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Harris campaign zeroes in on female voters
Even before Vice President joined the race, polling showed Trump led with men, but trailed with women.
MINNEAPOLIS — The newly minted Harris Campaign is already working to highlight the divide between Democrats and Republicans when in comes to abortion and other reproductive rights for women.
U.S. Senator Tina Smith led a large group of fellow female Democrat elected leaders and activists at the Minnesota State Capitol Friday, at an event co-sponsored by the Harris Campaign and Women Winning, a political organization that works to elect pro-choice women.
“With this election, the choice could not be more clear,” Sen. Smith told reporters.
“Vice President Harris has been a tireless advocate for women’s rights and reproductive freedom and we know we can trust her to stand with us!”
Smith said she worked alongside Vice President Kamala Harris in the U.S. Senate and trusts her to work to improve the lives of women and their families.
“We understand the freedom to make decisions about our own bodies and our own lives is fundamental to our liberty and our equality.”
The group also took aim at Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who is former President Trump’s running mate, for statements implying that women without children have no stake in the future of the country.
“We’re effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choice they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too,” Vance told FOX News’ Tucker Carlson in a 2021 interview that is now being widely circulated.
“If you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”
Former Sen. Kelly Morrison of Deep Haven, a physician who is running for Congress in Minnesota’s 3rd District, said there are many women who have not been able to conceive and others who have chosen not to have children.
“To mock them and to imply they are somehow less worthy in our country, is cruel. It’s disgraceful!” Morrison asserted.
Most polls show that men in Minnesota heavily favored Trump in a head-to-head matchup with President Biden. Some analysts have said the election in Minnesota could be determined by how many white men turn out to vote in the suburbs.
That’s one of the reasons the battle for women voters in Minnesota and other Midwestern battleground states will be so critical in 2024.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said former President Trump and Sen. Vance are trying to take the country back in time, to a place where women had fewer rights and less control of their bodies and their lives.
“Having women in leadership isn’t just cosmetic. It’s essential!” Flanagan told reporters.
Nevada Littlewolf of Women Winning pointed to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a blueprint for a second Trump term, which includes steps to impose a national ban on abortion. Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, but his critics point out that many of the authors to the document are former members of the Trump Administration.
“Now is the time to show Donald Trump, JD Vance, and his gang of MAGA minions that we will not tolerate any more threats to our democracy, our community, or our rights to make decisions about our own bodies.”
Elected Republican women assert electing Donald Trump won’t endanger women’s access to abortion in Minnesota. They note the DFL majority in the legislature in 2023 and 2024 put abortion rights into state law, and those rights were already established in the Minnesota Supreme Court’s 1995 Doe v. Gomez decision.
“That is not going to change here in Minnesota. We know that,” Rep. Lisa Demuth, the House Minority Leader, told KARE 11.
“But, if we are going to talk about being pro-woman, and making sure women have what they need, we need to support women at phases of their life and everything they’re facing.”
She said the definition of pro-women should be expanded to include pocketbook issues. She said the new sick and safe time law and the paid family leave system approved by the legislature will harm women who own businesses.
“Right now, we have high taxes, we have child care that is not accessible or available as people need. Women business owners specifically are facing mandates that were put on over the last two years by the full Democrat Trifecta.”
Minnesota GOP Deputy Party Chair Donna Bergstrom said that Democrats can’t win elections in this state running on the abortion issue alone.
“I think the Democrats at large and the DFL here in Minnesota really only have abortion to campaign on. Really that fear factor that they want to go after,” Bergstrom told KARE.
“We need to get back to the basics in our communities. Inflation is killing us. Our families can’t fill their gas tanks, put groceries on the table, meet their basic needs.”
Bergstrom criticized Democrats for their efforts to link Project 2025 to Trump.
“It would sure be a lot easier if we didn’t have people elected to office, like Senator Smith, saying this is the Trump agenda because it’s not.”
MINNEAPOLIS — How much do you know about your grandma’s upbringing?
“The Stories From My Grandmother’s Hands” is a book that aims to show young Black children how their grandmas lived through beautiful illustrations and descriptions.
KARE 11 News at Noon shared more on Thursday about the impact that this book will have.
Gary Peterson and his friends are collecting donations to help people in their community.
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — A St. Louis Park pumpkin display is raising money for their local food shelf.
Gary Peterson started carving and painting three pumpkins over a decade ago. It’s now grown to over 100.
“I’ve heard people say they’ve come from Hutchinson,” he said.
Peterson along with two of his neighbors have spent the last 14 years growing their display, turning it into a neighborhood event.
“It’s been incredible, I just can’t believe how much this has expanded,” he said. “We did it just because we like to and then people were asking to give us money to cover the cost.”
The trio refused to take people’s money, but then one of them had an idea.
“My neighbor, Steve Leensvaart, just mentioned how about we just do it for the STEP program and the STEP program is our local food shelf in St. Louis Park,” he said.
So, they started to collect donations to help families in need. They’ve raised hundreds of dollars and donated hundreds of pounds of food over the last few years, carving for a cause.
“It is more gratifying every year,” Peterson said.
He estimated they have over 100 unique pumpkins in their yard. They’ve created the displays and come up with new family-friendly concepts for people to enjoy. Peterson said about 30 of their neighbors carved their own pumpkins to be put on display, and it’s been a big hit.
“It’s great. In the last couple of years, it’s turned into more of a neighborhood event,” said Sarah Durch.
“We love this Halloween display, we come every year to see it. We love that the whole community gets involved to craft and carve the pumpkins,” said Jami Gordon-Smith.
“The shading and the details are unbelievable,” said Elizabeth Hanson.
Hanson hopes to take her 2-year-old son trick or treating for the first time but is worried the cold temperatures might keep them indoors.
“We’re going trick or treating hopefully,” she said. “He’s going to be a firefighter, but we’re probably going to have sweatshirts maybe like two pairs of sweatpants underneath. We’re going to be bundled up.”
Gordon-Smith said her family will be out Halloween night no matter the weather.
“Halloween only comes once a year, so you really have to take advantage and enjoy the evening no matter what the weather brings,” she said. “Guess it’s not totally unheard of in Minnesota to have a cold Halloween, but we are going to try and modify and do a lot of layers underneath our costumes and then we might add some hats and maybe some warmer socks.”
Durch also isn’t surprised they’re in for another chilly night.
“Well, what would Halloween be without Minnesota cold? I feel like every time you plan a costume you have to plan for how you can make this work if it’s snowing,” she said.
Peterson said they will have a bonfire and some hot chocolate and cider on Halloween to keep trick-or-treaters warm while they look at their pumpkins.
Click here to learn where you can see the pumpkins and how you can donate.
Jeremy Jourdain was 17 when he was last seen on Halloween 2016.
BEMIDJI, Minn. — The search for Jeremy Jourdain, who was last seen on Halloween in 2016, continues now eight years later.
Jourdain was last seen at a family member’s house in Bemidji, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior Indian Affairs. He left the residence near the 500 block of Wood Avenue after midnight and while people followed him, no one was able to find him.
Jourdain was 17 at the time.
Officials said he was wearing a blue and grey sweatshirt, and blue jeans when last seen. He is Native American and is described as 6 foot 5 and 175 pounds.
If you have any information on his whereabouts, you can contact the Bemidji Police Department at (218) 333-9111. Tips can also be sent to 1-833-560-2065, or you can email ojs_mmu@bia.gov.
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