Five days. After many months of conversations, town halls, parades, door knocks, and a whole lot of miles on the Democracy Rescue Rig, we’re heading into the final weekend of this campaign. Here we are folks. Thank you for being part of it. Every person who’s volunteered, put up a sign, chipped in, or talked with...

There’s apparently no such thing as a normal news week anymore. Trump and Putin. Lawsuits over voting. Questions about federal officials at polling places. All while Americans are already casting their ballots and trying to just get through their day. You’d think the people running the country could spend these...

A funny thing has started happening as Election Day gets closer. For years, Republican candidates couldn’t get close enough to Donald Trump. They wanted his endorsement, his picture on their websites, and a spot next to him at rallies wearing that dumb red hat. They defended his policies, repeated his talking...

With less than a month until Election Day, it sure feels like every news cycle is giving everyone another reason to worry. Another completely reckless statement. Another challenge to election norms. Another reminder of how much our livelihoods depend on the people we put in positions of power. The concern is real....

There comes a point when we have to ask what all of this is for. What is government supposed to do? Who is it supposed to serve? And what exactly happens when the people we elect - the people with power - stop answering to the people who gave it to them? We can disagree about policy. We can come from different...

You don’t need an economist to tell you what ground beef costs. You don’t need a new poll to tell you whether filing up your tank hurts more than it used to. You don’t need another politician on TV to explain what happened when you swiped your card at the grocery store. You already know. You know because you watched...

For most of us, financial stability doesn’t mean wealth. It means having a little breathing room. Enough room in your checking account that an unexpected car repair is irritating instead of devastating. Enough left over after the bills are paid to put something into savings. Enough predictability that you can think...

There are many moments that remind us what it means to show up for each other. This week marks 25 years since September 11, 2001. For those of us old enough to remember that morning, there are images that never really leave us. Images we can still see when closing our eyes. The smoke. The towers. The confusion. The...

There really isn’t another place quite like the Minnesota State Fair. For 12 days, it feels like nearly the entire state gets packed into the 300+ acres in Falcon Heights. Farmers and teachers, union members and small-business owners, kids dragging giant stuffed animals around, adults dragging tired kids around,...

Most of us don’t need an advanced degree in economics to explain what happens when prices go up. We live it out everyday. You put something back, you decide to switch brands, maybe you drive a little farther because gas is cheaper on the other side of town. You wait for something to go on sale. You start paying...

Last week, 48,395 Minnesotans went out and voted for Doug Chapin. In doing so, we didn’t just make Doug the DFL candidate for Congress in Minnesota’s 6th District. Doug received more votes than any non-incumbent DFL candidate in a CD6 primary in the district’s history!! That’s 48,395 people who decided they want...

Political campaigns spend a lot of time trying to convince us that money is power. Each election cycle, what do we see? Millions of dollars in television ads, super PACs with names most of us have never heard of before. Consultants, polling, mailers, endorsements, and enough digital advertising to make you consider...

Imagine for a moment, you’re woken from a dead sleep to smoke detectors going off in your home. You smell smoke and immediately know something terrible is happening. Maybe you have kids, so you move as fast as possible, heart racing, to wake them up, keep them calm, and get them out the door. Maybe it’s just you and...

It usually starts with a list. Pencils. Notebooks. Glue sticks. A couple boxes of tissues. Markers. Folders. Then you add the bigger stuff, a backpack because last year’s is hanging on by a thread, shoes because somehow the ones that fit in June are suddenly too tight in August. None of it feels outrageous on its...

Between now and Election Day, a staggering amount of money will be spent trying to capture your attention. It will arrive in your mailbox. It will interrupt the shows you watch. It will follow you across social media. It will appear in text messages, emails, online videos, dramatic headlines, carefully edited clips,...

Most people don’t wake up in the morning wondering what happened in the 2020 election. They wake up wondering whether they can finally get ahead. Whether this paycheck will stretch a little farther than the last one. Whether groceries will ever feel normal again. Whether their car will hold out long enough so they...

For most of us, Election Day is simple. We show up. We check in. We cast our ballot. We head home. That’s exactly how it should be. Most people never think about the thousands of election officials, county employees, city clerks, volunteers, cybersecurity experts, and poll workers who spend months preparing for that...

Welcome back to another edition of The Rig Roundup! If this week felt like it moved faster than usual, you were not imagining it. In just a few days, the Supreme Court handed down decisions that will shape our country for years to come. Political headlines once again turned toward division instead of solutions....

Imagine you and I are standing in a town hall with 1,000 of our neighbors. Each of us gets one minute to speak. One minute to talk about rising health care costs. One minute to talk about housing prices. One minute to talk about childcare, student loans, wages, retirement, public safety, or the challenges facing our...

Congress spent much of the last two weeks debating immigration enforcement funding, foreign policy crises, and the latest round of partisan political battles. Whatever your position on those issues may be, one thing is clear: when Washington decides something is a priority, Congress finds the money. Billions of...