As Republicans appear bullish on breaking Democrats’ 50-year cycle of keeping Minnesota out of presidential election play, a new law in neighboring Iowa brings a controversial political issue front-and-center there.

On Monday, Iowa’s new six-week abortion ban took effect, leading one of Minnesota’s top executive officials to issue an invitation to Iowans seeking access to the procedure.

That news comes as former President Trump, formerly within the margin of error against President Biden, is now further trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

During a tour of a nonprofit abortion clinic in Bloomington, Minnesota, Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan issued a call for women to travel north if abortion can’t be provided for them in Iowa.

“If you’re afraid, come to Minnesota. We’ve got you,” Flanagan said.

IOWA’S 6-WEEK ABORTION RESTRICTION TAKES EFFECT AS STATE COURT STRIKES DOWN CHALLENGE

Earlier this year, Flanagan notably tweeted her NCAA March Madness bracket: choosing teams based on the level of abortion restrictions in their home states.

“By this measurement, it’s only fair that Minnesota didn’t make the tournament because they’d have been a favorite for the title,” she wrote at the time.

With Democrats hammering Republicans over abortion and pregnancy-related issues, Harris currently enjoys a six-point lead over Trump in Minnesota. 

While the Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment, a spokeswoman for Trump reiterated the GOP nominee’s 10th Amendment-centric position that it is up to the states to decide abortion policy either way.

“President Trump has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion,” said Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign. “[W]hile Kamala Harris and Democrats are radically out of touch in their support for abortion up until birth and even after birth, and forcing taxpayers to fund it.”

TRUMP’S STRENGTH IN RESPONSE TO ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT LIKELY WON HIM CRITICS VOTES

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a press conference. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, file)

The latter reference was directed toward former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a pediatrician by trade who once publicly ruminated about deciding what should be done in the case of a mother already in labor and in the moments after the infant is delivered.

Leavitt said there are greater concerns than abortion on Minnesotans’ minds when it comes to considering Harris’ candidacy.

“Harris encouraged donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which bailed now-convicted murderers and rapists out of jail and put them back into communities across the country,” she said.

“Kamala wants to make this election about anything but her extreme policy positions and miserable record, but Minnesotans know that she is weak, failed, and dangerously liberal.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to Minnesota Democratic Gov. Timothy Walz for comment on Flanagan’s invitation and the abortion issue in such political context, but the request went unanswered.

In a post on X, however, Walz said Minnesota “takes care of our neighbors.”

“As our neighbors in Iowa are stripped of their fundamental rights, my message is clear: Your reproductive freedom will remain protected in Minnesota,” Walz wrote.

However, the White House responded to the news by slamming Iowa’s “extreme abortion ban.”

Abortion rights adovcates gather in front of the J Marvin Jones Federal Building and Courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, on March 15, 2023.  (MOISES AVILA/AFP via Getty Images)

“[It bans] care before a lot of women even know they’re pregnant. Iowa will be the 22nd state with an abortion ban in effect,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

“These bans, imposed by Republican elected officials, put women’s health and lives in jeopardy.”

Minnesota has not elected a Republican president since Richard Nixon, and only offered its delegates up to Dwight Eisenhower and Herbert Hoover within the last 100 years.

Trump has remained hopeful that Minnesota is in play this cycle. A Sunday rally in St. Cloud served as such an example.

At the event, the mogul called Harris “evil” and cited her past solicitation for donations to the aforementioned Minnesota Freedom Fund.

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, has received criticism as of late — after podcast comments resurfaced in which he floated federal penalties for abortion-related travel.

“Let’s say Roe v. Wade is overruled. Ohio bans abortion… and then you know, every day, [Hungarian-American billionaire] George Soros sends a 747 to Columbus to load up disproportionately Black women to get them to go have abortions in California,” Vance said in the resurfaced comments.

“And of course, the left will celebrate this as a victory for diversity. That’s kind of creepy.”

However, more recently, Vance has appeared to soften that view, saying in December, “We have to accept that people do not want blanket abortion bans.”

“I say that as a person who wants to protect as many unborn babies as possible. We have to provide exceptions for life of the mother, for rape, and so forth,” he told CNN at the time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

After being scratched from his start on Monday, it’s expected that the Detroit Tigers are going to trade right-hander Jack Flaherty. Flaherty, one of the top starters on the market, should bring a return back that helps the future of this team.

Due to taking a one-year, prove-it type of deal, the Tigers find themselves in an interesting position with him. Flaherty could re-sign with the team, and reports have indicated that they’re willing to offer him a deal in free agency, but that’s a risk that might not be worth taking.

Losing him in the offseason for nothing would be bad work by the front office.

He has multiple suitors, and according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the New York Yankees are currently in trade talks for Detroit’s No. 2 starter.

“The New York Yankees are in extensive trade talks for Tigers starter Jack Flaherty, and plan to trade starter Nestor Cortes if they land Flaherty.”

The Yankees would be a great team to trade with due to having an above-average farm system. With this being a buyers’ market due to the third Wild Card and contending teams always needing pitching, the Tigers should land a favorable deal in a trade with New York.

It’s uncertain who they’d be willing to give up, but there are multiple players in their farm system who could be great additions to the big league roster as soon as this season.

No matter where he gets dealt, the focus for Detroit has to be finding the best package. If the Yankees are the team that’s going to do that, they should move him there.

One of the main drivers of the MPS School Board Recall Collaborative’s campaign is criticism over what recall members said is a lack of transparency by Milwaukee Public Schools.

But since the group was launched last month to unseat four MPS board members, there have been questions about how the collaborative’s efforts are being funded. 

The group says they have anonymous donors, whose names they are not disclosing. That’s led the MPS teachers’ union to file an ethics complaint with the state.

During a press conference last week, members of the media questioned the group about who is paying canvassers for positions they advertised.

Recall organizers did not list expenses and the contributions to fund the canvassers on their July 15 campaign finance reports.

The group announced last week they’ve collected more than 37,000 signatures so far to recall school board president Marva Herndon, vice president Jilly Gokalgandhi, school board member at large Missy Zombor and board member Erika Siemsen.

 “Our deepest gratitude goes to all our committed volunteers and those who signed up for paid canvassing work,” the group said in a statement announcing they had hit the signature threshold.

To trigger a recall election, the group will need to collect 5,137 signatures for Herndon, 6,809 signatures for Siemsen, 7,759 signatures for Gokalgandhi and 44,177 signatures for Zombor, according to Paulina Gutiérrez, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission.

Tamika Johnson, an English teacher at New Testament Christian Academy who is leading the recall campaign, said canvassers would be paid by “anonymous donors.”

“We have not paid anyone, but we do have an anonymous donor that could pay for individuals,” Johnson said during a July 24 press conference. 

Johnson told reporters that before canvassers can be paid, signatures have to be confirmed. That is why nothing has been reported on the campaign finance report, she said. 

“We don’t even know who the anonymous donors are… why is this a question?” Johnson said to reporters. 

One speaker, who organizers refused to identify, said the canvassers were working “on contracts,” but no one from the group would produce the contracts. 

Johnson went on to say canvassers working for the MPS School Board Recall Collaborative were “free volunteer workers.” 

“Do we have other organizations out there, yes there are. We probably won’t know the end of it until the recall is over with,” Johnson said. “We are not trying to hide any money, because there’s  no money in this. So if there are people getting paid, guess what? We want to know too.” 

Johnson told WPR on Monday she’s “not taking media calls right now.”

MTEA files ethics complaint with the state

When the MPS School Board Recall Collaborative was launched June 12, organizers said Milwaukee voters were duped into voting for the $252 million MPS referendum in April because school board members already knew the district was going to be penalized millions from the state for not submitting audits on time. 

Prior to the referendum, political committees and groups including Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and City Forward Collective, spent more than $1.2 million to try to defeat the measure. 

But campaign finance reports filed July 15 by the recall collaborative have very little information. 

Johnson, of Bayside, is listed as contributing her services. In addition to her work at New Testament Christian Academy, she is also a Master Life Coach.

Chantia Davis, also of Bayside, designed the website. Davis is a former MPS substitute teacher who is now self-employed, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

Ebony Grant, of Milwaukee and Janice Patterson, of Bayside, are also named as members of the collaboration. 

The campaign finance report states that less than $300 has been received and spent. 

Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association President Ingrid Walker-Henry said calls for transparency are hypocritical given the secretive nature of the recall group’s financing.

MTEA filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission after the group admitted to having anonymous donors. 

“It is unfathomable that a group of individuals operating a campaign to replace four democratically elected School Board members would so brazenly violate campaign finance law,” Walker-Henry said in a statement. “The people of Milwaukee deserve clean, transparent elections so they know who is funding the candidates and initiatives seeking their vote.”

The Wisconsin Ethics Commission is prohibited from releasing copies of complaints it receives, according to staff counsel David Buerger.