Star Tribune
Duluth mayor posts cheeky reply after Kathy Cargill rips up plans for Park Point
DULUTH — Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert, described as peeing “in his Cheerios” by Kathy Cargill in a story that ran this weekend in the Wall Street Journal, took to social media with a clarification.
“For the record … I’m more of a pancake guy #IYKYK,” he posted to X, formerly Twitter, alongside a photo of a lone cake with a pat of butter and a strip of bacon.
Cargill, who has bought more than a dozen properties in Duluth’s Park Point neighborhood broke her public silence on plans for the land in a Wall Street Journal story that went online Saturday. She was going to beautify and modernize this stretch of land that separates Lake Superior from the Duluth-Superior Harbor, she told the publication. She was going to build homes for her relatives, a coffee shop and a sports complex.
A lot of Duluthians have kept an eye on her purchases and wondered aloud about her intentions.
Reinert, who started his term as mayor in January, was among those questioning Cargill’s plans for his former neighborhood. He sent her a letter asking to meet, he told Duluth’s City Council recently. When he didn’t immediately hear back, he said he would ask councilors to also sign off on a letter.
Cargill, a member of the billionaire family, turned to cereal to describe the mayor’s response.
“I think an expression that we all know — don’t pee in your Cheerios — well, he kind of peed in his Cheerios right there, and definitely I’m not going to do anything to benefit that community,” Cargill said of Reinert in the interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Reinert’s post on X didn’t directly address Cargill’s statement, but his hashtag — meaning “if you know you know” — was a strong hint. It was part of a longer note about how he would be riding with local snowplow drivers during the snowstorm.
Meanwhile in Duluth, “Cheerios” has become a buzzword. An anonymous group of residents has issued a challenge to locals (or anyone else) to donate a box or more of Cheerios (or, say, cornflakes) at Duluth Labor Temple or North East Area Labor Council Office between March 27-29. The boxes will be donated to Duluth food shelves participating in Minnesota FoodShare campaign.
The Facebook group, Duluth Cheerio Challenge, is behind the push. It had more than 100 members by Monday evening and describes itself as “community response from a ‘small-minded community that peed in its Cheerios.'”
“This is an area that swings back and forth depending on the election cycle, and it’s an area that really can deliver those decisive votes for candidates in a statewide election,” said Anthony Chergosky, a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political science professor. “If the Harris-Walz ticket can develop a brand that helps them stop the party’s slide in rural Wisconsin, then that will massively help their path to victory.”
Both presidential campaigns have spent considerable time in Wisconsin. Trump recently visited the state four times in a span of eight days. Harris held rallies in La Crosse and Green Bay earlier this month, and Walz made stops in Eau Claire, Green Bay and Madison. Walz told a crowd gathered at a “Students for Harris-Walz” event in Eau Claire that “it’s very realistic to believe that this race will be won going through Wisconsin.”
Though both campaigns have made frequent visits to the Badger State, their stops appear to be geared toward shoring up their respective bases, retired GOP strategist Brandon Scholz said.
“I think Tim Walz’s job right now in Wisconsin, from what he’s saying and where he’s going and what he’s doing, is, ‘let’s make sure 99 percent of our voters turn out, because we need every single one of them because of how close Wisconsin is,’” Scholz said. “To date, neither he nor Harris have communicated a message to bring in those undecideds, ticket splitters.”
Ryan O’Gara is one of those undecideds. The 47-year-old Christian conservative lives in the village of Downing, some 20 miles northwest of Menomonie and home to about 230 people. O’Gara said he sees mostly Trump signs around his town, but he isn’t a fan of either nominee and likely will sit out this election.
Asked what he thought of Walz, O’Gara referred to him as “far-left.” He said he disagrees with allowing gender-affirming health care services for minors. Walz signed a bill into law last year making Minnesota a refuge for people seeking gender-affirming care.
But then, they were Lutherans.
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“It’s time for a hostage deal and cease-fire that ensures Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination,” Walz said on this year’s anniversary of Hamas’ 2023 attacks on Israel.
Polls indicate Minnesota will likely break for Harris, but in states where margins will be much tighter, some protest voters are choosing to vote for Harris despite their reservations.
Roman Fritz of Oconomowoc, Wis., voted early for Harris on Wednesday, he said, even though he remains deeply frustrated with her stance on the war.
Neither he nor Engelhart want to see Trump win. The Uncommitted National Movement has been trying to carve out a middle ground between opposing Trump and supporting Harris, with leaders saying a Trump presidency would be worse for Palestinians, and warning that votes for third-party candidates could result in a win for Trump. But the group declined to offer its endorsement to Harris.
Similarly, Fritz said, he did not feel he should talk his friends into voting for Harris, especially Palestinian American friends who have lost loved ones in Gaza.
“I do want her to win,” Fritz said, but, “I’m not going to campaign for her.”
