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WATERVILLE, Minn. (AP) — For all the talk of a blue wave sweeping Democrats back into the House majority this fall, their efforts could be thwarted in one of the nation’s bluest states. Voters in the sprawling farm country south of Minneapolis and in the economically struggling Iron Range along the Canadian border give Republicans in those two congressional districts perhaps their best chance anywhere for flipping Democratic seats. Democrats need to pick up 23 seats in November to retake the House, but the odds grow long if they lose districts they currently hold. Democratic incumbents in both Minnesota districts...

There, in the crowd at President Donald Trump’s rally in Duluth, Minn., was NBA legend Kevin McHale.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Rep. Keith Ellison asked himself the question that lingers over his political career before any of the 1,000-plus supporters at his recent rally could: Why was he leaving the safe congressional district he’s represented for more than a decade to run for state attorney general? “Attorneys general all over this country led the fight against this Muslim ban,” he said to raucous applause. “It is attorneys general that are fighting and suing to protect an open internet.” A year after falling short in his bid to chair the Democratic National Committee and with his party stuck...

Quick, with MAGA-shocking news reverberating there’s a mid-west rush on winnamins. Remember that massive MAGA Trump rally last week in Duluth Minnesota? That would be the 9,000 strong rally where twice as many were turned away? Well, the data team at MAGA HQ have crunched the numbers and Brad Parscale shares the results: “The crowd at the Minnesota rally was 60% Democrat and Independent.”

Our friend Howard Root attended the Trump rally in Duluth last night. This is his (fantastic) report along with photos he took at the event (at the top and bottom below): At least 25 percent of the audience was under the age of 30, and around 40 percent were women. The senior citizen percentage was less than 10 percent — the lowest I’ve ever seen at a Republican event. Other than the hundred or so party leaders, this was a vastly different crowd from the Minnesota Republican Convention that I attended in Duluth three weeks ago. None of the attendees...

Wednesday, June 20, 2018: RSBN's Liz Willis, Tera Broaddrick, Alyssa Ashe, Tom O'Neill, and Aaron Pangio will be on hand as President Donald J. Trump holds a rally in Duluth, Minnesota at AMSOIL Arena.

DULUTH, Minn. - President Trump will make his first visit to Minnesota since winning The Oval Office when he holds a rally in Duluth Wednesday night. The White House says President Trump will arrive in Duluth around 4:35 p.m. From there, President Trump will hold a round-table event with about a dozen elected officials as well as representatives from the mining and steel industry. The discussion is billed as "promoting and protecting American workers."

This is not a spoof. Richard Painter, a Democrat, is running for the Senate in Minnesota. Somehow he has managed to perfectly encapsulate everything that personifies the current left-wing progressive party. It is the perfect ad to represent all Democrats in 2018. Watch:

The venue for President Donald Trump's visit to Duluth was changed Friday to accommodate the crowds that are expected, according to a release from the Minnesota GOP. The rally will be moved to the AMSOIL Arena. The rally was originally scheduled at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. Doors open at 3:30 p.m. and the event begins at 6:30 p.m. The last time Trump visited Minnesota was in November 2016, when he made an appearance at a Minneapolis-St. Paul airport hangar during his presidential campaign.

TRUMP RALLY! Wednesday, June 20th at 6:30pm! DOORS OPEN AT 3:30PM CT DECC Arena 350 Harbor Drive Duluth, MN 55802 Free Tickets http://donaldjtrump.com/rallies/duluth-mn-june-2018 … …

Minnesota Democratic Rep. Rick Nolan announced Friday he won't seek re-election, handing Republicans a rare opportunity to pick up a seat this fall. "There is a time and a purpose for everything and now is the time for me to pass the baton to the next generation," Nolan said in a statement. Nolan won re-election by about 2,000 votes in 2016, but northeastern Minnesota's 8th District is Donald Trump country: The President won the district by 16 percentage points over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. That was an incredible 22-point swing for the GOP over the 2012 election...

The Star Tribune's first election year poll is complete and, all things considered, it was a good series of results for Minnesota Republicans. President Donald Trump's job approval came in at 45 percent. His 2016 Minnesota tally: 44.9 percent. Which means after one of the most tumultuous first years in recent presidential history, if Trump lost supporters here, he must have gained an equal number. He was especially strong in the suburbs and in greater Minnesota, which could mean help for Republicans like U.S. Rep. Jason Lewis and GOP state lawmakers in the suburbs where Trump's support remains strong. It...

Sen. Al Franken officially resigned on Jan. 2, nearly a month after he announced his plans to step down from Congress amid numerous sexual misconduct allegations that began in November of last year. Aides to the senator told Fox News that Franken has provided his letter of resignation to Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, who is replacing Franken, is expected to be sworn in on Wednesday. Franken, a Minnesota Democrat who has been in office since 2009, was plagued by multiple accusations of sexual misconduct over the past month and faced a Senate Ethics Committee investigation....

ormer Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is considering running for the recently vacated U.S. Senate seat held by Al Franken. “I’ve had people contact me and urge me to run for that Senate seat,” Bachmann said recently on televangelist Jim Bakker's television show. “And the only reason I would run is for the ability to take these principles into the United States Senate and to be able to advocate for these principles.”

WASHINGTON — Republicans may have just gotten another layer of armor to defend their Senate majority. Sen. Al Franken's seat wasn't supposed to be up again until 2020. But his announcement Thursday that he was resigning amid allegations of sexual misconduct sets up a 2018 special election in Minnesota. And Republicans, who hold a 52-48 majority, are now on the hunt for a top-tier candidate in a politically competitive state where President Donald Trump lost by less than 2 percentage points last year. The unexpected opportunity could be a "total game-changer in terms of control of the Senate," said Republican...

Minnesota state law is pretty clear on what the next steps will be, stipulating that in the event of a vacancy in the Senate, a special election “shall be held at the next November election if the vacancy occurs at least 11 weeks before the regular state primary preceding that election.” Franken’s resignation, if it happens tomorrow, will indeed occur more than 11 weeks before the state primary, meaning that a special election will be held in November 2018 to decide who Franken’s permanent replacement will be. In the meantime, Democratic Governor Mark Dayton is given the ability to make...

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, posted to Facebook her call on Franken to resign Click here to see the list of Senators calling on Franken to resign. A top Senate Dem says he expects Franken to resign Thursday shortly after Franken’s office said he would be making an announcement Thursday. Democrat Senator Ron Wyden tweeted,”I expect that Senator Franken will announce his resignation tomorrow. It is the right thing to do given this series of serious allegations.”

JUST IN: Sen Al Franken to make an announcement tomorrow, his office says. He has faced calls to resign from more than ten Democratic Senate colleagues in the past hour. http://abcn.ws/2BEWmCX