Star Tribune
With big issues at stake, young voters are tuning in to the city elections in Minneapolis and St. Paul
With the release of one dire climate report after another, Emma Wolters began to struggle with existential dread. Searching for ways to navigate through that fear as a teenager, Wolters joined a small, student-run climate action group.
Wolters was surprised that, even as high schoolers, the group was able to get an audience with local sustainability coordinators — and even St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter — as St. Paul developed its climate action plan. Though federal politics felt out of reach, getting involved in local government made her feel as if she could make a difference on big issues.
“The power of local representatives in actually shaping the day-to-day lives of people like me. … That just became more and more clear,” said Wolters, now 22.
With critical municipal elections on the ballot in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth and other Minnesota cities, Wolters and other young people around the state are encouraging their peers to head to the polls. Though off election years see fewer voters, energy around the issues is high for a generation motivated by climate change, racial justice and access to affordable housing.
In Minneapolis, several young candidates are jostling to send the divided council further left. In St. Paul, a slate of young, diverse women are hoping to become the first all-women St. Paul City Council in history. And across the state, high school students as young as 16 and 17 already are taking advantage of a new Minnesota law allowing them to preregister to participate in the political process in the future.
“I think it’s a really exciting election year in both Minneapolis and St. Paul,” said campaign volunteer Meg Daly, 27. “Particularly in St. Paul, I think we have the opportunity to win the most progressive council that we’ve ever seen, and that’s really exciting.”
More than 40 million members of Gen Z alone will be eligible to vote in 2024 — an increase of 8 million people who have aged into electorate since the 2022 midterms, according to research from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). About 45% of those Gen Zers are youth of color.
In recent months, more than 1,500 teens have preregistered to vote in future elections, according to the office of Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.
Though young people often are thought of as disengaged, especially in local election years, another CIRCLE study found that in 2022, Gen Z voted at a higher rate in their first midterm election than millennials or members of Generation X. That’s a promising statistic for people looking to change the narrative that young voters are unreliable.
Chelsea Sheldon, co-founder of Believe In What’s Possible, a youth-led Minnesota Gen Z political events organization, believes her generation is deeply engaged but has seen little investment from mainstream political organizations, she said.
They host meetings like sip and paints events or music festivals to create spaces to talk to young people and invite their generation in. They provide election resources tailored to their generation, and make sure spaces do not feel exclusionary, said Sheldon, 23.
“A lot of us express that ‘I don’t want to be engaged because I don’t want to make the wrong choice, because I don’t want to feel stupid, because I don’t want to elect a leader that I don’t know will speak on behalf of my values,'” Sheldon said. “Without spaces that tell us it’s okay to have questions, that can be really paralyzing.”
Voters that come to events are concerned with some of the most visible issues: responses to encampments in Minneapolis or transit and access to affordable housing, Sheldon said.
At just 16, Charlie St. Dennis,a high school student and organizer already has volunteered with more than 40 political campaigns. This election, his work was noticeable enough to secure him a role with Anika Bowie’s City Council campaign in St. Paul’s First Ward.
The ward has had some of the lowest voter turnout in St. Paul, St. Dennis said, and they often engage people who did not have the council election on their radar,
“We’re talking to a lot of people that just up until recently, and even now, are still unfamiliar with the fact that there even is an election coming up, and a lot of people that haven’t voted before,” St. Dennis said.
Housing affordability is top of mind for many renters and potential homeowners who are facing high property taxes and the effects of the 2021 rent control ordinance in St. Paul, he said.
Daly, the St. Paul volunteer, has knocked on a couple of hundred doors in St. Paul’s First Ward. It’s a mixed bag in terms of awareness of the election, Daly said, although most of her friends are planning to vote by virtue of being her friend.
Woodbury high school student Noah Yehalashet told himself he couldn’t just sit around and complain about politics. Last year, he served as a student representative on his school board. This year, the 17-year-old is managing a school board campaign.
“There’s a higher reward there than just trying to be involved with the White House,” he said. “School board, city council is where you’ll see the most impact but also where you’ll have the most access.”
Only setting your sights on the big picture, federal level, will almost always make you feel helpless said Wolters, an organizer with the Hwa Jeong Kim’s City Council campaign in St. Paul’s Fifth Ward.
“It’s so easy to get involved,” Wolters said. “Reach out to people in your neighborhood. Look online for community events. You will find the community and the solutions that you’re looking for on a scale that will impact your daily life.”
Northern State 35, Concordia (St. Paul) 34: Wyatt Block’s 2-yard TD run and the PAT with 10 seconds remaining lifted the Wolves past the host Golden Bears. Block’s touchdown capped an 11-play, 72-yard drive by the Wolves, who trailed 24-7 in the second quarter. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire’s 34-yard field goal with three minutes, 32 seconds remaining gave the Golden Bears a 34-28 lead.
Winona State 31, Bemidji State 28: Cade Stenstrom rushed for two TDs and passed for 150 yards and a TD to help the host Warriors outlast the Beavers. Stenstrom’s 1-yard TD run and the PAT with two minutes, 10 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 31-21 lead. The Beavers responded with an 11-play, 93-yard drive to pull within 31-28 with 18 seconds remaining but the Warriors recovered the ensuing kickoff.
Div. I-AA
North Dakota State 59, Murray State 6: The top-ranked Bison built a 42-3 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the host Racers in Murray, Ken. CharMar Brown ran for 97 yards and three TDs for the Bison.
South Dakota State 20, South Dakota 17 (OT): Amar Johnson’s 3-yard TD run in overtime lifted the host Jackrabbits to the victory. The Coyotes opened the OT with a 40-yard field goal.
Youngstown State 41, North Dakota 40 (OT): The host Penguins went first in OT and scored and then stopped North Dakota’s two-point conversion to hold on for the victory. The Penguins sent the game into OT on a 35-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Div. III
Augsburg 35, St. Olaf 34 (OT): The host Auggies stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to outlast the Oles. The Auggies went first in the overtime and scored on a 25-yard pass from Ryan Harvey to Tyrone Wilson. It was Harvey’s fifth TD pass — the fourth to Wilson. After the Auggies’ PAT, the Oles scored on a 25-yard TD pass from Theo Doran to Braden Menz. But the Oles’ pass attempt for the conversion failed.
After splitting their two-game West Coast trip to begin the season, the Wolves improved to 2-1 with a 112-101 win over Toronto in their home opener. It was a wire-to-wire win that featured some strong bursts of play from the Wolves and other times when their decision-making was suspect. But those moments when they were on, specifically the start of the game and most of the third quarter, were enough to carry them against a shorthanded Raptors team that was without RJ Barrett, Bruce Brown and Immanuel Quickley.
Julius Randle had 24 points while Anthony Edwards had 24 on 21 shot attempts. Donte DiVincenzo had 16 off the bench. Nickeil Alexander-Walker left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return, though he was in the bench area for the final minutes after going to the locker room briefly.
The Wolves’ starting lineup had its best stretch of basketball on the season after that unit started off sluggish in the first two games. Mike Conley, who was 3-for-16 to open the year, hit two early threes to set the tone, though Conley would finish 2-for-8.
Donte DiVincenzo replaced him at point guard halfway through the quarter and continued the hot shooting from the point guard slot with three threes of his own. The Wolves forced five Toronto turnovers and had a 32-18 lead after one.
Coach Chris Finch toyed with some different lineup combinations in the first half as he had Conley and DiVincenzo begin the quarter together while having Joe Ingles run the point later in the quarter. It led to an uneven second, and the Wolves led 56-44 at halftime.
But the Wolves played inspired coming out of the break. Jaden McDaniels, who didn’t take a shot in the first half, had nine points in the opening minutes of the third. Edwards hit a pair of threes as they pushed their lead to 22. The Wolves weren’t sharp closing the night, and the Raptors had the game within right inside of two minutes, but the Wolves had built enough of a cushion.
Rudy Gobert. Gobert had 15 points and 13 rebounds and was the beneficiary of some lobs from his teammates like Edwards, Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Joe Ingles. Gobert also finished with four blocks.
Gobert had two blocks on one possession in the fourth quarter that got the crowd off its feet and Gobert pounding his chest. Gobert blocked D.J. Carton and Jamison Battle.
Star Tribune
Trump denigrates Detroit while appealing for votes in a suburb of Michigan’s largest city
NOVI, Mich. — Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.
”I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is ”great,” but he thinks it ”needs help.”
The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the ”whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population.
Trump’s stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City, is a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris is scheduled for a rally in Kalamazoo later Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama on the first day that early in-person voting becomes available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters. Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden carried it four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Workers. It also has a significant Arab American population, and many have been frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters ”could turn the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was banking on ”overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
“When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. ”We didn’t have any issues. There was no wars.”
While Trump is trying to capitalize on the community’s frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and a pledge to expand it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on Nov. 5.
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