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By Sydney Kashiwagi

Courtesy of Matt Klein for Congress

Hello and welcome back to another D.C. Dish!  

I’m officially not the only Strib reporter in Washington anymore. Former agriculture reporter Christopher Vondracek has joined me in D.C. as the new Washington business correspondent and I’m excited to have him on board.  

Today, Vondracek is following the House Natural Resources Committee's mark up of an energy bill that, at present, includes Rep. Pete Stauber's mining legislation to restore mineral rights to over 200,000 acres of the Superior National Forest. The markup comes as there's been speculation Stauber may include his bill in the budget reconciliation process, a move he didn't rule out when I asked him back in February. 

The race to replace Rep. Angie Craig just got a second candidate. Physician and state Sen. Matt Klein, DFL-Mendota Heights, entered the field Tuesday morning. 

He’s running as a moderate Democrat and on his credentials as a longtime doctor and state lawmaker. He told me he plans to run in a similar lane as Craig (who's running for U.S. Senate) to win over voters in the purple Second Congressional District.  

“[Craig’s] worked really hard, and that's the kind of person I am, that's the kind of politician I am, and that's the kind of way I'm going to plan to win,” Klein told me in an interview.

Klein entered the race with two union endorsements and said he hopes to carve out a lane for himself as the labor candidate. He also said he’s feeling good about winning the endorsement in what could shape up to be a crowded Democratic field. But if he loses it, he told me he’s prepared to continue running in a primary.  

“I hope to get the DFL endorsement, and I think I will get it,” he said. “If I don't get it, I am going to keep running, because I think I'm a candidate who can win in the general election, and I want all of the voters of our district to have the option.” Read more.

Klein joins the field with former Lakeville mayor and onetime state Sen. Matt Little. Expect to hear announcements in the coming weeks and months from other candidates in both parties for this seat, as well as possibly independent candidates. 

The Minnesota Star Tribune

In another race, Sen. Amy Klobuchar isn't saying yes or no about whether she will seek the No. 2 leadership post in the U.S. Senate. 

The race is more than a year away but the question about her future got kick-started after Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois announced his retirement in 2026, meaning he will step down from his role as Democratic Whip in the U.S. Senate.

Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz made an early stake in the race, and naturally, all eyes have turned to Klobuchar, who would technically be next in line to succeed Durbin. 

“I’m No. 3 in the Senate, and my job is to focus on what policies are going to move our country forward,” Klobuchar told NBC News. 

“I am focused on one thing right now, and that is taking on Donald Trump and gaining a better economy for the people of this country,” she conitnued. “And I truly believe that talking about something a year and a half from now and we have no idea who’s going to win the Senate, who’s going to get this, is a mistake.”

Republicans are going after Rep. Ilhan Omar again. Vice President JD Vance and Rep. Tom Emmer bashed Omar on social media this week. The vice president unearthed a nearly a decades old clip of Omar talking about how the country "should be more fearful of white man across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country."

Vance says: "This isn’t just sick; it’s actually genocidal language. What a disgrace this person is." 

Omar said the video was taken out of context because she was referring to the rise of white nationalism from an annual report from the Anti-Defamation League that said white supremacists "were responsible for 78 percent of 'extremist-related murders.'" 

Emmer also piled on, saying Omar "never ceases to be an embarrassment for Minnesota."

Omar also took a swipe at former President Joe Biden as she boosted a headline that read: "Biden Officials Admit They Never Pressured Israel for Ceasefire, as Israeli Leaders Boast of Playing Washington."

"We all knew they weren’t working tirelessly on a ceasefire and it was all a lie," Omar said in response.

Omar stuck by Biden last year despite calls from other Democrats for him to drop out of the presidential race. The war in Gaza left Omar, one of the fiercest critics of Israel’s actions, walking a delicate line between pressuring Biden and eventually the Harris-Walz presidential ticket to call for an end to the conflict, while also rooting for them to win the election.

Back in Minnesota, members of a Minnesota Senate ethics committee took no action — to investigate or dismiss — a conflict-of-interest complaint against Senate President Bobby Joe Champion on Monday, deadlocking in a 2-2 vote, my colleague Allison Kite reports. 

The Senate Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct, which has two Republican and two Democratic members, received a complaint last month from a group of GOP senators, alleging Champion violated the chamber’s rules when he pushed legislation to provide a grant to a nonprofit he had represented in his private capacity as an attorney. Read more.

Cannabis business license lotteries will begin soon. Minnesota will take a pivotal step toward opening its recreational marijuana market in June, when the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) holds its first lotteries for business licenses, my colleague Ryan Faircloth reports. 

The OCM announced Monday that it will hold lotteries for three capped license types — cultivator, manufacturer and mezzobusiness — on June 5. It also will hold a retailer license lottery the same day for social equity applicants, which include veterans, residents of high-poverty areas and people who’ve been harmed by cannabis prohibition. Read more. 

Gov. Tim Walz will meet with Minnesota Farm Bureau leadership at 10:45 a.m. Then at 12:15 p.m. he will meet with legislative leaders. 

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