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By Briana Bierschbach

The Associated Press

Good morning and happy Monday. We're wrapping up the first 100 days of the second administration of President Donald Trump and our team has a ton of coverage to dish on what it's all meant for Minnesota. 

One person in particular is much busier than they used to be: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is litigating against Trump on more than a dozen fronts. Ellison and other Democratic attorneys general have sued over funding freezes, reductions in the federal workforce and Trump’s tariffs, the flagship of his policy agenda. On average, Minnesota joins each week a new lawsuit or two against the administration, an exercise Ellison likened to “Whac-a-Mole.” 

The most recent lawsuit came late Friday, when Ellison and the attorneys general of New York, Illinois and California preemptively sued the administration over threatening to withhold federal education funding if states don't certify that they've stopped diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Read more. 

Reporter Allison Kite and newsroom developer Tom Nehil also put together a tracker of all 17 (17!) lawsuits Ellison is either leading or has joined. They will keep updating it regularly. Read more. 

Ellison and others have said people showing up and protesting is the most important resistance to Trump. In Minnesota, there's a trio of groups that have been leading the charge on that front, writes Janet Moore. 

The Hands Off Coalition in the Twin Cities is led by Indivisible Twin Cities, Women’s March Minnesota and 50501. Along with other activist groups, the coalition has organized rallies, including the April 5 protest that attracted 25,000 people (or 43,000, depending on whom you ask) to St. Paul and hundreds more throughout the state.

The volunteers behind the resistance say they have been deluged with interest, much of it coming from newbies who want to do something. Many are frustrated with what they see as inaction from Democrats nationally. 

An interesting tidbit in her story: Indivisible, which is a national organization, was founded after Trump’s 2016 election by three Carleton College students, who wrote a handbook for activists. Read more. 

Unwavering support for Trump: In Minnesota's most conservative county, voters remain firmly behind Trump and his actions. Republican state Rep. Isaac Schultz, an auctioneer who lives in rural Morrison County, told Reid Forgrave that he's heard existential dread on the left on everything from tariffs to the rise of authoritarianism, joy from the right as Trump has pursued hard-line policies on immigration, DEI and federal government cuts.

And he’s heard both sides fret about retirement savings as the stock market has dropped in reaction to Trump’s tariffs. But Schultz has sensed a reaction uncommon in American politics: a focus on long-term success despite short-term pain.

“He’s the first person in decades — for the vast majority of these folks’ lives — that feels like he’s actually getting to the root of the problem and addressing these global trade issues,” Schultz said. Read more. 

Tim Walz on Saturday inched closer to announcing a bid for a third consecutive term as governor, while he also flirts with another national campaign.

“I am raising the necessary resources to run for re-election at this time,” Walz said, speaking to Minnesota Star Tribune Outdoors editor Andy Putz at the Strib Unbound event in Minneapolis. “And so that’s where, nothing changes, we’re going to do.” 

Walz has previously said he would make the decision on running for governor after this year's legislative session ends. Walz also answered a question at the event about next year's midterm elections, saying he believes Democrats have a better opportunity to win over people who didn't vote in 2024 than Trump voters.

Still, Walz said "even those folks who are not happy or don't necessarily agree with a more progressive ideology, it feels like this chaos is kind of taking them by storm a little bit."

"I think you may actually see a recentering, not like ideological center for like squishy middle, but a recentering of people not quite so interested in chaotic massive change and a little more step by step," Walz said. Thanks to our Outdoors colleague Walker Orenstein for sending us this feed from the event.

Early this morning, Walz participated in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Harvard Institute of Politics to discuss Trump’s first 100 days in office and how governors are responding. That's the only item on his public agenda today. 

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The House and Senate are continuing to push their major budget bills to the floor for votes. The Senate Finance Committee has the environment and health and human services budget bills up today. 

It looks like there could be an agreement up for debate in the House on the education budget bill, and Ellison will be testifying in front of the chamber's fraud prevention committee. Both chambers have floor sessions scheduled today.