A Break Down about Thanksgiving, Election Recounts, and Legislative Drama

[00:00:12] Welcome to The Break Down with Brodkorb and Becky, a weekly podcast that breaks down politics, policy, and current affairs. I'm Becky Scherr.

[00:00:19] And I'm Michael Brodkorb.

[00:00:21] We are here with you today for my favorite holiday week ever, Thanksgiving week. We're going to start out the episode by breaking down our Thanksgiving plans, the best side dish, and what we're shopping for this week. Then we're going to keep things local by chatting through all things Minnesota legislature.

[00:00:35] We'll kick things off by discussing the recount in Scott County, House District 54A, between Democrat Brad Tapkey and Republican Aaron Paul, and discuss where things stand today.

[00:00:47] We will also break down the situation in House District 14B in St. Cloud, where incumbent Democrat Representative Dan Wolgamont has come out on top versus Republican challenger Sue Eck.

[00:00:57] And we will hit on the ongoing residential challenge in House District 40B.

[00:01:02] To close things out, we'll discuss a recent shift in our football standings and what's to come in the remaining weeks.

[00:01:09] Thanks for joining us and enjoy the show.

[00:01:12] So Michael, it is a big week for you.

[00:01:16] Huge week for me. I love Thanksgiving.

[00:01:19] It's a big week for Americans, those of us on the pro-turkey side.

[00:01:24] This is a big week. This is where it all comes home.

[00:01:27] We have a holiday. It's absolutely my favorite holiday.

[00:01:31] Halloween is up there. Probably if I check the transcript, I probably said Halloween was my favorite holiday, but they're all my favorite, just like these episodes are.

[00:01:38] Thanksgiving is just, it's about food. It's about family. It's about football.

[00:01:43] It's just a great day.

[00:01:45] It's just a great day to be thankful and to eat.

[00:01:47] And those are two things I love to do.

[00:01:50] Now, are you responsible for the turkey? Do you do all the turkey stuff?

[00:01:54] I always play a role in the preparation and the preparation, the cooking, and of course, the eating of the turkey.

[00:02:03] So I play, I'm on all sides of the turkey. I'm there.

[00:02:06] Perfect.

[00:02:06] How about you?

[00:02:07] And are you, do you have to travel out of town, stay in town?

[00:02:10] We'll be home.

[00:02:10] See in a family.

[00:02:11] We'll be home, but we always see family.

[00:02:13] We'll be home, but we will see family.

[00:02:14] And it's just a great day.

[00:02:16] How about you? Will you, do you guys like order pizza?

[00:02:18] What do you guys do on Thanksgiving?

[00:02:20] We do indulge in turkey, of course.

[00:02:23] Yeah, that's surprising. I lose by that.

[00:02:25] Yes. We are heading to Marshfield, Wisconsin, where my husband is from. So his parents are hosting Thanksgiving this year.

[00:02:35] He's from Wisconsin. I didn't know that.

[00:02:36] Yes. Yes, he is. So we'll be going there. I get off easy. I don't really have to bring much. I'm literally bringing deviled eggs this year. So it doesn't get much easier than that.

[00:02:46] Food of the gods.

[00:02:48] Right?

[00:02:48] Why do not more holidays include deviled eggs?

[00:02:51] Just an FYI, for those, when this episode comes out on the family group chat, I will have sent a text by the time this episode is published about the status of the deviled eggs.

[00:03:00] Yeah.

[00:03:01] Because deviled eggs are fantastic.

[00:03:04] So fantastic.

[00:03:05] You know what makes really good deviled eggs is someone that we both know.

[00:03:08] Who?

[00:03:09] Chris Tiedemann makes fantastic deviled eggs.

[00:03:12] Interesting.

[00:03:13] Yeah. And by the way, I've never said deviled eggs more or wanted them more than I want right now.

[00:03:16] Thank you for bringing it up. So that's all I'm going to be thinking about the rest of the episode.

[00:03:19] I think it's also funny because it's like would be the easiest thing just to make on a weekly basis if you – I'm going to have to start indulging more.

[00:03:27] But aside from deviled eggs, what is your – what's your favorite side dish?

[00:03:32] On Thanksgiving, I'm the can of cranberry.

[00:03:35] I like the can of cranberry just the way the pilgrims made it.

[00:03:38] Yeah, with the ridges and everything.

[00:03:40] With the ridges and everything, the can of cranberry, that's it.

[00:03:42] That's a must on the order on the day of – there can be other variations of the cranberries.

[00:03:48] And people like to – it's 2024. It's a free country.

[00:03:51] People are doing a lot of fun stuff with cranberries these days.

[00:03:54] But I just like it in the can the way they brought it over on the Mayflower.

[00:03:56] If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm partial to mashed potatoes.

[00:04:01] Okay.

[00:04:01] On any given day, potatoes in any form is my favorite side dish.

[00:04:05] But in particular, you got to have mashed potatoes.

[00:04:09] And you got to have gravy. And not gravy from a jar or a pack.

[00:04:12] It's got to be from the drippings. It's the good stuff.

[00:04:14] The drippings.

[00:04:15] Who signed me up?

[00:04:16] Let's resolve this issue. Clear up the confusion that you've created.

[00:04:20] So what role will turkey play in your Thanksgiving day meal?

[00:04:23] So turkey is still – turkey, it's all about the turkey.

[00:04:26] There's rarely ham makes an appearance.

[00:04:29] Sometimes, depending on where it is, ham will be there as well.

[00:04:33] But to clear things up, it's just like on Easter, my preference, all ham all the time.

[00:04:39] If I have a holiday where there is a choice between the two, I'm going to load up on the ham versus the turkey.

[00:04:45] But on Thanksgiving, I am American. I do eat turkey just like the rest of us.

[00:04:51] According to this white shirt, you're American today.

[00:04:53] Or at least advertising yourself on behalf of America.

[00:04:56] What's your least favorite Thanksgiving dish aside from the turkey?

[00:05:00] I don't really know that there is one.

[00:05:03] I mean, it's because you've got to have a little bit of it all, right?

[00:05:05] You've got to have some corn and green bean casserole in there.

[00:05:08] You've got to have some stuffing in there.

[00:05:10] Even if it's stovetop, no judgment there.

[00:05:12] We don't know how to go fancy.

[00:05:13] Now, one thing I do think is interesting that I was listening to the radio the other day.

[00:05:17] They said that the new most popular side dish on Thanksgiving is mac and cheese.

[00:05:23] Now, mac and cheese rarely makes an appearance at a Thanksgiving I'm at.

[00:05:27] Is that a staple of yours?

[00:05:29] No, and I have very strong opinions on mac and cheese.

[00:05:32] Mac and cheese is not – it is craft mac and cheese from the box.

[00:05:36] That's it.

[00:05:37] That's all I ever want.

[00:05:38] I don't want anything fancy.

[00:05:39] It doesn't need to be dolled up in any type of sophisticated way.

[00:05:42] It does need to go through some cosmopolitan review, nor would I have it as a part of my

[00:05:47] Thanksgiving meal.

[00:05:48] Yeah, that's weird, right?

[00:05:49] Because it's relegated to that level.

[00:05:51] Yeah.

[00:05:51] It's the box.

[00:05:52] That's what I want.

[00:05:53] That's it.

[00:05:53] Don't give me anything more.

[00:05:54] Don't complicate this.

[00:05:55] Do you have any side dishes that you skip over?

[00:05:58] I'm not – the green bean casserole, I'm not a huge fan.

[00:06:01] I like to see it from a presentation standpoint.

[00:06:03] Yeah.

[00:06:03] I'm not one to dive into it.

[00:06:04] I like to focus on the – I have a pretty good ratio of –

[00:06:08] Carbs.

[00:06:09] Of carbs, and that's my ratio.

[00:06:11] That's what I like to deal with.

[00:06:12] I'll throw some corn in just for so the kids can see it.

[00:06:16] But I'm generally a mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and turkey.

[00:06:20] I'll also say this.

[00:06:21] In previous years, I've been in Iowa.

[00:06:24] I've gone down there.

[00:06:24] I have to want to remind our listeners just because this – we do a lot of politics.

[00:06:28] The greatest post-Thanksgiving meal I've ever had was an event I was at in Iowa when John

[00:06:35] Kerry was there for the Iowa caucuses.

[00:06:37] I was working for the Republican Party at the time.

[00:06:40] I wasn't there.

[00:06:41] Some of our listeners might think I was actually supporting John Kerry at that event in 2004.

[00:06:46] No, it was a lead-up.

[00:06:47] It goes way back.

[00:06:48] It was a lead-up to the Iowa caucuses.

[00:06:51] He had an event in Iowa in a town nearby where we were by my wife's in-law's farm.

[00:06:57] They were serving – it was post-Thanksgiving.

[00:07:00] They had these turkey stuffing sandwiches.

[00:07:04] I have been searching for those ever since.

[00:07:06] No one has lived up to what was served at that VFW that day.

[00:07:10] But I just love Thanksgiving, and it's the football, and then it's the aftermath,

[00:07:15] and then it's the additional meals throughout the day.

[00:07:16] It's comfy clothes.

[00:07:18] It's football.

[00:07:18] It's everything.

[00:07:19] It's great.

[00:07:21] And before we get into the real meat, pun intended, of the episode,

[00:07:25] any shopping?

[00:07:26] Are you a Black Friday, Cyber Monday shopper, Small Business Saturday?

[00:07:30] I will do some.

[00:07:32] I'll look around.

[00:07:33] I'm not much – I'll get some deals on some things.

[00:07:35] But yeah, but generally the day after Thanksgiving,

[00:07:38] I like to get caught up in sometimes –

[00:07:40] I've gone shopping on Black Friday, like gone to the stores just for the fun of it.

[00:07:43] But generally speaking, I'm just going to be parked on the couch,

[00:07:46] eating leftovers, and just resting and trying to be as thankful as I can.

[00:07:51] And just as the pilgrims would have wanted, just like they would have wanted.

[00:07:53] I will say on one thing, speaking of shopping, you might have noticed – I just want to point this out for our listeners –

[00:07:58] I'm dressed in what would look like hunting gear.

[00:08:01] And I just want our listeners to know that, yes, this is – I've been out engaging in recreational activities,

[00:08:08] as all good sportsmen do in this state.

[00:08:12] And yes, they do happen to just pick up their orange garb at Brooks Brothers and go out to the woods and go shooting.

[00:08:16] But I just want to acknowledge I spent the weekend with – part of the weekend with my son out in the woods.

[00:08:21] We had a great time just being a family out there in the woods.

[00:08:25] And it's a great time of year to be out and partaking in what all that Minnesota has to offer.

[00:08:30] Any success yet?

[00:08:31] Or yet to be –

[00:08:32] None yet, no.

[00:08:32] No.

[00:08:33] But it's just –

[00:08:34] Yeah, still fun.

[00:08:34] My father-in-law and brother-in-law both got theirs in Wisconsin this weekend.

[00:08:38] So that was a big one out there.

[00:08:40] It's mostly just a time to swap stories and act like a tough guy.

[00:08:44] I'm basically a mountain man now.

[00:08:46] Obviously.

[00:08:46] I'm basically Grizzly Adams.

[00:08:47] Yes.

[00:08:48] Yep.

[00:08:48] Let's get to it.

[00:08:49] So we have been focusing a lot on the national presidential cabinet appointments, all things Trump, all things Harris, Harris post-election.

[00:08:59] Now, we're going to keep things in Minnesota and chat through some of the drama surrounding the legislative races.

[00:09:08] Now, anybody who listened to us on election night may remember a few hiccups we had with how some election results were coming in.

[00:09:18] And this is not from everything that we've seen on an issue the Secretary of State was making.

[00:09:23] It was issues with individual House districts or individual reporting.

[00:09:27] We're going to start in Scott County 54A.

[00:09:30] This is one – at some point during the live stream, we did claim that Aaron Paul had won and had defeated Brad Tapkey, the Democrat.

[00:09:36] That was not the case.

[00:09:39] Just this week on Monday, November 25th, there was a recount was done.

[00:09:45] Election was certified declaring Democrat Brad Tapkey the winner by 14 points.

[00:09:51] However, the drama here are there are 21 quote-unquote missing ballots.

[00:09:58] You want to chat with us a little bit about these quote-unquote missing ballots?

[00:10:02] Yeah, and I think we should set the table a little bit using a Thanksgiving reference as we talk.

[00:10:08] You and I have been – we've been doing this podcast for over two years now.

[00:10:11] We've had really good, thoughtful discussions about the election.

[00:10:14] Our firm belief was that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

[00:10:19] You and I have – we were live streaming on the election in 2024.

[00:10:24] We've never engaged in any type of election denialism.

[00:10:27] We've had Secretary of State Steve Simon on.

[00:10:29] And so we've had very grounded conversations about elections.

[00:10:33] What we saw on election night was the preliminary results of the election as reported by local county offices to the Secretary of State's website.

[00:10:42] Yeah, that Brad Tapkey looked like Aaron Paul was winning in that race.

[00:10:45] He – and when the election was certified, Tapkey did have a 14-vote lead.

[00:10:49] I think we need to recognize the distinction between – there's been some rhetoric about people saying that people were declared the winner on election night.

[00:10:56] No one was declared the winner.

[00:10:57] It was – those are on the unofficial results.

[00:11:00] What's so concerning in this particular precinct or in this particular legislative district is that there are 21 missing ballots.

[00:11:07] Now, ballots are – it's always concerning when ballots go missing.

[00:11:10] But the real concern here is 21 ballots that are missing, and the margin of the race is only 14 votes.

[00:11:18] And so one could make the argument that mathematically those votes could flip the outcome of this race.

[00:11:26] And the reason why that's significant, because even though folks probably thought there would be no math in this episode, we have 134 seats in the legislature.

[00:11:35] And Becky, as the election nerd, what is the breakdown right now?

[00:11:41] The breakdown right now is 67-67, and that includes Democrat Brad Tapkey in the 67 Democrats.

[00:11:49] So you could make the – so the truth of the matter is that the partisan designation of the Minnesota legislature, who is in the – who has the full control of this election, is determined by the outcome of this race and a couple other races.

[00:12:03] But this one in particular, what's so unusual is the missing ballots.

[00:12:06] Right.

[00:12:06] That's the concern that we have here.

[00:12:08] And this is – the election officials identified 21 absentee records that do not have the corresponding physical ballots during a routine audit.

[00:12:19] It is –

[00:12:19] Translate that.

[00:12:20] That means that when they had their voter roll, from my understanding, has those absentee votes as checked in as individuals who came and voted, but their physical ballot is not there.

[00:12:33] Meaning those 21 votes during the recount, from my understanding – and correct me if I'm wrong – but those 21 votes during the recount were not able to be counted because there is no piece of paper to physically recount.

[00:12:49] Correct.

[00:12:49] So this is a situation where they identified 21 absentee ballots records.

[00:12:55] So these are people that filed – these are people that voted absentee, which I would be an example of someone in my local district, not in this district.

[00:13:03] I live in Eagan.

[00:13:04] I voted absentee.

[00:13:05] So I voted in an absentee ballot, voted, and there's a log that I voted absentee.

[00:13:11] But then when they do – when they correspond that with a physical ballot, they can't find the underlying ballot.

[00:13:16] What that means is – and please correct me if I'm wrong, which obviously you don't need permission to do because you do it all the time.

[00:13:23] That means it's most likely then that those 21 ballots were removed by someone or misplaced by someone.

[00:13:30] Those 21 ballots at some – they just didn't poof vanish.

[00:13:34] At some point either those ballots were misplaced intentionally or not, they're gone.

[00:13:39] Correct.

[00:13:40] And when it comes down to only 14 separating the winner from the loser, that's a good chunk of those.

[00:13:46] Yes, and I've seen – there's been some analysis on social media, which makes sure it is truthful.

[00:13:52] But there's been some analysis on social media talking about where the location of some of these precincts, where these ballots are coming from.

[00:13:58] These are likely a predominant tab key precinct, which is fine.

[00:14:03] The reality, though, is that particularly I think it's fair to say that you and I have been very strong advocates for democracy, for our election administration.

[00:14:15] Again, you nerded it out with Secretary of State Steve Simon about election process.

[00:14:20] Nobody knows it better than you do on this show.

[00:14:22] And as our legal analyst on this show, this is raising a number of red flags, right?

[00:14:27] Yes.

[00:14:27] Now, Republicans have a week to file a challenge to the recount results, which they are expected to do.

[00:14:35] The House Republican leader and now co-speaker-designate Lisa Damath is quoted as saying,

[00:14:41] until the 21 ballots are accounted for, it's impossible to certify the election and irresponsible for Brad Tapke to be declaring victory.

[00:14:49] Stay tuned.

[00:14:49] And Jim Schultz, who was the 2022 GOP nominee for attorney general here in Minnesota, we've had him on the show before.

[00:14:56] He is calling for, he is among one of many calling for a new election in the district, saying,

[00:15:02] when there are 21 missing ballots and one candidate is ahead by a fraction of that, the only answer is there must be a new election.

[00:15:10] What's your take?

[00:15:11] It is 100% troublesome.

[00:15:13] And unlike some of the situations, one of the situations we're going to talk about in 14B,

[00:15:18] I think it is something that raises enough questions without any plausible answers at this point.

[00:15:24] Whether it was malicious or accidental, it seems as though there are valid questions about the validity of this result,

[00:15:34] whether it's Tapke won by more than 14 or less than 14 or didn't win at all.

[00:15:39] We don't know.

[00:15:41] And it's hard for me.

[00:15:43] I'm not a voter in that district, but it's hard to have confidence in this result.

[00:15:48] And I don't know.

[00:15:49] I don't know.

[00:15:50] Is the answer a new election?

[00:15:51] What does that look like?

[00:15:52] How does that take?

[00:15:53] That does also then shift a potential.

[00:15:56] I think that the earliest a special election could be is in February,

[00:15:59] which obviously has impacts on the tie, the not tie at the legislature.

[00:16:07] I don't know.

[00:16:08] What's your take?

[00:16:10] I think it's the worst case scenario for a number of reasons.

[00:16:15] Number one, it's 21 ballots in a 14 ballot race in the 134 race with the 67-67 tie.

[00:16:25] So it has every implication.

[00:16:29] Now, in all honesty, those other political factors shouldn't weigh into this.

[00:16:34] It shouldn't, if it was the 80th seat for one of the sides, we should still have a concern.

[00:16:39] This is concerning.

[00:16:40] This is the type of stuff that I think Republicans and Democrats and election officials in the state should be unified on,

[00:16:48] that you have a situation where there are 21 missing ballots in an election that was decided by 14 votes.

[00:16:57] That should be a concern.

[00:16:58] And again, whether it's in any race, it should be a concern.

[00:17:01] And this is an opportunity where I think I struggle with this.

[00:17:05] I don't struggle with the messaging.

[00:17:07] I struggle with the backstory.

[00:17:08] In that, I think that there has been a lot of irresponsible messaging about election, election denialism, and the truth around elections.

[00:17:17] And so there are a number of people on, I think, the center-right side who have cried wolf on a number of election matters.

[00:17:25] And so I think when this type of situation comes up, where I think it's black and white and what should happen here,

[00:17:33] I think there should be bipartisan voices calling for there to be a greater level of transparency into what's going on.

[00:17:39] At a bare minimum, I don't think, I think that before anyone, I think that there is an ongoing investigation into the status of these ballots and where they are.

[00:17:49] I think it is, they may not, until the issue of the 21 ballots is resolved, I think there is a cloud of doubt over this election.

[00:17:59] And until that election is resolved, until that doubt is removed, I think everything that's going on right now, it should be, and that's not the way to start a process.

[00:18:08] Right.

[00:18:09] That's not a way to start a legislative process.

[00:18:11] And I think there's a lot of things to be concerned about.

[00:18:14] I think that the county officials need to be as transparent as they can.

[00:18:16] And I think Republicans have every justifiable right to squawk just from a partisan perspective.

[00:18:23] But in all honesty, I think that this particular race is a situation where there should be a bipartisan chorus of people saying, we need to get to the bottom of this.

[00:18:32] Correct.

[00:18:33] And before we move on to other challenges going on, the 14 votes, whether that margin stays or gets smaller or gets bigger,

[00:18:41] is a great reminder of why it's so important to vote.

[00:18:45] And every vote truly matters.

[00:18:47] We have had a number of elections that have been won by less than double digits in this state in recent years.

[00:18:53] So please vote.

[00:18:55] I assume if you're listening to this podcast, you vote.

[00:18:58] Yes.

[00:18:59] Just in case.

[00:19:00] Yes.

[00:19:00] Please vote.

[00:19:01] So moving on, we have also had a recount in St. Cloud 14B.

[00:19:07] Now, this is one very different scenario, but also one that on election night, we at one point, as the Secretary of State's website, as results were coming in,

[00:19:18] it showed Republican challenger Sue Eck defeating incumbent Democrat Dan Wolgamont for the seat.

[00:19:26] Now, that did quickly change in the quote-unquote win, was very short-lived for Sue Eck.

[00:19:32] On election night, she was up by four votes with 100% of precincts in.

[00:19:36] But unofficial.

[00:19:38] Unofficially, correct.

[00:19:40] That did change still on election night to her being down by 28 votes.

[00:19:45] And then three days later after the election, she was defeated by 191 votes.

[00:19:53] Sherbourne County announced that election staff identified some mail-in absentee ballots that were not included in the unofficial totals on election night.

[00:20:01] They said a memory card that was damaged or hadn't been properly cleared, uploaded incorrect data to the Secretary of State's website.

[00:20:07] And so this is a scenario where there are some folks, and we'll get into some of the kind of the drama on the Republican side about this.

[00:20:17] There are some folks saying, as you said, squawking about the incorrect data being called up.

[00:20:24] Another situation where a Republican was at one point, quote-unquote, declared the winner on election night.

[00:20:31] But then that was, quote-unquote, taken away from them.

[00:20:34] Now, this is a situation, 191 votes does fall outside of what is required of a mandated recount.

[00:20:41] County officials in this part decided to do and pay for a partial recount, namely to restore trust and confidence in their election system.

[00:20:50] So the county attorney did say, all of the ballots are here physically.

[00:20:54] They were all logged in.

[00:20:55] We tracked their chain of custody, and they were actually counted on election day.

[00:20:58] They just did not get updated to the website for public viewing.

[00:21:04] Mistakes happen.

[00:21:06] It does.

[00:21:06] Mistakes happen.

[00:21:08] Mistakes happen.

[00:21:37] The Secretary of State's office does not do the counting.

[00:21:38] They oversee the process, but the Secretary of State's office does not do the counting.

[00:21:42] And so these are numbers that are pulled from all 87 counties.

[00:21:45] And so what's happening, excuse me, on election night is people are watching these results come in.

[00:21:50] And when they see 100% of the precinct reported, those are still unofficial results.

[00:21:55] So some people are cheering on election night by, they think early in the night that they've won a race, even where 100% is reported in.

[00:22:04] Those are unofficial.

[00:22:05] It can be a little bit of a drama.

[00:22:06] It can be a little bit of an emotional kind of roller coaster if you're a candidate running for office, and you're seeing the numbers go up and down, and then to have 100% of the results in, and then the result change, which is what happened on election night.

[00:22:21] Again, though, those are unofficial results.

[00:22:23] We have a process by which elections are certified through the canvassing process.

[00:22:28] And in this particular instance, I think the county, I think, did a good job of acknowledging their role in this situation and resolving it from investing in transparency.

[00:22:43] I believe it's less than 1% of the margin between is what can count for a recount.

[00:22:50] And so this vote total was outside the margin.

[00:22:53] But the county, so what you can do is if you lose an election in the state and it's outside the recount margin, you can pay for it yourself.

[00:23:00] You can still, you can, a candidate can pay for a recount even if they lose by 20 points, but they have to pay for the costs.

[00:23:08] And even if you lose by, even if you lose by a couple, you can dispense with the recount process and the county can also still do it.

[00:23:16] In this particular instance, it was outside the margin.

[00:23:18] The county decided to do it for the sake of transparency.

[00:23:22] I think it was the right process to engage in.

[00:23:25] There has been, understandably, having been a communications person in partisan Republican politics, I can say this, if I was still at the party, would absolutely be something that I would be writing press releases and tweets about from the party.

[00:23:42] So it's not, I don't fault that the party and chair for doing that, but it is, there is, Andrew Hulse is a Sherbourne County commissioner.

[00:23:50] He formerly, I believe, was chair of his local BPOU, a longtime Republican.

[00:23:56] He's been very vocal about how he is upset about how officials in the Republican Party have been spreading misinformation.

[00:24:02] He talks about how it creates a lot of iron aimed towards the county employees who are responsible for it.

[00:24:09] And in this situation, he said there was not a box or there wasn't a box of found ballots.

[00:24:15] There wasn't additional ballots being scanned that had been found.

[00:24:17] None of that was the case.

[00:24:18] He talks about, just like you mentioned, that the county has been proactive.

[00:24:22] They contacted the candidates.

[00:24:24] They contacted the Secretary of State.

[00:24:26] They already adopted a new procedural change to prevent this from happening in the future.

[00:24:31] So it seems that they're very on top of it.

[00:24:35] This is one I don't expect there to be a ton more coming from this other than some folks using it as ammo to spread rhetoric about election integrity.

[00:24:46] But I do think that this is completely different than what is going on in Scott County.

[00:24:51] Like you said, the transparency, how forthcoming they seem to be in the situation and the fact that they have all ballots accounted for obviously is really important where that's not the situation in Scott County.

[00:25:03] Absolutely. And I think in particularly the Scott County stuff, we'll be discussing it on future episodes because I don't think this issue is going to go anywhere soon.

[00:25:11] Agreed.

[00:25:12] And then lastly, one of the dramatic, one of the new pieces of drama going on when it comes to the majorities or lack thereof in the statehouse.

[00:25:22] We are going to turn to 40B.

[00:25:25] This is House District 40B representing the Roseville Shoreview area.

[00:25:28] So now this is one where it is the winner was decisive.

[00:25:32] A Democrat, Curtis Johnson, easily defeated Republican Paul Wilkstrom for the seat.

[00:25:39] Johnson received 65 percent of the vote.

[00:25:42] Decent margin.

[00:25:43] The situation that's ongoing here is a residency challenge.

[00:25:47] So a Republican is alleging that Johnson does not actually live in the district that he recently just won the seat to represent.

[00:26:00] So Minnesota election law requires candidates to reside in the districts they want to represent for six months before the election.

[00:26:08] In this situation, Johnson, his wife and children were living in Little Canada.

[00:26:12] He allegedly or supposedly began renting an apartment on Rice Street last spring to establish his residency in 40B.

[00:26:22] He said his wife and oldest child continue to live in Little Canada home to keep things calm while they're looking for their forever home in 40B.

[00:26:33] Wilkstrom, it seems, did a little detective work on their own.

[00:26:38] Now, I'm not sure if this is the candidate or who from their team, but they established an investigative team.

[00:26:43] According to a Star Tribune story I wrote, they put a piece of tape on his apartment door to see if it was being used.

[00:26:49] They looked in the window.

[00:26:50] They slid a camera under the door.

[00:26:52] And they're alleging that Johnson never even activated any utilities at this apartment and was still residing, actually, in Little Canada.

[00:27:02] It's your take.

[00:27:03] Thank you.

[00:27:03] Our listeners may remember that on a previous episode with Bill Walsh, I discussed with him as we walked down memory lane of some past campaigns and experiences we had that I was in when I previously worked at the Republican Party in doing research in 2002.

[00:27:20] We did.

[00:27:21] There was residency claims that we made in the aftermath of redistricting about legislative candidates running.

[00:27:27] So I have a little experience with residency claims.

[00:27:29] We filed a number of residency claims.

[00:27:31] We were not successful, but it was a very interesting process.

[00:27:35] There was a candidate, a couple things, just for argument's sake.

[00:27:39] Sue Eck was kicked off the ballot a few years ago prior to her running in a previous St.

[00:27:44] Cloud race.

[00:27:45] There was a legislator who was removed from the ballot.

[00:27:48] I think it was Bob Barrett, Representative Bob Barrett, was removed from the ballot.

[00:27:52] And in that case, what was successful in those other additional redistricting, I mean, those residency cases that were the ones that we were not successful with decades ago happened was they had some evidence of, they had some much, they were much more, they were able to document from an investigative standpoint the status of where these candidates were going, which I think is significant.

[00:28:15] If you read the court filings in the residency challenge in 40B, it is voluminous and significant.

[00:28:22] There are, I think there are some, this campaign, Wickstrom's campaign team established a quote investigative team to investigate.

[00:28:30] So they obviously got wind of this and spent a dedicated amount of time and resources from the campaign to challenge and to lay the groundwork to challenge the residency of this, of Curtis Johnson.

[00:28:42] And it's going to be interesting to see how it pairs out.

[00:28:44] Having looked, having was, I was not involved in the issue involving Sue Eck or involving Representative Barrett, but having since kind of researched it a bit, this residency challenge in 40B, I think is significant.

[00:28:57] I'm not an officer of the court.

[00:28:59] I'm not a judge.

[00:29:00] You're the legal correspondent for the podcast, but I think that there is some teeth to this.

[00:29:05] And the reason why it's significant is again, 134 seats in the legislature, in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

[00:29:13] And right now the tie, right now it's a statistical tie 67, 67.

[00:29:17] It's a dead heat.

[00:29:18] They're both tied.

[00:29:19] That means there's a power share agreement.

[00:29:21] So losing one of these, if the Democrats lose one of these seats, it's a tie with these seats in.

[00:29:27] They have calculated 40B.

[00:29:28] They have calculated, they have calculated 54A as, as wins for them.

[00:29:34] And so they've entered a power sharing agreement with House Republicans to share control of the Minnesota House of, of the Minnesota House of Representatives based on two seats that there are questions as to whether the DFL incumbent, or in this case, in the 40B seat, the new candidate will actually be seated.

[00:29:53] In an interesting side note, aside from what the courts do, aside from what the courts adjudicate in these matters, it is up to the legislative bodies to determine their membership.

[00:30:03] And so I would expect, independent of what any court does, that on the, that when the day the legislature reconvenes in what, early January, that there is a, there is internal deliberations between, particularly in the Minnesota House, as to whether they accept the election certificate from these races.

[00:30:52] I think there's going to be some fights coming up.

[00:30:53] It does seem extremely questionable.

[00:30:56] There's laws for a reason that there's a residency requirement.

[00:31:00] If that was not met, if that was not being abided by, then this individual should not, is no longer a valid candidate to win the seat.

[00:31:09] Therefore, he did not win the seat.

[00:31:11] And again, this would put it to another special election likely to be called in February.

[00:31:16] And at that time, it would sit at 67 Republicans, 66 Democrats, maybe 65 Democrats, depending on what goes on in Scott County.

[00:31:25] But I think that Republicans have every right to push this and to inquire about this and to support a court proceeding to determine what is actually going on here, what is true.

[00:31:40] And then, of course, abide by what that court ruling, what that court ruling is.

[00:31:45] But, whew, things are getting interesting.

[00:31:48] And I have to say, I am not envious of our legislative leaders right now because while all of this is going on, they are up at the Capitol trying to figure out how to coexist harmoniously.

[00:32:03] Right?

[00:32:03] Like, they just announced that Lisa Dameth and Melissa Hortman are going to be co-speakers, yet to be determined what that looks like and what that means.

[00:32:13] They just announced co-chairs, Republican chair and a Democrat chair for each of the committees.

[00:32:18] They are doing their best to push forward and work as under the premise that it is 67-67 while on the side having to look into these different and be supportive of the ongoing investigations into 54A and 40B and what that means.

[00:32:39] Man, that is a heavy task for staff and legislators alike.

[00:32:42] No, and I think it's going to be, first of all, it's going to make for great podcast content because we're going to have some great episodes after Thanksgiving because I think we've just scratched the surface on these.

[00:32:52] We could do episodes specifically on these races in and of themselves and diving into these issues because aside from this gets into a meaty legal analysis but also the political analysis that is at stake.

[00:33:04] Again, it's what makes these two races so significant, not to say that they weren't to begin with, but it's the 67-67 power sharing.

[00:33:12] And it's the legislative, it's the breakdown right now of the legislative process and where it could go.

[00:33:17] And Republicans could potentially, right now they have a tie, but I can see a path for them to win control in their own right of one of these legislators, of the Minnesota House, because of some of these potential legal challenges that could occur.

[00:33:32] And then let's not forget that the Minnesota Senate only has a one, Republicans, the Democrats only have a one seat majority there.

[00:33:39] So it is a razor-thin margin for Democrats right now, legislatively, with Republicans chomping on their heels here in Minnesota.

[00:33:47] It is going to be interesting.

[00:33:49] Like you said, that is the second, I think it's January 14th, I want to say, is the start of the legislative session.

[00:33:55] So we are just a few short weeks away, and so it's going to be exciting.

[00:34:01] They've got a lot of work that they have to get done being a budget year.

[00:34:05] So it's going to be, we are ready to go and ready to talk about it.

[00:34:10] And I am glad we are not in it and get to sit on the sidelines and chat about it.

[00:34:16] Speaking of chomping at the heels.

[00:34:18] And speaking of just sitting on the sideline.

[00:34:21] Oh, wow.

[00:34:23] That was good.

[00:34:24] Why don't you kick off the final topic for this holiday?

[00:34:27] Oh, kick off.

[00:34:29] Wow.

[00:34:29] So many puns here.

[00:34:30] So we had another week of football.

[00:34:35] Drumroll, please.

[00:34:37] Michael Rudkorp has gained a point.

[00:34:39] And yeah, you're just down by two.

[00:34:43] You're tied for second now.

[00:34:44] I am still remaining in the solo first place.

[00:34:47] Yes.

[00:34:48] And I think I'm the most distinguished member of the second class.

[00:34:52] I believe you were there with my husband.

[00:34:54] And who else is there?

[00:34:56] I think Mark Drake is there too.

[00:34:58] So it is an august group that is in the second tier position.

[00:35:03] What I just want to point out to our listeners is, as I reminded everyone, I have been defending democracy.

[00:35:09] Democracy was on the ballot and I've been defending it.

[00:35:11] And so that was my priority was.

[00:35:12] I will remind our listeners that since the election has been over with, I have made steady and consistent gains in all of my fantasy leagues.

[00:35:20] I think this is your first game.

[00:35:22] I beat in both of my fantasy leagues this week.

[00:35:25] Continue to make progress in this league.

[00:35:27] And I was successful in knocking off another sister in my family fantasy league.

[00:35:31] The joe mentum is on my side.

[00:35:33] The joe mentum is on my side.

[00:35:35] And I'm confident that now that democracy has been protected, that my full attention on football is going to be continue to be a source of topics in this conversation because I'm making gains.

[00:35:45] We will wait patiently with bated breath.

[00:35:49] Can't wait.

[00:35:50] Thank you so much, Becky.

[00:35:52] I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving week.

[00:35:54] You too.

[00:35:54] And we want to thank you all for listening to this episode of The Breakdown with Broadcore and Becky before we go show some love for your favorite podcast.

[00:36:01] By leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or the platform where you listen, you can also leave a review or check us out across all social media platforms at at BB Breakdown.

[00:36:10] The Breakdown with Broadcore and Becky will return next week.

[00:36:13] Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

[00:36:14] Bye.