Minnesota Republicans haven’t won a statewide race in nearly 20 years, and a panel of past and present elected Republicans on Tuesday said that emulating President Donald Trump is not a winning formula, at least in Minnesota.

Trump has lost the state three times, so Trump’s bombastic and divisive politics won’t win statewide elections, said former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty during a panel at a business summit hosted by the Minnesota Star Tribune.

The goal for Republicans, Pawlenty said, is to find a candidate who can satisfy the right-wing base while appealing to Independents and moderate Democrats.

“That’s a tightrope walk … but that’s not something that’s easy to do in today’s Republican Party,” Pawlenty said.

The former two-term GOP governor said he had considered running for Sen. Tina Smith’s seat once she retires, but he would never get endorsed or win a primary today. Pawlenty represents the old suburban, pro-business Republican Party. He once called Trump “unsound, uninformed” and “unhinged,” which made his electoral prospects in the GOP largely untenable, absent the kind of groveling to Trump that Pawlenty isn’t likely to pursue. In 2018, when Pawlenty tried to come back, he lost the GOP primary for governor to Jeff Johnson.

Right-wing activists, who have endorsed far-right candidates like avowed antisemite Royce White for U.S. Senate, have emerged as a powerful force in today’s Minnesota Republican Party.

Minnesota Republican Sens. Julia Coleman and Zach Duckworth, who were also on the panel, agreed that candidates matter. Coleman and Duckworth both outperformed Trump in their districts in 2022.

“We’re not trying to be Donald Trump,” said Coleman, who has matched her image as a working mom to pro-family policies like a paid leave plan comporting with Republican economic philosophy.

Duckworth spent time on his local school board. Education is not usually friendly Republican terrain, but it could be a good issue next year with parents frustrated at Minnesota’s academic standing.

All GOP panelists agreed Republicans have a good shot to get a few wins in next year’s midterm elections. Fraud in state government has been all over the headlines; the majority of students aren’t meeting grade-level expectations; and Gov. Tim Walz’s bid for an unprecedented consecutive third, four-year term will all create a solid opportunity for Republicans to outperform expectations.

“(Walz’s) numbers are softer than they used to be, which sort of creates a window or a band of opportunity for Republicans if they nominate at least a serviceable candidate,” Pawlenty said.

But that is a big “if.”

Mike Lindell, the right-wing influencer and pillow salesman is mulling a run for governor. If he wins the Republican endorsement, all of his baggage, including his years spent spreading disinformation about the 2020 election, will be fodder for the Democrats’ well-funded campaign.

Other major Republican candidates are 2022 GOP nominee Scott Jensen, a physician who served a term in the state Senate; Kendall Qualls, a failed candidate for Congress and governor, an Army veteran and former health care executive; and Rep. Kristin Robbins of the west metro.

It’s also not enough to criticize the state of the state, Pawlenty said. To be successful Republicans need to paint a positive vision for Minnesota’s future.

“You can’t just say, ‘They suck,’” Pawlenty said. “We have to say, ‘Here’s what we’ll do better.’”

Vance Boelter, the man accused of killing DFL House leader Melissa Hortman and her husband and shooting and injuring DFL Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, voted in the March 2024 Minnesota Republican presidential primary, belying online disinformation that has sought to paint Boelter as a leftist with ties to Gov. Tim Walz.

The Reformer obtained a screenshot of Boelter’s voter profile in the GOP Data Center — a national database with voter registration information used to target voters — from a source with access to it, which confirms other reporting about Boelter’s support for President Donald Trump.

Boelter, 57, was captured Sunday evening by state and federal agents in Green Isle, about an hour west of the Twin Cities, following a 43-hour manhunt. He’s facing several state and federal charges for the murders of the Hortmans, the shootings of John and Yvette Hoffman and other related crimes.

Disinformation has circulated online since authorities released Boelter’s name, attempting to cast him as a disgruntled leftist and agent of Walz even as Boelter’s roommate and longtime friend told reporters that he was a Trump supporter in 2024.

The Minnesota DFL Party on Sunday released data to the Star Tribune that Boelter voted in the 2024 presidential primary, but not as a Democrat. The Reformer confirmed the data. Boelter’s precinct, Washington Lake Township in Sibley County, had 100 voters in that primary, according to public voter rolls.

Aside from the DFL, the other two Minnesota presidential primaries were the Republican primary and the Legal Marijuana Now primary. No one in Boelter’s precinct voted for any of the Legal Marijuana Now candidates or submitted a Legal Marijuana Now write-in.

In a statement, Minnesota Legal Marijuana Now Party Chair Dennis Schuller confirmed Boelter did not vote in the 2024 Legal Marijuana Now presidential primary.

By process of elimination, that also points to Boelter voting in the GOP presidential primary.

A text to a Minnesota GOP spokesman was not immediately returned.

Right-wing influencers, including Dan Cernovich and Lara Loomer, who are important MAGA propagandists, have been speculating that Walz is connected to Boelter because he was appointed to the Workforce Development Board by Walz’s predecessor, Gov. Mark Dayton, and reappointed by Walz.

Minnesota state government is home to hundreds of nonpartisan and bipartisan boards and commissions, comprising thousands of appointees. Typically, simply volunteering is enough to earn an appointment. There are currently more than 300 vacancies on state boards and commissions.

Charging documents allege Boelter had a list of potential targets, which included Hortman and other Democratic elected officials from Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Boelter is a Christian who strongly opposes abortion, according to interviews with Boelter’s roommate and videos of his sermons posted online.

In recordings of sermons Boelter delivered in Matadi, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he railed against abortion and LGBTQ people.

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

Minnesota Senate Republicans tried to expel Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, from the chamber Monday, arguing that her felony burglary charge restricts her from adequately representing her constituents and that the nature of the allegations is unbecoming of a Minnesota senator.

Mitchell’s trial for the burglary charge was scheduled to begin Monday, but lawyers for Mitchell successfully delayed it until after the Legislature adjourns on May 19. In their motion to delay, Mitchell’s lawyers cited a 2007 appellate ruling stating that legal proceedings involving legislators should be delayed until after the legislative session to ensure constituents still receive representation.

Mitchell was arrested last spring at her stepmother’s house by Detroit Lakes officers responding to a burglary call. Officers searched the basement and found Mitchell dressed in black clothing and a black hat.

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Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, R-Fergus Falls, who offered the motion to expel, said doing so would restore integrity to the Senate.

“We don’t need the results of a criminal trial to know Sen. Mitchell’s conduct fails to meet the standards of ethical behavior that we expect from senators,” Rasmusson said. “We shouldn’t be complicit in delaying justice for the victim of a crime by allowing Sen. Mitchell to use her membership in this body to shield herself from criminal consequences.”

The Senate is currently tied 33-33 between Republicans and Democrats after Sen. Kari Dziedzic, DFL-Minneapolis, died of cancer last month. The Senate has been operating under a power-sharing agreement since the session began on Jan. 14. The special election to fill Dziedzic’s seat is Tuesday, and the blue-leaning district is expected to elect a Democrat. The winner of the special election will likely be seated next week.

The move by Senate Republicans to expel Mitchell likely ended the warm feelings that have suffused the proceedings during the first two weeks of session. Members of both parties shared encomiums to Dziedzic on the first day and have seemed to revel in the comity that has eluded the Minnesota House, where the two parties are locked in a heated battle for control.

Sen. Nick Frentz, DFL-North Mankato, asked Senate President Bobby Joe Champion to rule the expulsion motion out of order. After conferring with Sen. Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, and the leaders from both caucuses — as required by the power-sharing agreement — Champion ruled the expulsion motion out of order.

Members appealed Champion’s decision, and senators voted 33-33 to uphold it. Mitchell cast the deciding vote in favor of herself, and a tie vote to uphold the ruling. The vote to appeal failed and Champion’s decision that the expulsion motion was out of order was upheld.

Rasmusson, after his expulsion motion was ruled out of order, told reporters that he brought the motion forward Monday because it was supposed to be Mitchell’s first day of her trial, and he wanted to make sure Mitchell’s charge and impending trial wouldn’t “distract from (the Senate’s) important work.”

Prominent Democrats, including DFL Chair Ken Martin and Gov. Tim Walz, have sought to force Mitchell to resign. Her Senate DFL colleagues have banned her from their caucus meetings and stripped her of committee assignments, though Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, has said Mitchell is owed due process on her legal case before the Senate begins proceedings to expel her.

“I would love this issue to be behind us, but it’s not,” Murphy told reporters Monday.

Mitchell told a police officer that her father died and her stepmother had stopped all contact with her and other family. Mitchell said “I know I did something bad,” according to the charging document. And, while being arrested Mitchell said something to the effect of, “I was just trying to get a couple of my dad’s things because you wouldn’t talk to me anymore.”