Fargo’s experiment with “approval voting” is over – today they’ll choose a new mayor and two commissioners under the old system. Under the “approval” system, voters could choose multiple candidates in a single race. MPR explains. LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/43IWQHr
55.5% of Minnesotans with disabilities have jobs, ranking the state 5th in the nation for disability employment, according to an analysis by assistive software provider Everway.
The FIFA World Cup begins this week in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. Howard Sinker with why there are no games here, why that’s probably a good thing, and all you need to know about schedules, watch parties, and how to watch the games in the comfort of your own home. Watch your inbox for sports take this Thursday.
Last night an early look at the race developing in CD1 between Rep. Brad Finstad and Jake Johnson for MNSider subscribers. HERE: https://fluence-media.co/49OqNJu
Want to manage your subscription to TheDailyAgenda.com? HERE: https://fluence-media.co/managesubscription
Here are the two MNSiders with insight from the state party conventions:
SAT: https://fluence-media.co/49se3rS
SUN: https://fluence-media.co/4u5nHIc
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Follow the 2026 Minnesota election’s up close with the Fluence ElectionTracker. FluenceElectionTracker.com
Today’s WCCO Radio morning take at 6:20 with Vineeta Sawkar. LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4egK2Ne
Sunday Take featured a recap of post-convention dynamics and CD1 DFL candidate Jake Johnson discussing his campaign priorities. LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4easFO8
Blois
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A BUSY TUESDAY
POLL: This morning, the Flanagan campaign shared new polling in the Senate race from GQR, VERBATIM: “Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan leads Rep. Angie Craig in the contested primary for U.S. Senate by a 17-point margin, 55 percent to 38 percent with 7 percent undecided.”
“Since January, Flanagan has increased her vote share from 49 percent while Craig has been stagnant, despite over $4 million in spending from the Craig campaign and aligned Super PACs.” MEMO: https://fluence-media.co/3Qrozcq
ENDORSEMENTS: Via release from the Craig campaign, VERBATIM: “Today, U.S. Representatives Lois Frankel, Salud Carbajal, Brad Schneider, Jahana Hayes, Lauren Underwood, Greg Landsman, Andrea Salinas and Eric Sorensen endorsed their colleague Congresswoman Angie Craig in her campaign for U.S. Senate.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4unCdeE
MUDSLINGING: A Wall Street Journal story highlights five especially messy midterm primary races, including this note about Rep. Thomas Massie’s defeat after running afoul of President Trump, QUOTE: “In one anti-Massie attack ad, faked images show Massie holding hands with progressive Democrats, saying he was ‘caught in a throuple’—or three-way relationship—with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.).” READ/WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4g9URmA
SCHOOLS: From the Lisa Demuth campaign for governor, a response to a report first shared in Monday’s lunch take showing Minnesota dropped four spots in the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s education rankings. DEMUTH: “As governor, I will reverse Minnesota’s startling education decline by refocusing our schools on reading, math, writing, and science. Gov. Walz has presided over a historic decline in proficiency scores and put the interests of Education Minnesota over the needs of students, parents, and teachers,” Demuth said. “When I’m governor, Minnesota will join the bipartisan coalition of states who have opted into the scholarship granting organization federal tax credit that Gov. Walz has blocked. Minnesota will lead a dramatic overhaul of our curriculum.”
MORE: ICYMI… read more about the ranking and find the AECF report in Monday’s lunch take. LINK: https://fluence-media.co/4olTLq7
LIST: Via RentCafé, VERBATIM: “Of the 150 cities we tracked, renters showed more interest in Minneapolis than anywhere else — saving searches and adding listings to favorites at a higher rate. As a result, the city takes first place, climbing two spots from the third spot in the last quarter of 2025 to become the most sought-after city for apartment hunters in the country.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4ukAZ3H
BEER: Via Axios, VERBATIM: “Minnesota’s craft breweries continue to suffer major sales declines, according to new state production numbers. By the numbers: Five of the six largest breweries in Minnesota reported a decline in annual production between 2024 and 2025, according to state data.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4xcXXwh
BROADBAND: Comcast is rewriting the broadband playbook in the Twin Cities. From neighborhood networks to next-gen tech, we’re delivering community-first internet connectivity with no contracts, no surprises. The new Xfinity package means unlimited data, blazing-fast, reliable speeds and a 5-year price guarantee, plus free mobile for a year. It’s not the old Comcast — it’s a bold new era of connection. Let’s power the future, together. LEARN MORE: https://fluence-media.co/Comcast2025-1 (SPONSORED: Comcast)
LINGERING ISSUES
SURVEY: Via Minneapolis Fed, VERBATIM: “Minnesota’s child care industry remains in crisis, 80 percent of child care providers said in a spring survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and First Children’s Finance. While that’s a large share of providers, it’s less than the 86 percent who said the industry was in crisis a year ago. Overall, the survey shows conditions in the industry, from financial stability to changing business models, are still getting worse for many providers.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4vIilUF
BOELTER CHASE: Via Star Tribune, a minute-by-minute analysis of the pursuit of Vance Boelter, the man suspected of killing former Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and wounding Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette. VERBATIM: “A Minnesota Star Tribune timeline of that deadly weekend shows how quick thinking by some law enforcement agencies may have prevented even more deaths. At the same time, interviews, investigative details and law enforcement records reveal that the State Patrol denied initial calls to launch a helicopter to help find the suspect in the minutes after Sen. John Hoffman and his family were attacked, one of several missed opportunities that could have prevented the killings or stopped Boelter’s escape.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4oBnlbr
(DISCLOSURE: Fluence has provided media support for the Hoffman family)
FLOYD SQUARE: Via Axios, VERBATIM: “The Minneapolis City Council faces a tough choice this week: Approve a controversial plan to redevelop the former gas station at George Floyd Square or send an already delayed project back to the drawing board. Why it matters: The drawn-out search for a developer at the site — known as ‘The People’s Way’ — has shown how private investors are still leery of funding revitalization projects at a struggling intersection. ‘If there’s not significant public funding, nobody’s going to be able to do that project,’ P.J. Hill, who owns the building next door, tells Axios.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/43ljBkv
CLEAN | RELIABLE | AFFORDABLE: Via Xcel Energy, VERBATIM: “We’re powering the Upper Midwest with clean, reliable, and affordable nuclear energy. For more than 50 years, our Prairie Island Nuclear Plant, located near Red Wing, MN, has been a workhorse of reliable, carbon-free energy. With two pressurized water reactors producing about 1,100 megawatts, Prairie Island generates enough electricity to power 1.5 million homes across the Upper Midwest. Unlike sources that depend on weather, nuclear energy delivers 24/7 reliability—providing the power we need today while protecting the environment for tomorrow.” LEARN MORE: https://fluence-media.co/4oCHdK9 (SPONSORED: Xcel Energy)
GREATER MINNESOTA
SALES TAX: Via Albert Lea Tribune, VERBATIM: “The Albert Lea City Council gave notice to the state on Monday that its half-cent local option sales tax will soon reach its $30 million maximum collected and will end Sept. 30 as required by state sales tax provisions. The tax has been in place for 20 years, raising money for water quality improvements through the Shell Rock River Watershed District.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4galzLX
TEACHERS: Via Brainerd Dispatch, VERBATIM: “The Education Minnesota-Brainerd teachers union at Brainerd Public Schools reached a tentative agreement with the district for a 2025-27 collective bargaining agreement. Educators worked the entire school year without a contract as negotiations failed to lead to an agreement. A tentative agreement was announced in a joint statement from the union and the school district Monday, June 8.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4eyf3xe
FERTILIZER: Via MinnPost, VERBATIM: “In the shadow of a wind turbine on a low rise just outside the western Minnesota town of Morris, a cluster of tanks, pipes and sheds holds what some believe is the key to a more self-sufficient future for the region’s agriculture and heavy industry. When the wind is blowing – and it often is, out here – the turbine powers two electrolyzers that cleave hydrogen from water, another system that separates nitrogen out of the air and a third that binds the two elements to form anhydrous ammonia, a critical input for corn farming. The University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center commissioned the plant earlier this spring and can produce hundreds of kilograms of homegrown ammonia daily.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/43pFb7i
IN WISCONSIN: Via Comcast, VERBATIM: “Comcast is connecting more than 5,500 new homes and businesses in two Wisconsin counties – Manitowoc and St. Croix – to multi-gigabit, symmetrical Internet from America’s smartest and most reliable converged network.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4ebp4Px
(DISCLOSURE: Comcast is a Fluence sponsor)
HABITAT RESTORATION: Flint Hills Resources has earned Tandem Global WHC Gold Certification for habitat restoration at its Cottage Grove fuel terminal. The certification comes after two years of work in partnership with Friends of the Mississippi River to implement a restoration and monitoring plan to re-establish the 6.5-acre site’s natural prairie and savannah. Flint Hills has held gold certification for its work done with community partners over the past 25 years to restore more than 200 acres of the Pine Bend Bluffs, a critical natural area along the Mississippi River that is adjacent to Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend refinery. This makes two Flint Hills gold certified sites in Minnesota and the first two gold-certified sites ever in the Twin Cities. LEARN MORE: Environmental Stewardship (SPONSORED: Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend refinery)
COMMERCE
SLP: Via MplsStPaul, VERBATIM: “While you’re hanging at St. Louis Park’s Sweet Lou’s Meats, waiting in line for your sandwich—maybe a Reuben, that lush mesh of Swiss and sauerkraut and 10-day-brined pastrami barely constrained between two slices of rye; maybe a sausage-and-egg breakfast sandwich slicked with aioli—wander over to the beef case in the front corner of the restaurant. You’ll find ribeyes trimmed with thick white ribbons of fat; ruby-bright tenderloins; delicately marbled Denver and bavette steaks; and even rarer cuts like the teres major from the shoulder, butterflied open and sold on a skewer.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4aBGML4
LAKEVILLE: Via Bring Me The News, VERBATIM: “The owners of Lakeville’s sustainably-sourced, small-batch specialty coffee roaster Tapestry Coffee will open a second coffee shop within the city this month. Scott and Kiley Van Daalen and Brady Heerema, who co-founded the business in 2021, recently unveiled their expansion plans.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/49RbiR3
ACQUISITION: Via New Brighton-based APi, VERBATIM: “APi Group Corporation (NYSE: APG) today announced that on June 8, 2026, it closed the acquisition of Onyx-Fire Protection Services, Inc., a leading inspection-first provider of fire and life safety services in Canada.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3RTlt1m
GLOBAL TRADE BOLSTERS AG ECONOMIES: Via Minnesota Corn, VERBATIM: “Each year, Minnesota’s exports of corn, ethanol, corn-fed meat, and dried distillers grains (DDGS) alone support over 11,500 jobs and add billions to the state’s economy. They also help ensure that consumers around the world have access to affordable protein and dairy products. In May, during World Trade Month, Minnesota Corn celebrates that important role trade plays in all our lives—in the U.S. and abroad. LEARN MORE: https://fluence-media.co/4dqEqB1 (SPONSORED: Minnesota Corn)
WHAT’S NEXT?
WEDNESDAYS: Via Como Park Zoo & Conservatory, VERBATIM: “Spread out a blanket & join us for these FREE outdoor concerts & activities in front of the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory Wednesdays June 10 – July 29 from 6pm–8pm.” SCHEDULE: https://fluence-media.co/4vErwW5
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
FANCY DIGS: Via Minnesota Monthly, VERBATIM: “Over the past year, I sought out some of the state’s most elevated stays—places that feel immersive, intentional, and distinctly rooted. Whether tucked into wooded acreage or set along the water’s edge, they share a common thread: They don’t ask you to impress, only to arrive, settle in, and let the landscape do the rest.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/43TtZQy
BDAYS: Winthrop’s David Aafedt, radio guy Adam Sprenger, Rochester leader Kathleen Harrington, fmr. Sen. Melisa Lopez Franzen
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