Democrat-run Minnesota isn’t a blueprint for 2024 — it’s a cautionary tale

The recent “successes” of the State of Minnesota have been lauded in tweets from Barack Obama, countless articles and opinion pieces, and even in meetings and a special ceremony with senior officials at the White House. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought Minnesota Democrats had solved the homelessness problem, come up with a new way to combat the rising crime in our major cities, or that our children, regardless of their socioeconomic status, were graduating at record levels.

But we’re seeing none of that.

In reality, the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is being praised for using the full extent of their trifecta to ram through the most progressive agenda this state has ever seen during a short five-month legislative session. The White House is praising the DFL’s efforts to legalize marijuana, codify abortion and pass government-run paid family leave as a roadmap for Democrats across the nation heading into 2024, but the moves in Minnesota are far afield from the traditional Midwest values we hold dear — they’re much more representative of states like Illinois, California and New York.

Unlike Illinois, California and New York, Minnesota hasn’t had a Republican governor since Tim Pawlenty left office in January 2011. For most of the last decade, the House and Senate were ruled by different parties, which forced Democrats to come to the table and pass bipartisan legislation that benefited all families — not just donors and union bosses. That all changed last November, when Democrats gained control of the House, Senate, and the governor’s mansion: the trifecta. It gave them complete control for the next two years and in eight months, and we’re already seeing the consequences.

The Minnesota DFL knew that in order to gain the accolades from the White House they’ve received today, they needed to be bold, go big and meet, if not exceed, the legislative benchmarks set by J.B. Pritzker, Gavin Newsom and Kathy Hochul. And make no mistake, no one and nothing would get in their way of making their wish list a reality.

Crime is a growing problem in Minnesota. Auto thefts have “more than doubled” compared to last year and both the property and violent crime rates in 2023 are significantly higher than Chicago’s. But the Democrats have been more interested in penalizing automakers for car thefts and passing legislation that would grant early release and parole to approximately 92 percent of the state’s prison population. There’s also been talks of rolling back cash bail, in a move reminiscent of Illinois’s cashless bail policy that’s currently held up in court.

It doesn’t stop there.

Following in the footsteps of Newsom and Hochul, Tim Walz and Co. not only pushed to make the energy grid carbon neutral by 2040, ignoring concerns from utility providers about rising costs and limited infrastructure, they went one step further than the rest and sought to ban gas stoves and the sales of gas-powered lawn mowers and other lawn equipment. We all saw how well that worked out for California and their blackouts.

In the same vein, Minnesota sought to catch-up with their fellow progressives on the topic of illegal immigration. Instead of doing their best to ensure the laws are followed, Democrats passed several new laws that would give illegal immigrants free breakfast and lunch in school, drivers licenses, health care and free tuition to attend the University of Minnesota and other state colleges. More importantly, they forced Minnesotans to pay for up to 20 weeks off in a Paid Family Leave plan that pits mom-and-pop shops against multinational corporations like 3M.

All together, Democrats squandered a $19 billion surplus, grew the state budget by 38 percent and, after claiming they still didn’t have enough, raised taxes and fees by an additional $10 billion. With all that spending, they fixed nothing. Amid high inflation and stagnant wages, Minnesotans will have less in their pockets after this legislative session, not more. Despite the level of funding for education, the achievement gap remains the highest in the nation and Minneapolis Public Schools are on the brink of insolvency.

While Joe Biden’s White House touts Minnesota as the Democrats’ model for the future — where 300 votes can turn years of commonsense, bipartisan rulemaking into a nightmare that has families and businesses fleeing their homes for greener pastures — it’s a warning of what’s to come for other purple states.

Kendall Qualls is the founder and president of TakeCharge MN, an organization geared to championing conservative values in the Black community, and is a former candidate for governor and congress.