one off issue though.
Mary Lahammer: Okay, but really it's not gonna probably be competitive on a congressional or legislative layer up there. Or or you don't know. Who knows? Okay.
Tony: This I this won't be the tipping issue. I was at a a meeting up in Ely where Senator Hoschild, a Democrat, and Representative Scrabo a Republican,
Mary Lahammer: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Tony: were sitting side by side trying to figure out how to solve this issue.
Mary Lahammer: It's yeah, it's been very bipartisan. Marty, there's talk about special session. I thought, you know, you're still at the Capitol quite a bit. I thought we had cured the need for special session for any natural disasters. Is it still necessary or is this so big that maybe we do need a special session?
Marty Seifert: it's a good question, Mary. I honestly don't know if they kept enough money in that set aside fund. That was a Representative Pulowski idea to prevent special sessions, was have the set aside money that could be signed off for disasters of sorts. I don't know how much is in that, but it's a good idea. Yep. Right, exactly. right.
Mary Lahammer: a good idea in theory, right? So that governors didn't constantly need to be calling the legislature back because natural disasters were the norm. Right.
Marty Seifert: And they have to quantify, you know, obviously all the the matching money, usually the lot of this is is shouldered by the federal government, but there's some cost shares that have to be put in place. But I wouldn't be shocked if there was a special session at some point. But I just think with the rhetoric around the elections, it's gonna be pretty difficult to have one before before November fourth, I think it would be difficult.
Mary Lahammer: Right. And other things could get rolled in, right? I mean, that's the problem.
Tara: Yeah.
Tony: And this is a unique yeah.
Mary Lahammer: You open up a can of worms when you call lawmakers back in an
Marty Seifert: Right. Yep.
Mary Lahammer: election year.
Marty Seifert: Yep. I
Tony: And this is a unique natural disaster as well, is where it's a lot really about the smoke and it's a lot about what happened somewhere else in other natural disasters and Representative Seifert and I were involved in quite a few of them where we would go visit someplace that got flooded out and you could see the businesses and the homes that were impacted. In this case, it's more operations. The fire happened in the boundary waters wilderness area. So businesses weren't directly impacted. You couldn't go to an outfitter and look at the damage. The damage is to their bottom line
Tara: Sure.
Tony: because people then show up. And so it's a different type of natural disaster that has more of an economic impact. And if I can equate it to something else, it's more or more operational. So it would more be like what the response happened in COVID, saying your business was damaged because of something that happened elsewhere or something that is impacting a barrier to your business than looking at actual damage. And so I think that's a uniqueness about this. But Mary, I think you're exactly right. You try to call a special session about this and many would say that not enough was done for the response to Operation Metro surge. And then you get all two hundred and one legislators who are on the ballot in various different ways who have their needs and wants and a microphone and cameras there at a grandstand and it gets really hard really fast.
Tara: Yep. I just don't believe that you could wrangle and herd those cats on either side of the aisle, especially yeah.
Marty Seifert: I think it'll be tough.
Mary Lahammer: Right. Paid family leave. We ha we had some of the Republican candidates for governor on Almanac Friday night and they were asked special session. They both said, Yeah, great idea. And let's address paid family leave because that is a crisis hitting Minnesota businesses statewide as well. And they said, Let's let's deal with that and maybe repeal that or reform that. So that was another preview of issues that would bubble up. Don't you think, Marty, you're hearing that when you're out on the campaign trail?
Marty Seifert: Yeah. I th I think I think it's difficult. you know, if Speaker Damuth is the nominee after next Tuesday, you know, how how does she thread that needle of telling Republicans like, yeah, we should have a special session, but only for stuff we want to talk about. or how do you not put things on the table they do want to talk about? that's why I just think it's untenable to try to put something together. between now and the election because there's there's all these kind of sub dynamics of politics.
Tara: So Marty, that's a good segue. I'm assuming that you are supporting Speaker Damuth for governor. And I guess I maybe shouldn't assume, but I don't know if you're supporting my pillow guy, Mike Lindell.
Marty Seifert: I'm I'm I'm I'm keeping my my head down on the governor's race a little bit. I have my preferences,
Tara: Okay.
Marty Seifert: but you know, with my son running for the Senate, we've got people in the campaign committee that are frankly for all three candidates, and it's a topic that is purposely avoided in discussions because you just have people that they're they're they're all for ciphered for Senate, but then you get into these other races like US Senate and governor and people are at each other's throats, and so we just kinda sidestep that for now.
Tara: So what are you hearing from Republicans right now? I mean, every
Marty Seifert: No.
Tara: poll kind of shows Lindell looks like he's probably gonna take this because of the Trump factor. with
Marty Seifert: That's
Tara: very short on policy, very short on seeming to understand, you know, a lot of different things. And I would you know, I just think it would be unfortunate if Republicans pass by obviously a very qualified candidate again.
Marty Seifert: Yeah, I mean the primary electorate is it averages about thirteen percent in Minnesota. Half of that or over half of that is DFL. less than half of that is Republicans. So essentially they're gonna be fighting over about six percent of six out of one hundred people are gonna decide who these nominees are. So when everybody's like,
Tara: Yeah.
Marty Seifert: you know, this is a consensus. It is it is a very difficult thing to poll when people say Lindell's ahead or Damuth is ahead or whatever, these various polls. none of them mean a whole lot because you have a huge 20 to 30 percent undecided. And then how do you know who's gonna vote? There's people are gonna be voting in these primaries that have never voted before or rarely vote in primaries, and then you look at the turnout will bump up in places like you know, Morrison County where Senator Wiesenberg has this challenge. Senator Utke has this challenge. So you're gonna have these areas of the state that have maybe 20 to 30% turnout because they have a a a hotly contested sheriff's race,
Mary Lahammer: So
Marty Seifert: house race in Little Falls, Senate race in Little Falls. So you're gonna have like this, I think you could have a third to half the turnout in in some of these counties. And then you have other areas that are very laxadaisical, ho hum, no local races, no nonpartisan races, and you're gonna be down at 10%. So I I think it's an open I I mean, I think it's gonna be between Speaker Damuth and and Mike Lindell, just based on what I'm hearing and observing. That's no ding on Kendall Falls.
Mary Lahammer: And the endorsed candidate will not get through, which is huge, huge news for the Republican Party where the endorsement has held for you know decades. Right. Yeah.
Marty Seifert: I mean we we Yeah, for sure. I mean we don't know yeah, we don't know, but I just think the the lack of resources are really trying for both
Mary Lahammer: James.
Marty Seifert: of the endorsed candidates for Senate and Governor on the Republican side. And you don't have money for ads and you don't have a super PAC supporting you, and you don't have na natural name ID like Mike Lindell has this kind of built in name ID. It's really tough, I think, to to survive that. It it's getting testy, but on the flip side, the Democrats have a testy race for US Senate. And so, you know, I'll be down at Farm Fest on Wednesday to watch all of this drama play out.
Tara: That is a big venue for people. definitely for, you know, rural Minnesota and and for rural citizens to just hear from most of the big candidates on both sides of the aisle. Marty, what do you think? you know, folks from your area that you represented out by Marshall, a lot of farmers, what do you think they're hoping to hear?
Marty Seifert: You know, I think there's obviously concern about tariffs and exports, but that's more of a federal issue. You're the governor's not gonna solve that. That's but on the US Senate side, that certainly is gonna be a a discussion point. What are you gonna do for value added, particularly on the grain side, soybeans in particular? I mean, if you're a cattle farmer, beef prices are very, very good right now. So, you know, if you're if you're on if you're on the cattle side, you're doing okay and you're feeding them cheap corn. So you're doing all right. Ethanol industry is good. I'm on two ethanol boards. I mean, ethanol is doing well. I think it's it's mainly those who are are particularly on the soybean side, on the corn side, looking for answers on new uses, new markets, value added processing and exports. and also the the clumsiness I I would say of of permitting. you know, we're going through putting in a new boiler. You have to get new air permits. We're turning trucks away at two o'clock in the afternoon because of the ambient air permit issue. And you know, as Tony mentioned earlier, some of these things aren't necessarily Democrat Republican. Like, you know, the Iron Rangers would be frustrated with some of that time consuming MPCA stuff too. So I think all of those things will be discussion items on the governor's race.
Mary Lahammer: And and one more thing, Marty, because people like Michelle Tefoya, NFL broadcaster, or Mike Lindell, they need to get briefed so that they sound knowledgeable in front of a group of farmers, right? So they should be doing their homework and getting up to speed ahead of this so that they sound
Marty Seifert: Yes.
Mary Lahammer: slightly knowledgeable.
Marty Seifert: Yes, the people the people listening in the tent, there'll be over a thousand people in the tent,
Mary Lahammer: Yes.
Marty Seifert: but you know, almost more importantly, if they have the Linder Farm Network simulcasting this or WCCO or whoever, that's your main audience is this big broad audience. The t the tent is
Mary Lahammer: Yes. Yep. Yes. Yep.
Marty Seifert: important because if you get interrupted with applause or you get booed, obviously that's not a good thing.
Mary Lahammer: It's the mood. Yes.
Marty Seifert: And so you have to perform you don't necessarily have to hit it out of the park, but they can see through the BS pretty quickly.
Mary Lahammer: Absolutely. And Tony, on the flip side, it's the DFL is still technically the Democratic farmer labor. So, you know, somebody like Peggy Flanagan has to prove Angie Craig, you know, sits on egg. She can talk ag. She's been there a million times. But somebody like Flanagan still has to prove she's got the farmer part of the farmer labor. And Democrats have to try and hold on to the farmer part of the farmer labor at FarmFest, don't they?
Tony: Hundred percent, yes. And the good news on on our side is both of them and Amy Klobuchar have spent time at Farm Fest in the past. So they've they've had their reps and have been immersed in these issues and I think will be more comfortable being there. And of course, if you're talking about that US Senate race, tariffs are gonna be front and center. on that issue and we know that both Lieutenant Governor Flan Flanagan and Congresswoman Craig really want to see a change of what's happening in Washington DC on those issues.
Mary Lahammer: So lots of briefing happening and Flanagan has the most to prove, right? That she is well versed in farm issues and and can talk egg and, you know, knows her way around a a tent and a combine and all those things at Farm Fest.
Tony: Absolutely. As a as a metro politician, definitely. But you know, in her time as Lieutenant Governor, she's been out there as well.
Tara: Yeah.
Tony: And so she she's had her time in developing those relationships and learning and understanding the issues.
Tara: So let's go ahead.
Marty Seifert: Think I think there's a fulcrum point partly with Farm Fest that Angie Craig, Amy Klobuchar, having been like involved in the agriculture committees, both in the House and Senate, are very adept at navigating some of the issues where the Democrats have a left right on on egg issues like animal rights, for example. are you gonna require these really restrictive California standards? That would really hurt animal agriculture in Minnesota, make it expensive, price people out from expanding or being able to have their hog barns and so forth. where Amy Klobucher and Angie Craig kind of know how to maneuver that and say, hey, farmers know best. we've trusted them to run their farms. What we've done in Minnesota works, it's a local issue, whatever. Is Peggy Flanagan able to navigate questions like that if they're brought up? Or is she going to kind of take the side of, well, We we need to have more restrictions, et cetera. So that that's the that's the issue that I've always been fairly impressed. I've got I've been a farm fest since I was a little kid. And Tim Walls, Amy Klobuchar, they knew how to maneuver those issues. And that's the trick for a new Democrat coming in is are they able to kind of maneuver to be what I would say is at least minimally acceptable to the old FL and the DFL.
Tara: Mm-hmm. Let's switch to this US Senate race. Obviously, we have a primary on for you know for both parties. Tony, I wanna start with you. what are you hearing from northern Minnesota? you and I, grew up up, you know, in the Iron Range and where it was a real, you know, DFL stronghold for a really long time and and it and it isn't anymore. What are some of the issues in northern Minnesota that people are talking about? And who do you think is probably placating to those issues the most?
Tony: Yeah, I'll start with what Marty said a while ago is the universe of people that are going to be voting in this primary is very tiny. And so a lot of them are the very committed, the ones that have been involved in endorsing conventions and and likewise. And so they're a little bit more on the inside baseball and the palace intrigue that happens. And so that's why I think you see two candidates who are both of the same political party and trying to figure out where are those few issues that differentiate us. So that we can be the choice for our party. And so a lot of it has, I think, unfortunately centered on who's raising money from who, which candidates have gotten endorsements from other politicians. And for the voters, and even the ones that are really committed in the primary, those aren't their top issues. Their top issues are affordability, other top issues are the economy. You know, I'm gonna be going to national night out tonight. and we're taping this on on this Tuesday, and I'm gonna go grab my hot dog and talk to my neighbors. And they're not gonna talk about who's fundraising from who. They're probably not even gonna talk about politics, but what they're gonna talk about is God, gas is way too expensive. And that fire up in Ely has ruined my summer vacation plans. And so who is speaking to those issues? And quite candidly, I haven't heard either one of them really spend a lot of time talking about those issues. But on the plus side, I heard their debate, their one and only debate on MPR. And the only question I cared about that they answered was If the other candidate wins, are you going to support them? And the answer was yes. And so my hope is, you know, in this era where there aren't a lot of differences. Now, granted, if you're in our party, the differences that have been brought up around a few key votes matter and fraud matters. But at the end of the day, the other one's going to support the other candidate. And we've got to really pivot to be talking about those issues that everyday Minnesotans who are going to decide this general election are going to be thinking about. And those are issues around affordability. I and what's gonna be better in their lives.
Mary Lahammer: And I will say, Tony, they did also debate on public television at the beginning of the campaign. So public radio and public TV both had the DFL US Senate debate. Marty, Republican US Senate candidates are not debating anywhere. Michelle Tavoya, who is a media professional, is not doing media other than paid media.
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Mary Lahammer: talk to me why she's playing it safe. Is her name ID so great and her money so great that she doesn't need traditional media and are Republicans really poised to pick a pro choice Republican? Is that gonna happen?
Tara: How pro choice though.
Marty Seifert: Yeah,
Mary Lahammer: Yeah.
Marty Seifert: my my understanding is she is gonna be at FarmFest tomorrow. They're having they're having the forum. I wouldn't really call it a debate. I mean I was I I I ran for governor and it's it's more of a forum than debate, but she's yeah, she's she's definitely not
Mary Lahammer: Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But she's not really doing interviews. She's not really doing traditional media.
Marty Seifert: pushing around with the media and hungry with the media because I think she has the resources to to to lay her message out without gotcha questions or being chased around. And I know that's frustrating for the other people. running for the US Senate, but you know, at the end of the day, you know, why should she? I think she she probably feels that she's in a comfortable position. She's in a pole position right now to to win the primary. you know, I hear people at parades and door knocking just, you know, in my neck of the woods. And I I would think that right now she probably would would have the edge. But you don't know like Tony said, it's a small electorate, it's the people that are very involved. I could I could see her getting snuck up on, but you know, when I open my Facebook feed, when I turn on the television, when I open the mailbox, I see two candidates on the Republican side that are very overwhelming in all of those markets, and I don't see anybody else. And so
Mary Lahammer: And what are those two candidates, just to be clear? Yes.
Marty Seifert: The it it's the two female candidates. It's Lisa Damuth and and Michelle Tefoya. you know, I've probably have gotten three or four mailings in the last couple weeks. I did get a super pack mailing on behalf of Schwarzy yesterday. That was I think the first one that I've gotten. but my Facebook feed is is overwhelmingly full of stuff from those two. And then my my wife and I make it at kind of a a point to watch the news. at at noon six or ten, at least a few times a week. there's a there's a lot of ads and it it seems like overwhelmingly Angie Craig on the DFL side and Lisa Damouth on the Republican side for governor and then to a lesser extent Tefoya during those media. They have the money to do it.
Mary Lahammer: They have the money. They have the money. It does look like the boy is doing a lot of parades. Have you I know you've been out w with your son. On the parade circuit. Yeah. Have you seen her? Okay.
Marty Seifert: She's she's been at some. I n I know she did quite a few over Fourth of July. I know she was in Blaine. I know Schwarzy has done a lot of parades. I don't know that Royce White has done many, he's polling in second place. I know Damouth has done a a lot of parades. Lindell was doing parades and then kind of announced like a month ago I'm not doing any more parades, and I don't know what that that was, but it was kind of like
Mary Lahammer: Well, he does have a complaint against him and there was a hearing because yeah, 'cause he was like
Tara: For throwing out pillows, yeah.
Marty Seifert: Well yeah, I mean the fully fund days I I talked to a legislator up there and he said they were throwing, you know, like forty dollar pillows out and I'd you know, when I ran for the legislature and the campaign finance board said advisories out, they cautioned against handing candy out or fly swatters
Tara: Bamble. Yeah.
Marty Seifert: or oven mitts. They said anything that smacks of something of value, we were supposed to stay away from that and we were cautioned very heavily about boy, I don't know that you should be handing Tootsie Rolls out because that that has some intrinsic value. Just literature and stickers is what my campaign did, just to play it safe. And then your campaign signs. So this business of throwing a hay rack full of pillows out, I just kind of, you know, whether you're for or against Lindell, I was like, I d you know, what if you handed out gold bars that's that paid and prepared for by so so for governor? People would say, gee, I don't think that would would meet the smell test. So as you go down from gold bar to pillows, you know, to candy, the pillows are somewhere between that. And I think the campaign board is gonna frown on that. I that's just my gut feeling.
Tony: Well, I want to take it back though to this whole conversation about primaries and who's showing up and who's getting interviews. I actually like the fact that we have a very competitive US Senate race because you have two candidates and yes, they have a lot of name ID, and yes, they have a lot of experience. And not that the Republicans would listen to advice from a former DFL guy like me, but if Michelle Tefoya is gonna stay in this bubble wrap, yes, she has resources to do campaign ads, but that then really just ratchets up. when she is eventually interviewed or when she eventually debates a Democrat and is confronted with not the comfort of a sideline interview or reading a teleprompter, but in real time having these interactions. And so that just really I think ratchets up the pressure. And so Republicans, if they if if she's the candidate, they're putting a lot of eggs in the basket of somebody who's untested on the campaign trail. Politics is a different beast than sports reporting. And yes, you can you can
Mary Lahammer: She never does a debate and never does an interview. And what if the DFLer ends up beat up, bludgeoned, and has really high negatives because they come out of this, you know, two-tested? Is that possible, Tony? Okay.
Tony: I have never seen a candidate be two tested. you know, I think I this is kind of when you weed out the folks who who can't make it. and that's why I think there there is some beauty in having a primary for these these hotly contested elections.
Mary Lahammer: Marty, can you take that too? Is it is it possible? Is it could Tefoya end up bubble wrapped all the way till the end and a Democrat ends up blewing?
Marty Seifert: I mean I I don't think it's gonna be that controlled. I think you do have to emerge at some point. I think on the Republican side, for the primary anyway, I think she feels she's in the position to to be in a s a stronger spot and not have to be doing a lot of these interviews and chasing the the free media around. I do see a challenge, if you will, on the DFL side, if it's an extremely close race, it looks really close between Angie Craig and Peggy Flanagan. And I've got friends on Facebook who are Democrats, and the comment sections for those who are for both candidates are getting a bit barbed the last couple of weeks. And I and people I'm a little
Mary Lahammer: ab absolutely. Yep.
Marty Seifert: surprised at, frankly, that are ordinarily very genteel Democrats,
Mary Lahammer: No.
Marty Seifert: you know, but they are very passionate about their candidates. And
Mary Lahammer: And I know Republicans who won't vote in in the US Senate race because they won't vote for Michelle Tafoya. I know a a very dear person who will not the the abortion issue is such a big issue, they will not vote in that race and they're going over to vote. Yep.
Marty Seifert: Yeah, there's there's some people that'll just say they'll write in somebody or whatever. I mean, I remember people saying that with Arnie Carlson in nineteen ninety-four. That was the cycle before I was elected to the House. but he's running against John Marty. And you know, for all the people who were wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth in nineteen ninety four after the primary was done, Arnie Carlson up getting over sixty percent of the vote as a Republican because they just saw John Marty as too extreme. And if you end up with Peggy Flanagan and Michelle Tefoya, I I wonder if some of those people are gonna say, well, I got someone who's with me, you know, ninety-one percent of the time versus someone who's with me zero percent of the time. people do sometimes make pronouncements early on and then later on decide, you know. I mean, I've seen it with I'm not voting for Angie Craig because she's the APAC candidate, blah blah from some of my more liberal friends on on Facebook. They're gonna vote for Angie Craig at the end of the day. They're not gonna vote for a Republican or or stay home. I I just don't believe it. So they make these pronouncements now, but I just think at the end of the day they'll they'll come home. Most of them
Tara: So
Marty Seifert: will.
Tara: Marty, what is she running for? I mean, like what are I, you know, I've been to her website a couple of times trying to look at what maybe some of her policy positions are. the last time you were on the show here, you talked about we're just gonna talk about fraud, fraud, fraud, fraud, fraud. And so that is kind of what opens up for her on her websites, first thing.
Marty Seifert: Yeah.
Tara: what else? Like, why is she? running for US Senate.
Marty Seifert: You're talking about who, Michelle Tefoya? I
Tara: yeah. Yeah.
Marty Seifert: mean, I'm not her campaign spokesperson, so I I can't really answer that. What what I've observed is she is leading on the fraud issue, and then it's
Mary Lahammer: Saying it's nice.
Marty Seifert: probably gonna be the standard things you see on you know from federal government Republicans, which is trying to control spending and and grow grow business and grow the economy and so forth. I don't think I don't think she has any particular big Things that she's running on per se. The Democrats have to move beyond we don't like Trump. I mean, that's all they're running on. And I see it with the anti ICE and all that stuff, but at some point you have to be for something. And you know, at the end of the day, Walls is less popular than Trump in Minnesota. So both sides are gonna have to come up with some popular things that people are for. What I'm hearing in my just this is just in southwest Minnesota. fraud and affordability, like not being able to afford diapers, child care, health care, gasoline in your car, food
Mary Lahammer: Leave under colours.
Marty Seifert: on your table. And both parties are at their best when they can answer those basic questions on people's bread and butter kitchen table issues. you know there's social stuff obviously that that that factors into this but it but if you talk to the average butcher, baker, and candlestick maker out there, They're very concerned about am I gonna be able to afford the economy we're living in right now? Electric prices, what have you. The Republicans are gonna say the Democrats have all these electric mandates and windmill mandates and so forth. And that's making your electric bill higher, and that's pushing your grocery store bills higher because that they have to cool things and transport things. Democrats will say Trump's starting a war, and that's forcing up prices on on different things. They they've got to get back to solutions on that kind of stuff, in my opinion.
Tony: So so Marty talked about elections in the nineteen nineties, and and that's when he and I were in high school. Politics is very different now. we grew up in an era where all politics was local. And so maybe in some of these house races, swing seats, door knocking's gonna matter, but we've entered an era where all politics is national. And so this is where I disagree a bit with Marty is this is gonna be a change election. And I think that advantages Democrats. both here on the state level and the national level. And here's why. If you're mad at Governor Walls because of the fraud issue or the flag or any other issue, he's not on the ballot. And for the fraud issue, and I know that this is contested in the US Senate race saying, well, Peggy Flanagan was there, I've got a spoiler alert. Republicans are going to paint every DFL or whether you were the lieutenant governor or whether you're Angie Craig or anybody else, they're going to try to paint with the fraud issue as well. and so but but the case is, and this is where Marty's right, it's one thing to say fraud is bad, we should stop doing it. It's another case to say, and here's how we're gonna do it. And the good news is we have a different candidate than Governor Walls running for governor, and she has a plan already put out of what she wants to do to come combat fraud on the front end. And in Washington, DC, if you want to talk about fraud, it starts at the top. And this is gonna
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Mary Lahammer: this is great.
Tony: be the biggest thing about all politics being national. Regardless of if it's Lisa Damath or Mike Lindell or Michelle Tafoya, they're going to be hung with the least popular president in in history. And there's kind of a cult of personality and a cult in the Republican Party where you can't say one bad thing or disagree about anything with Donald Trump for fear of retribution. And so they're going to be forced to walk the plank with everything that Donald Trump is doing. And that is a war that has ended multiple times, but we're still there. That is the high price of tariffs. That's the price of oil that is affecting those gas pumps that Marty's talking about. It's about the ballroom and the helipad and all of this other extravagant spending that Donald Trump's doing for himself. And these Republicans who are going to be on the ballot can't disagree with any of it for fear of retribution. And so it's going to be a change election where all politics is national. And Marty's right, we've got to have a plan. And the plan starts with. Combating this corruption in Washington, DC, ending wars and bringing the price down. And if you go beyond that, you don't need to, because that's what's on Minnesota's minds right now.
Mary Lahammer: Guys, is it dangerous though?
Tara: So
Mary Lahammer: Walls is not on the ballot and Trump is not on the ballot. And I feel like we're we're talking about campaigns running against two people who are both not on the ballot.
Tony: But but Trump is on the ballot in this way. he's doing things unconstitutional, he's doing things by decree, and he basically controls Congress right now. They won't step out of line. We saw that this week with two retiring Republican US senators. So they don't even have any skin in the game. And they said, We're gonna go against Trump. And then we got through the weekend, they said, No, never mind, we're not gonna do that. And so
Tara: Both car went into into like they just completely caved on a one point eight billion dollar, you know the splash run, the exhausting.
Mary Lahammer: Let let's go back to Marty on it. Marty is Walls different than Trump on running against either of them?
Marty Seifert: Know it's interesting. I don't hear a lot about Trump per se on the campaign trail. the people who don't like him probably aren't talking to me a whole lot anyway, but you know, there are people that hate him and certainly make it well known when you are going by in a parade or run into him at the door or what have you. Well,
Mary Lahammer: What about walls? Do you hear about walls?
Marty Seifert: wall Walls it sparked up a little bit when the pardon of that The illegal alien that was the rape child rapist. I mean, that week or two, we had seven parades in that kind of that two week time period, and that was a really unpopular decision. I had Democrats were like, I don't know what he's thinking with that, but I'm not with him on that. So they were kind of running for the hills for a while on that decision. Yeah, Ellison was also part of the pardon board,
Mary Lahammer: And could that stick to Ellison? That was also on my list because we're starting to see that leveraged against him.
Marty Seifert: and the you know, the chief justice too, but At the end of the day, Ellison's the only one of the three that's unfortunately on the ballot and has to kind
Tara: On the ballot.
Marty Seifert: of deal with that. So I think, you know, if he loses narrowly, I would say it's that decision, frankly. I mean, people are not I mean, just the average person
Tara: So Marty, like I kind
Marty Seifert: doesn't like that kind of stuff. Like they're just scratching their head, like, what are you doing? It's a ninety five percent
Tara: So, Marty, I'm confused.
Marty Seifert: issue.
Tara: Like, I'm really confused by that. Like, do I understand that vote? Not really, other than the person that it happened to asked them to pardon him. So, and I'm not sure what her reasons were. I haven't followed that very closely. But like pedophilia and rape is bad, right? I mean, that's just a horrific situation.
Marty Seifert: Right.
Tara: But nothing has happened in the Epstein files. We have many women who have accused Trump of doing these things, like
Marty Seifert: Right. I mean that's the that that's the counter that's the counter argument that has nothing to do with the issue at hand though. I mean we're not talking about the up we're talking about this issue with Walls and Ellison. We're not talking about Epstein, we're not talking about federal stuff. That issue alone that issue alone frustrates people. And as my
Mary Lahammer: Right. And and Ellison had a c Allison had a close race last time. Yeah.
Tara: What I mean, do we care about it or not?
Marty Seifert: friend Steve Swiggum used to say, when you're explaining you ain't gaining,
Mary Lahammer: Mm.
Marty Seifert: people don't care if the victim said this or that, people don't care about the Epstein files. That one issue is a 95 plus percent. This is the wrong decision. This is a bad thing. We should not be pardoning child rapists. And so, you know, I know that frustrates Democrats when they hear that because there is no logical explanation for it. And it just looks like Walls is leaving office. Like, I don't care. I'm just gonna do this. Let's clean the prisons out. and we've had other examples. We've got at least three or four examples of r of violent people who have been released under their new program that was passed under the trifecta of people who have been rearrested for a violent offense. Now, if the Republicans had brains in their heads, they would be, you know, marching that around and talking to people about it. but unfortunately they're distracted with other issues. But I think that that issue is one. I've always told people running for office, find things where a super majority of the population agree with you and and think you're on their side. And that's one that the Republicans have. They don't have a lot to work with, as Tony outlined all the Trump stuff going on. That would be one that they'd have and fraud. So they've got to articulate those issues in a very succinct way. And and then they've got to run candidates that pe that have credibility.
Mary Lahammer: Tony, could Ellison be
Tony: Marty, when you're
Mary Lahammer: vulnerable with with fraud and that pardon? Is
Tara: Absolutely.
Mary Lahammer: are are you concerned about that? Is that flying under the radar right now with all the attention on the US Senate race and the governor's race?
Tony: Sure, absolutely. But when Marty was talking about violent offenders being let out, was he talking about the January 6th, the thousands of January 6th folks who are assaulting police officers? And I know he's saying one's not the other, but once again, when you're talking to average Minnesotans, they're not following the pardon board. they're just seeing all of this happening, fraud happening all over the place in Washington, D.C. and Minnesota. They're seeing pardons happen in Minnesota and in Washington, D.C., and they're gonna say, we want something different. And like it or not, Donald Trump is in your face. every single day. And so and and and Mary, back to your question, I see a difference between Walls and Trump because after November, and then when we get to January, Tim Wells is gone. He's done. Donald Trump's still going to be around. And so if you're looking to change things, we're going to have a new governor regardless in January. We're still going to have the same old president who's doing things that are frustrating, not just Democrats. And we're not talking about liking him or not. We're talking about the outcomes, the high gas prices, the never ending war. and Ingratiating himself financially with his position in office. And so at the end of the day, I think that supersedes all of these other issues that the four of us know about because we're kind of nerds for this stuff. But average Minnesotans are gonna have a feeling of whatever we're doing today is not working, we gotta try something different.
Tara: So, Tony, you know, I I think about this a lot. I'm again as a moderate Democrat, I literally don't know what Democrats want to do nationally. And all they're doing is running against the most corrupt politician I think in the history of our country, but they're not telling anybody. What they want to do for us. Like, what are you hearing from people? I I'm not hearing a strategic messaging from the Democrats on a national level. And I wonder if you think, is our party, is the party too big? And is our umbrella like just too big and we can't appease everybody? So they're just running against Trump.
Tony: Yeah, that's a that's a good question. And it reminds me of my favorite Marty Cypherism is the left hand doesn't know what the far left hand is doing. And I always appreciated that. That was his best line ever, and I'll give you full credit for it, Marty. And I love
Marty Seifert: You were never part of the far left hand, Tony. You were always part of the normals.
Tony: that's all right. But but I I love that because I I think there's some humor in it, but I think there's actually something beautiful in it as well. In order to get stuff done, you need a majority of people. And so we've always had a big tent. And as a former majority leader, I'm going to take you into caucuses. We're not supposed to talk about what happened in caucuses. and and and I've and I've heard from folks more recently that this still happens. And I actually heard that this happened before I was a caucus leader. I don't know if it happens in the Republican side. But when people had the vent about what wasn't working in our caucus, it always came down to two things. We need a message and we need a strategy. And even if you had one, people would say, well, you need a message and a strategy. And so this is age-old. This isn't something that's brand new to date. And when you have a super huge tent, it's hard to have that strategic communication, not just at the national level. And and and this is going to be a change election. And so it really You know, we could try to figure out what our 14-point plan is on changing the world, and people do need to have ideas to be brought forward. but what I'm hearing from average Minnesotans is the systems aren't working for us today. We need to blow this up. We need new systems. And so I think folks are more listening less to a particular
Mary Lahammer: So just do
Tony: idea or here's what I'm going to do, but that they're looking out for them and they want to change the system. And that's where I think it's showing up on both the left and the right. That's why I think Donald Trump got into office the first time is he said, I'm gonna blow the system up. Bernie Sanders said, I'm gonna blow the system up. And so for people on the Iron Range who were supporting Bernie Sanders, they said, I like that guy who wants to blow the system up because I'm feeling unseen and unheard. And then when he lost, they turned to Trump and said, Okay, here's another person who wants to blow the system up. And so that's why people even shifted ideologically from one end to the other. And so yes, Tara, better messaging, better strategy always. I think we could say the same about the Republicans because the Republicans' message is whatever Donald Trump says.
Tara: So, but I will say with that, like, I think about that it's seems really easy to run as a Republican because it's more about what you want to ensure that people don't have. We don't want to allow these people to have these things. So, I mean, like, you know, currently US speaker Mike Johnson is kind of talking about right sizing Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. I mean, essentially kind of running on we're gonna cut this for everybody. when you don't want people to really have anything, I think it's really easy to run on that. And we feel the opposite. And Marty, I'd like you to, you know, to jump in with that. But like I believe one thing that unites both parties and Americans is immigration reform. Hands down, 100% that's people want safe borders, but they also want legal And for people, Marty, you talked about people coming up and working, you know, working in your old district. We
Marty Seifert: Great.
Tara: need that. But he blew up, Trump blew up the bipartisan bill. They're not talking about doing anything on immigration. And we're just throwing people, brown and black people, into buildings where people are dying every week. People are dying. There's it's always about politics and never policy. And I'm And can you tell how mad I am? I'm so sick of it. Yep.
Marty Seifert: Yeah, like, well, yeah, it's like how do you get solutions done? And I I I think to your point and Tony's a minute ago is like the mess well to Tony's point exactly, the message gets muddled when the DSA people have the megaphone and say no borders. Because what you
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: just said made sense to a lot of people. And that's like, well, no, the the the Democrats are for no borders, which I mean most people that I know that are Democrats in my area are for having a controlled border. But they're not the ones with the megaphone. And
Tara: Absolutely. Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: so when Mondami is the my megaphone saying we're gonna have government owned grocery stores and the means of production and government needs to seize private property. I mean, that the same genteel Democrats I was talking about 15 minutes ago that like Angie Craig, for example, are very, very worried about the party veering way too far to the left. And then the middle has this choice of of this very you know difficult situation of like if the party keeps running people way, way, way to the left that say no borders, abolish the US Senate, kind of this crazy stuff. by default, the Democrats are gonna have to somehow figure out how to out-megaphone those folks. I don't know how you do it, but it it at at some point, and you don't want to silence them, obviously, but like Tony said you try to work it out in caucus years ago, but now the caucus has turned into the House floor. Yeah. And so you're like airing these like really crazy grievances out in on the national press, on Sunday morning programs and so forth. And and because of social media, which didn't exist that much when I was running the first time,
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: It w anytime things are said it it gets spread like wildfire. So I I feel like the Democrats need to like you know, p I know if you and Tony can somehow get you know, get in control of the message, but like they need people that are a little more on the mainstream side of things with the megaphone, if that makes sense.
Mary Lahammer: Right, but Marty
Tony: But I can tell you but I can tell you here's my prediction though. Democrats are gonna have a strong message right after this primary because there is one politician in Minnesota we haven't heard a lot of that we're gonna start hearing of right after the primary, and that's our governor candidate, Amy Klobuchar. And she's gonna have a laser s laser sharp message on affordability that prices are too high, gas is too high, food is too high, housing, child care, you name it. And she is one who's gonna come out with a list of policies. And and she's gonna be the leader on the ticket. And you can talk about US Senate or governor or anything, but we're gonna have a strong message in Minnesota about affordability that I think folks are gonna fall fall into and and get behind. And so so that's I think w right now, once again, we're talking about the variations of difference in primaries, and that's where messages can really get muddled because that's where the different sides of the political party are trying to cut out of like what what policy positions could be on top. But Come after this primary and starting on TV and starting all over the state, you're gonna see a strong affordability message from Democrats led by Amy Klobuchar.
Mary Lahammer: We haven't talked about Clobichar much. And Marty, it's quite possible if Republicans put somebody like Mike Lindell up, Clobuchar could do quite well against Mike Lindell. And meanwhile, Republicans, Marty, as we were talking, you're pretty excited about electability was gonna matter if Michelle Tefoya and Elisa Damath came out of the Republican side, Republicans were maybe gonna win a statewide race for the first time in a long time. Are there other races? We talked about attorney general. We haven't talked about auditor. That's wide open. Somehow, Marty, is this the year that Republicans break the DFL lock on statewide races and you still break through?
Marty Seifert: Un statewide. Yeah, I mean they they they came s ever so close four years ago with an a tenth of a percent an auditor, a tenth of a percent
Tara: The auditor.
Marty Seifert: on on attorney general. Those
Mary Lahammer: Yeah.
Marty Seifert: were the two. you know, some people argue that that the abortion issue just sunk the Republicans four years ago, just all the way up and down the ticket. that's what caused the trifecta, that you know, Jensen's campaign was struggling and was out fundraised and so forth. now you've got A whole d you know, you don't hear frankly about abortion a whole lot this year, but it's a whole different dynamic of Trump and Walls, the economy, whatever. you know, the the the s the fractured primary means something. I mean, in Colorado, they nominated an extremely bad candidate, and like the legislative candidates are all running for the hills trying to figure out what to say, what to do, to even be seen with this guy. And so, you know, as these states line up. I I have faith that the Republicans that vote in the primary are gonna make the right decisions. they often they use
Mary Lahammer: We don't think that'll sink the rest of the ticket if there's a weak governor or US Senate candidate at the top of Republican ticket. Yeah.
Marty Seifert: Yeah, I mean it it absolutely could sink a lot of these swing districts will be will be in in very difficult situation. I mean I just saw an analysis that was released yesterday in a a map Intel or whatever it's called or political Intel. you know, and they they give the Democrats the edge for the legislature, but not like a sure thing.
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: it is an off year of the president, and so they get kind of a natural a natural bump.
Mary Lahammer: Yep. Yep. That always happens in my terms. Yep. Yep.
Marty Seifert: But because of the geography of things, there there are some rural Democrats that could be in trouble. But then on the flip side you have some Metro Republicans that could be in trouble. So you even that all out and you end up with this situation of the very close race.
Mary Lahammer: The other thing we didn't talk about is Democrats
Tara: I think it's the same.
Mary Lahammer: for the first time apparently in Minnesota history filed in all 201 seats. Let's talk to both of you because it was I think each of your responsibilities to help recruit candidates. Does that matter much? Because if a wave is coming, does it help to just at least have someone there on the ballot if a huge issue drops, if a huge wave hits? You mentioned, you know, abortion ended up being that wave. We still don't know. Politics has gotten so volatile and so unpredictable. How big is it to just file somebody in every single district?
Marty Seifert: I think it's a big thing. I congratulate the Democrats for for doing it. We had when I
Mary Lahammer: Yeah.
Marty Seifert: was leader, we had both cycles. We had 134 seats, and I think it it it means something. You know, are there some Democrats in Minneapolis that might go on a post because you can't find someone these 85% districts? Yeah, I get that. But Woodbury, Minnetonka, Mankato, Plymouth, like really? I mean, these seats are not monumentally
Tara: They couldn't find a republican.
Marty Seifert: Democrat seats. They are at best 53 to 55%
Mary Lahammer: Those used to be swing districts, yes.
Marty Seifert: districts in some cases. I'm just like the House candidate Mankato, I think, had 43% last cycle, and and now nobody. So what does the what does Luke Frederick probably do? He probably goes into North Mankato and campaigns against a refreshman Republican who barely won last cycle. That's what
Tara: Uh-huh.
Marty Seifert: happens. It it's not necessarily about Is Luke Frederick gonna win or not? He probably is gonna win. But at the end of the day, when you have to look over your shoulder and you have to do a little bit of this and that, get some signs up, do some fundraising, it just keeps you a little bit busier in your district because you are in a you know 55 to 57 percent DFL seat, but you have to kind of mind your P's and Q's. Now you don't have to do anything. Now you can just go camp out in Erica Schwartz's district 24/7. And if she ends up losing by 50 votes. I would attribute it to what Mary just said. You need to have people in all these seats.
Mary Lahammer: Yeah. And that's the St. Peter district that has been swinging back and forth. Yeah. You know, control the legislature, Tony, is a big deal. Could you know this could mean a trifecta, right? If if those swing districts, like Marty said, if you don't have to run at home and you can go to the neighboring district that decides control the legislature, and if you you win governor, I mean it's it's huge, right? Control the legislature is huge.
Tony: Absolutely. But first to the point that Marty was making is when when you have people in every legislative district, when you have candidates in every legislative district, that helps the whole ballot. And so as well, when we're talking about an attorney general's race or an auditor's race last time that was so razor thin, if you've got candidates in every district, you have a little bit of organizing that's happening. And if you pull even a few more from your party onto the ballot to vote your side of the ticket, you're helping statewide. But then to your point, Mary. For those Minnesotans that are frustrated that stuff doesn't get done and why is there gridlock and why is there fighting and why can't we get something done? It's usually not the governor's fault. It's usually the legislature and they're your friends and neighbors and the people you might not know about. And and and that's where also candidates, if they've got shoe leather and they door knock and they develop those relationships, they can help stem some of the tide of these wave elections that we may be seeing. Now you can't completely fight it sometimes, a wave election, but you can You can fight through it in some of these close races. And and that's where actually I think the magic happens. And that's where things get decided, is in that in the legislative body. And so it it that that's gonna matter to Minnesotans' lives probably more than who their US senator is, quite frankly, because they're gonna get stuff done here in Minnesota and it's the elections that don't get as much attention.
Tara: Tony, can I ask you a question? you know, I mean, I know people think that there's going to be a trifecta, you know, again. And I think a lot of policies that Democrats did were popular, but I also believe some of them went, you know, too far. So maybe our paid family medical leave, which is something that seems to be very popular on a national level. We're one of the only industrialized countries in the world that doesn't have something like that. But maybe our bill went too far. Are do you believe that there is a way to maybe temper what you know the very extreme liberal DSA are going to be pushing for if the trifecta comes? And I do believe it'll be helpful, I guess, if Amy Clobuchar is governor during that time.
Tony: Yeah, I I think regardless of who's in the legislature, I think your mini average Minnesotan voter wanna see things get done. And we're in an era right now when you have divided government, gridlock happens. And I think that Minnesotans hate that more than dislike paid family leave for their families. And so I I di I didn't see it going Too far. And so I think I think at the end of the day, Minnesotans want to get stuff done. And
Mary Lahammer: Yeah, I think.
Tony: I kind of find it humorous sometimes when my Republicans say, well, divided government is great because there's a check and balance. And wouldn't that be fun? But I think if you would get them away from microphones and the press and ask them, wouldn't you want to be in charge of everything? They wouldn't be saying, Well, divided government's great. We should really go back to divided government. And so I think that's just what some folks say when they haven't been in charge for a while. And so I just fall back to Minnesotans. want to blow up the system. They want they want their government to run better. They do not want gridlock. And I think that they rate that ahead of having all all of one party in charge.
Mary Lahammer: Marty, we take the flip side of that. we've been quoting lots of leaders. I remember Steve Swiggham saying balance. You want balance.
Marty Seifert: Right. Right. Well, I mean, it it's for those of us who have observed the trifect of the Democrats, the the the people shaking in their boots the most were the Democrat lobbyists because they're just like, Where is this gonna like this is just way out of control. There's no chat there's no gov not governor meaning walls, but like governor on the engine to slow things down and to be deliberate. It just was like ram things through. We don't care what the consequences are. And the paid family leave. My son's opponent is saying the paid family leave thing isn't working right. I mean, so you know, for the de for the Democrats in some of these seats, I think they talk to their small business people and they talk to employers and say there are some changes that need to be made. But then you've got like Education Minnesota's questionnaire said, Will you oppose every single change, any change to paid leave? Like you are not allowed to deviate. You're not allowed to do anything different. No, Nick Friends just put no.
Tara: yeah. Yeah.
Marty Seifert: I read his questionnaire online and he was honest about it. He just said, no, I am not gonna oppose any change because there are problems with it. So hats
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: off to him for at least being honest. But I'm sure a lot of the candidates are like, hey, I have to answer, I have to answer what the yeah,
Mary Lahammer: We did a whole Spin Sisters podcast with him about it, by the way. We will plug that.
Marty Seifert: what the interest groups want. And so, I mean, I'll give some some credit where credit is due. And someone just says, No, we do need some changes. But at the end of the day, Steve Swiggham was right. We need balance. So there's balance within the party, and you tell the DSA people to kind of go away, or the Republicans have to tell fringy people to go away. that's where maturity comes forward. And you just have to say to the kids in the candy store, hey, we you're not allowed to just break the glass and take whatever you want. we we do need to have some semblance of competitiveness with our other states. We can't just be ridiculous. So I d I don't know if people are gonna purposely go into the ballot box and say, hmm, I think we need a Republican Senate and a Democrat House. And I mean, I just don't think people vote like that. I they just don't. And that it doesn't work that way. It's all district by district. As Tony said, a lot of this is federalized. Th I do think that some districts will tilt one way or another. I mean, you talk about Grand House Child. He has two Republican House members. So
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: obviously someone's splitting their tickets up there. or
Tara: Mm-hmm.
Marty Seifert: we wouldn't have the situation that we have. Judy Seeberger has two Republican House members. So obviously somebody is is flipping around. Jim Abler, I think, might be the other way with two Democrats. So
Mary Lahammer: And that's why Minnesota
Tara: Yeah.
Mary Lahammer: is so interesting and we love talking about politics.
Tara: okay.
Mary Lahammer: And I think you guys honestly maybe agreed more than you disagreed to. Another reason we enjoy Minnesota politics and you too, Marty and Tony. Really good stuff, Tara.
Tara: be honest, I don't really enjoy any of it right now. I'm I'm getting angrier
Mary Lahammer: sorry.
Tara: by the month. I don't know. I I just yeah I'm angry all the time about politics in this country and in the state and I just want people to work together and I want it to be about policy and not politics and it never is and that's frustrating me. Yeah.
Marty Seifert: We just want normalcy. I've told people a lot of us just want normalcy. And yeah, it's tough.
Tara: Mm-hmm. Yeah. But I do like talking to both of you. So that is great. so thank you for doing this. And obviously we're gonna ask you again. Ca I just think it's really good to have your take on, you know, what's happening and especially from a geographic level as well, but then just your experience and leading your caucuses. So thank you for this. Next week's gonna be really interesting.
Marty Seifert: Thanks for having
Tony: Thank you.
Marty Seifert: us.
Mary Lahammer: Thank you.
Tara: Thank you. Bye.
Marty Seifert: Right.
