“Wonderful, it moved me, I felt it.”
So said Laura Turman, a delegate at the DFL state convention in Rochester, about the Friday evening performance of Kobey Layne, a 26-year-old who got enough delegate support to give a 15-minute speech on why she, and not Amy Klobuchar, should get the party’s endorsement for governor.
Too green to understand that a politician’s No. 1 priority is to not say anything they may later regret, Layne was all jittery energy and concrete goals. A bonding bill that would integrate Minnesota’s clean energy goals, “capping rent increases across the state to 3%.”
“Politics is about policy, not personalities, not platitudes,” Layne said, bobbing left to right and back on the podium, fingers pointing to her eyes and ears.
The line got raucous applause. But a later declaration by Klobuchar, who has represented Minnesota in the U.S. Senate for two decades, got a much louder ovation: “When you look at my track record, when I lead the ticket, we win.”
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In a convention bereft of suspense (the weekend news took place in Duluth with the GOP) after Angie Craig said she would no longer seek the endorsement for an open U.S. Senate seat, Layne’s quixotic quest was the most riveting episode.
A few thoughts about my weekend at the unforgettable Mayo Convention Center.
Klobuchar’s challenge from nowhere
Layne has a master’s in public policy from the University of Minnesota. She previously worked as legislative assistant for moderate Republican Jim Abeler of Anoka.
When Layne got laid off from the Legislature in 2022, she said in an interview, it began her political transition to the left but also a personal transition to female after previously identifying as a gay man. Layne currently works as an assistant manager at the cosmetics company Aveda.
After Klobuchar’s nomination for the gubernatorial endorsement late Friday night revived a convention audience grousing about procedural motions and the lack of food options, Layne’s candidacy was put forth amid chants of “Let her speak.”
A candidate needed 10% support of the over 1,200 voting delegates plus at least 12 votes from each of Minnesota’s eight Congressional delegations to get a 15-minute speech arguing for their endorsement.
Layne got the requisite votes. Then both her speech and Klobuchar’s were delayed, partly because of the Klobuchar’s campaign seemingly innocuous decision to hand out strobe lights to delegates.
“The strobe lights need to be turned off,” warned a visibly weary state Sen. Scott Dibble of Minneapolis. “No strobe lights.”
But conventioneers took their turn on the mic to blast Dibble’s milquetoast strobe light stance, demanding the glow wands be confiscated. (In fairness to the distressed delegates, a tiny portion of the population diagnosed with photosensitive epilepsy could be susceptible to a fit due to intensive flashing lights.)
Related: GOP primary awaits after Schwarze tops Tafoya for party’s U.S. Senate endorsement
When Layne finally spoke, her high-velocity remarks included both economic and cultural issues.
She argued for a more substantive diversity, equity and inclusion statement for the DFL and declared, “Just because we are not the Republican Party does not mean that our anti-racism work is done.”
Klobuchar played up her proven appeal across the state, asserting, “I think there are some counties where I have met nearly literally every person.”
Layne drew boos when she announced that she would continue campaigning to the August primary even without the party’s endorsement. Klobuchar said she would abide by the endorsement.
When it came time to give their endorsement, scores of delegates turned into your parents trying to use a QR code, descending upon a folding table that promised IT support. Delegates were reminded to hit the “submit” button after casting a vote.
After 1 a.m. it was announced that Klobuchar had sailed to the endorsement with 68% of the vote to Layne’s 28% (the other 4% voted “no endorsement”).
Most delegates I spoke to said they were impressed with Layne’s speech.
“I really appreciated how specific she was at the things that she wanted to do,” said Andrew Ulasich, a delegate from South Minneapolis.
But many cited not just Klobuchar’s electability but her competence as deciding factors in their vote. For example, two people told me that she will run a tighter ship than outgoing Gov. Tim Walz, who has presided over fraud committed by social service providers.
Klobuchar is still at the drawing board with her policy platform. When I asked her at a media availability if she might incorporate some of Layne’s prescriptions, the candidate said, “I have so many ideas,” including on housing, childcare and healthcare.
“So, stay tuned,” Klobuchar added. “We’re going to release a lot more ideas.”
Why, Angie? Why?
Don Slaten has been attending DFL conventions since the 1990s and has known Congresswoman Angie Craig for 15 years, partly through encounters at Spiral Brewery in Hastings.
“Angie’s been here quite often,” Slaten said. “She shows up because she likes the brewery.”
When Slaten heard Craig was running for the Senate seat vacated by a retiring Tina Smith, he couldn’t believe it.
“I wanted her to stay in the House, because that will be a hard seat to keep,” he said.
A few delegates I spoke with said that they would happily door-knock for Craig if she defeated Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in the primary.
But there was an overall sense of consternation about the congresswoman’s political future and how it has complicated matters for the DFL. The party has endorsed Matt Little, a former state senator, to replace Craig in the U.S. House.
Meanwhile, Saturday afternoon was a coronation party for Flanagan, who would be the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
Asked why primary voters should care that party delegates endorsed her for Senate, Flanagan said, “The delegates who are here today, they represent the nearly 40,000 Minnesotans who went to the caucus on Feb. 3” during the height of Operation Metro Surge, calling the delegates, “The heart of our party.”
We all know what F stands for
If I had a sip of coffee for every time someone addressed me or the convention floor with the line, “Remember, the F in DFL stands for farmer,” I would be in one of Rochester’s many hospitals right now.
But there is perhaps more going on than reflexive pandering to rural Minnesota, even as the state’s population shifts to the metro area.
Mary Sullivan of the DFL’s rural caucus has presided over a livestock farm with her husband since 1980.
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Sullivan, who lives near Redwood Falls, told me that tariffs and the war in Iran have led to skyrocketing costs for fertilizer and fuel for tractors, among other price hikes. Sullivan, whose husband was a delegate, said that the last time her economic situation was this dire came amid the infamous farm crisis of the mid-1980s.
But crisis, to awkwardly paraphrase Rahm Emanuel, can mean opportunity for Democrats.
Around Hastings, Slaten said, most voters are conservative Catholics driven by their views on “guns, gay people and abortion.”
But, Slaten said, “If what Trump has done to farmers doesn’t get them voting DFL, I don’t know what can.”
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