🌅 Rise and shine! We stayed up late watching the election results so you didn't have to.

• In related news, we've never been more grateful for coffee.

☀️ High in the upper 80s today, per NWS.

🎂 Happy birthday to our members Alana Keynes and Lauren Palmer!

Today's newsletter is 996 words, a 4-minute read.

The marquee matchups are set for Minnesota's high-stakes midterm election.

The big picture: Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a progressive Democrat, and Republican Michele Tafoya, a well-known former sideline reporter, will face off for the open U.S. Senate seat.

• In the governor's race, Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth handily defeated candidates backed by President Trump and her own party to go up against U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

State of play: Yesterday's outcome strengthened Republicans' prospects for putting a statewide office in play for the first time in 20 years, as better-funded, establishment-backed candidates advanced to the general.

• Recent polling, election forecasts and the national political environment still give the advantage to Democrats heading into the November campaigns.

More takeaways...

🐘 Republicans reject endorsements: In three major statewide races — U.S. Senate, governor and state auditor — GOP primary voters passed over their party's endorsed candidate.

• That break from recent history — the endorsed candidate typically wins the primary on that side — could reignite debate about the process and its value.

👀 Republican voters also bucked Trump — a powerful kingmaker in GOP politics — in choosing Demuth over My Pillow founder Mike Lindell by a double-digit margin.

• Lindell still refused to concede last night, per the Star Tribune, telling reporters that "mathematically, it looks impossible" that he lost.

🫏 On the DFL side, Flanagan's resounding victory over moderate U.S. Rep. Angie Craig was another major win for progressives in the political tug-of-war over the future of the Democratic Party.

• The 20-point blowout may also signal that the Trump administration's immigration crackdown remains a powerful motivator for DFL voters.
• A similar level of enthusiasm in November would likely further boost Minnesota Democrats' fortunes up and down the ballot.

Zoom in: In contrast to the GOP races, Flanagan — the DFL-endorsed candidate — sailed to victory despite being significantly outspent by Craig and her allies.

• Craig, who made her track record of winning in a suburban swing seat a focal point of her campaign, barely carried her own district.

The intrigue: Despite polling suggesting the GOP gubernatorial and DFL Senate races could be close, all four nominees won by big margins.

🗳️ What we're watching: Wins by Demuth and Klobuchar put Minnesota on track to elect a female governor for the first time, regardless of which side prevails.

⚖️ Hennepin County Attorney: DFL state Rep. Cedrick Frazier and former federal prosecutor Anders Folk advanced to the November ballot.

🔎 State Auditor: Scott Jensen won the GOP primary for the open statewide office. Zack Filipovich ran unopposed for the DFL nomination.

🏛️ 2nd Congressional District: In another win for progressives, Matt Little, a former Lakeville mayor and state senator, won the three-way DFL primary. He will face Republican state Sen. Eric Pratt in the race for the open suburban swing seat.

🏛️ In state legislative races, longtime DFL Sen. Ron Latz soundly defeated his well-organized challenger in his St. Louis Park-based district.

Full results via the Star Tribune

🏈 Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell surprised very few fans by announcing the newly signed Kyler Murray will start at QB this season, making former first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy's demotion official. (ESPN)

🎤 Rod Stewart canceled the remainder of his North American tour — including his Minnesota State Fair show on Sept. 1 — after having "routine" coronary stent surgery, per a statement. The Fair will issue refunds. (More via Axios Des Moines)

🔎 The Trump administration sent around 20 Justice Department officials to observe polling sites in Hennepin and Ramsey counties during yesterday's elections. State agencies sent monitors to watch those monitors "out of an abundance of caution." (KSTP)

📸 Multiple Minnesota communities have suspended their use of Flock cameras amid growing concerns the devices — meant as public safety tools to assist police — are being used for mass surveillance. (Fox9)

🎯 Target named its first chief artificial intelligence officer. The company wants to use AI for functions like predicting style trends, improving inventory management and simplifying work processes. (Quartz)

Hopkins grad and WNBA phenom Paige Bueckers opened up about her daily routine — and more — in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal. Some highlights:

☕️ The Dallas Wings star doesn't like coffee — even a morning cup will keep her up at night.

• If we slept 10-11 hours a day, as she claims to do, we wouldn't need the caffeine fix, either!

🎧 Her pump-up playlist goes from gospel to R&B to hip-hop and rap just before game time.

📺 When she has downtime, Bueckers binges "Criminal Minds," "Grey's Anatomy" and "True Detective," or grabs her iPad —which she called her "prized possession" — to watch sports or use a color-by-numbers app.

Full story

Kyle here. As I've lived and traveled far beyond my home state, I've labored to convince the world that Minnesotans have great taste in food; that their palates are ambitious and discerning.

Yes, but: We also apparently really love … vanilla ice cream?

Driving the news: More than 48% of Minnesotans recently declared that vanilla "deserves more respect than it gets," according to an online ice cream poll from the U of M's food and agriculture school.

• Among Gen Z, that sentiment climbs to 60%.

Zoom in: Yes, vanilla — the flavor that is a literal synonym for "bland."

The bottom line: I give up.

(Reality check: The five finalists for the U's new flavor of "Golden Gopher ice cream," which is made on-campus, sound much more appetizing.)

🥯 Torey plans to get her post-election bagel sandwich once this newsletter lands in your inbox. (It's tradition!)

🍨 Kyle recently enjoyed a scoop of blueberry cheesecake swirl from Parkview Ice Cream Shop.

Nick and Audrey are on sabbatical.

This newsletter was edited by Larry Graham.