At Issue: Nov. 19 — State Primary preview, rebate checks

This week on At Issue, Tom Hauser covers the close races in the upcoming state primary, the Hopkins City Council race and another round of rebate checks being sent out.

Candidates continue to emerge in what will likely be two highly competitive Minnesota primary races on the Democratic side where incumbents appear to have some vulnerability. In Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, incumbent Representative Ilhan Omar is facing three other Democrats so far running for her seat — Sarah Gad, Don Samuels and Tim Peterson.

In the 3rd District, incumbent Democrat Representative Dean Phillips is currently running for president, but he’s still included in the primary for his House seat and is facing opposition from fellow Democrats Ron Harris and Kelly Morrison.

Four years ago, Hopkins City Council candidate Aaron Kuznia lost a City Council race in Hopkins by seven votes — and now he’s trailing in the most recent race by just one vote. But unlike last time, he’s now asking for a recount which will take place Monday morning at the Hopkins Fire Station.

If you haven’t received your one-time rebate check from the state of Minnesota yet, keep an eye on your mailbox. The Department of Revenue is resending nearly 150,000 of those checks that have gone uncashed. They expired 60 days after being issued in August and September — some reissued checks went out last week and more will be sent in early December.

Later in the show, Don Samuels joins to talk about his upcoming race in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District and what he hopes will be different this time around. After that, Annette Meeks and Brian Melendez join Political Analysis to talk about the races in the 3rd and 5th Districts, as well as Rep. Omar’s comments about the Israel-Hamas conflict.