Instead of displaying open bigotry, former state House Speaker Steve Sviggum of all people should have remembered the real reason for dropping enrollment.
In races that included all of Minnesota's 87 counties, the GOP continued a losing streak that dates to 2006. That's because Minnesota is a microcosm of the rest of the nation when it comes to the growing electoral divide between cities and rural areas.
Minnesota Reformer
Photo illustration by Getty Images.
In 2019, after Gov. Tim Walz had ensconced himself with House DFL and Senate GOP legislative leaders behind closed doors to hash out a budget, he told journalists he was frustrated with the lack of transparency into the backroom deals that have come to define the close of Minnesota legislative sessions.
Two years later, he said believes the private budget negotiations appear to be the best way to reach a deal.
“We put out our budget,” he said recently. “You know where we stand… I would argue most of this is out there publicly. Some of this (private) negotiation back-and-forth and the discussion obviously to try and reach a place where people can speak freely does happen that way, but this is the way I think it’s supposed to go.”