MINNEAPOLIS — If you’ve been anywhere near Lake Minnetonka lately, you’ve seen the ubiquitous yard signs for the two women vying for a newly vacated seat in the Minnesota Senate.

But the stakes are higher than just a trip to the State Capitol for Democrat Ann Johnson Stewart and Republican Kathleen Fowke. The outcome of special election in Senate District 45 will decide control of the Minnesota Legislature’s upper body.

The other 66 districts won’t be in play until 2026, because senators currently serving were elected to four-year terms back in 2022. But DFL Sen. Kelly Morrison resigned her seat to run for Congress, prompting a special election to replace Morrison in SD45 the same day as November 5 General Election.

Morrison’s departure left the chamber deadlocked at 33 Democrats and 33 Republicans, which is academic at this point because the Legislature won’t be back in session until January. 

But when lawmakers do come back for the 2025 Session one party will have a one-seat advantage. Democrats have enjoyed a “trifecta” the past two sessions, with control of both the House and Senate and the governor’s office.

Fowke is a realtor who ran unsuccessfully for the same seat in 2022. She said she’s aiming to restore balance and moderation to the Senate.

“Inflation is high already, and in the past two sessions they’ve raised taxes on hard-working Minnesotans,” Fowke told KARE Tuesday.  “And this is not the time to be raising taxes on our families. I love this state, and I believe you need to fight for what you love.” 

Fowke said if she’s elected, she’ll work on reducing state government mandates on local school boards and businesses. She also wants the legislature to focus on lowering local property taxes.

“We need to find ways to make sure the families can afford their life here, and hopefully their grandparents stay here too, and they don’t move to another state.”

Johnson Stewart is a civil engineer who served a two-year term in 2021-2022 Legislature.  As a result of redistricting in 2022, she ended up in the same district as Morrison, who won the DFL endorsement in SD45.

“Having served in the Senate, I realized how to be effective. And I worked with some other colleagues to form the Infrastructure Alliance,” Johnson Stewart told KARE Monday.

She said her experience as an environmental engineer gives her special insight into how to solve the water supply and wastewater treatment issues in District 45, which wraps around Lake Minnetonka.

“I think it’s really important that somebody who understands water systems be their representative, and I just think it’s a really good fit for me and my skills.”

Bills to guarantee reproductive rights for women passed the legislature in 2023 and 2024 without attracting a single Republican vote. That’s why abortion rights advocates are watching the race in District 45 closely.

“I want to make sure that women know I trust them to make these decisions,” Johnson Stewart told KARE. 

“And they can trust me to make sure their rights are protected, not just around abortion, but around birth control and fertility treatments and personal health care.”

Fowke told KARE she wouldn’t vote for an abortion ban or restrictions if such a bill comes up for consideration in the Minnesota Senate.

“What I want to do is find ways to help support women, and then perhaps they would choose to keep their child.”

If Vice President Harris wins the presidential election, Gov. Walz will resign his post and move to Washington to become the new vice president. That will trigger an order of succession wherein Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan becomes governor and Senate President Bobby Joe Champion becomes the new lieutenant governor. 

If that series of events unfolds the Senate will be reduced to 66 members again until a special election can be held in Sen. Champion’s north Minneapolis district. It’s a reliably DFL district, but laws pertaining to absentee ballots require at least 45 days’ advance notice of the special primary election plus 45 days’ notice of the main special election.

The other big unknown is what will happen to DFL Sen. Nicole Mitchell of Woodbury. She will be tried in January on felony burglary charges for allegedly breaking into her stepmother’s home to retrieve some of her deceased father’s belongings. 

ST PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul Police are investigating the city’s latest fatal shooting that happened Monday night. 

Officers responded to Jackson Street and Wheelock Parkway around 9:30 p.m. They found the victim lying on the ground with multiple gunshot injuries. Police say no one has yet been identified or arrested.

There was another fatal shooting on Saturday night and police found a man with multiple gunshot wounds. He died at the hospital. 

Then on Friday night, a man was fatally stabbed to death on Seventh Street East in St. Paul. Police took a suspect into custody soon afterward. 

“The last four days have not been good days for our city,” said St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry. 

He said there have now been 22 homicides in the city this year, down from 27 this same time last year. Chief Henry says 80% of the murders, though, have since been solved. 

“Solving these murders is not and is never going to be the answer,” said Chief Henry in a press conference Tuesday afternoon to address the violence. “We have to prevent them from happening in the first place.”

The latest data from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension shows that violent crime is down 6.9% last year all across the state. Firearm homicides are still high compared to pre-pandemic levels.

“There are so many people who care about this issue so deeply and who do the work on it, day in and day out,” said Protect Minnesota Executive Director Maggiy Emery. Protect Minnesota was founded in 1991 and is the state’s only independent gun violence prevention organization.

Emery said safe storage gun laws and reporting lost or stolen weapons, along with conflict resolution, can help people in crisis.

“There are things we can do before the incident occurs to make sure that somebody actively in that moment or rage or fear doesn’t pull the trigger of a gun,” said Emery. “We all live with the collective trauma of knowing that anybody who’s experiencing a break of some kind, mostly has easy access to firearms.”

Experts agree that random shootings are rare and that interpersonal conflict is typically driving crime.

“The work that we do is tiring because we need everybody to be a part of it,” said Emery, who like Chief Henry, is calling on the community to step up and implement evidence-based solutions to this problem. 

“We need everyone to get off of the bench and get into the fight on this issue,” said Chief Henry. “The police department simply cannot do this alone.”

Chief Henry said the recent shootings are likely not connected. At the press conference, he also pointed to different programs the department and city have implemented to foster youth outreach and provide resources and services.

ST. CLOUD, Minnesota — When former President Donald Trump campaigned in St. Cloud in July, it brought more than 8,000 supporters inside the National Hockey Center at St. Cloud State University and more crowds outside. 

It also brought more than $200,000 in city services that the city of St. Cloud is trying to get reimbursed from the Trump campaign. 

“I’m not but if I was running for re-election and I had a cost of a rally that I did that was well over $200,000 for the city, I’d feel an obligation to pay the city. And so I would do that,” said St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis.

Kleis was first elected mayor of St. Cloud in November 2005. Prior to that, he served in the Minnesota State Senate for a decade as a Republican. 

Kleis said the first invoice was sent to the Trump campaign in September. After 30 days passed without hearing from anyone with the campaign, the city sent a second notice last Friday. 

The invoice description includes “Police Department: $63,267.81; Public Services: $60,510.07; Construction Change Order: $61,878.84; Fire Department: $21,420.74; and IT Department: $1,857.71.” In total, the invoice is for $208,935.17. 

Kleis said they were notified of the rally less than a week before it took place. 

“It was… a pretty quick turnaround and you don’t know those costs until it’s over because Secret Service requires a lot of the changes,” Kleis said. 

For example, one of the larger costs involved opening a roundabout that had been closed for construction. 

An NBC News report claims at least four cities and a county are still waiting to be reimbursed by the Trump campaign — seeking more than $750,000 in unpaid bills for campaign events since 2016. 

The TEGNA Verify team said it’s unclear, however, whether Trump is legally obligated to pay all of them. 

The Center for Public Integrity reported in 2019 that in some cases, there weren’t any signed contracts with the campaign which makes the bills difficult to collect. 

A Trump campaign official claimed to KARE 11 that the “U.S. Secret Service is responsible for local law enforcement and first responder costs.” 

Kleis said if the Trump campaign does not pay up after this second notice which lasts another 30 days, they will then bill the Secret Service. 

But Secret Service Spokesperson Nate Herring told KARE 11: 

“State and local law enforcement play a crucial role in our ability to effectively conduct our protective operations. Currently, the U.S. Secret Service lacks a mechanism to reimburse state and local governments for their support during protective events. In recent discussions with Congressional leaders, we’ve identified this as a critical need, given the essential role our police and public safety partners play. We are grateful for the additional resources provided in the recent Continuing Resolution, and we will continue to work with the Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and Congress to advocate for the necessary grants and resources to support the city, county, and state law enforcement and public safety agencies that assist us every day.”

Trump isn’t the only one cities are seeking reimbursement from. NBC reports that the Spokane mayor claims Bernie Sanders’ campaign still owes the city about $33,000 and Hillary Clinton’s camp owes a little less than $3,000. 

The city of Minneapolis had a dispute with the Trump campaign following his 2019 rally at Target Center. Mayor Jacob Frey tried charging Trump’s campaign more than $500,000 for city services. Ultimately, the city reached a settlement with the operators of Target Center who agreed to pay the city $100,000. 

The city told KARE 11 that the last payment was processed at the end of last December. 

Kleis said they have hosted campaign visits in the past but without extra costs. 

“Previously, the city administration did something very similar billing to George W. Bush at that time. That was in 2004 and that was for cost above and beyond. We’ve had campaign visits but we wouldn’t charge for anything that we would have as routine, people that are already working. These are above and beyond costs,” Kleis explained. 

The July attempted assassination of Trump happened just two weeks before his visit to St. Cloud. 

Kleis on security said, “in the last year, those costs have gone up just based on the fact that there’s an assassination attempt that increased the amount of security that was used.” 

Kleis said while the White House is not billed for official events, campaign stops are treated the same as any other event that requires city services. Kleis also said they will not compromise on public safety. 

“We do have an obligation… for our taxpayers to, when there are costs that go above and beyond, to have somebody that is held responsible for that,” Kleis said. “That’s what we’re doing.”