Trina Swanson for MN08

Lots of events coming up!

State of the Race Zoom

When:

June 23, 7:00pm

Where:

Online (RSVP for link)

Join us for a State of the Race update Zoom with CD8 DFL- Endorsed candidate, Trina Swanson!

This is a great opportunity to hear directly from Trina and her campaign team about where the race stands, what we've been working on, and our plans for the months ahead. You'll also learn how you can get involved and help build the momentum needed to win in November.

Pizza Party in Cook

When:

June 24, 4:00–6:00pm

Where:

Cook Community Center
Cook, MN

Coffee in Aurora

When:

June 30, 4:30–6:30pm

Where:

The Hive
Aurora, MN

Make a donation Minimum suggested donation $50. Checks can be made out to “Trina for Congress” and mailed to PO Box 1063, Duluth, MN 55810, or brought to the event.

Come Tell Google to Leave Our Water & Communities Alone

When:

June 24, 5:30pm

Where:

Shrine Meeting & Event Center
5152 Miller Trunk Hwy
Hermantown, MN

Google is hosting a Data Center Open House on Wednesday, June 24th between 5:30-7:00.

Join us in telling them their corporation, their damaging data centers, and their surveillance culture are not welcome in our communities! We will also be serving free food!

Bring your voice, your friends, your frustration, and come tell Google to leave our lakes and communities alone!

DFL St Louis County 03

Join us for our 4th Thursday Pizza Party!

When:

June 25, 5:30pm

Where:

Do North Pizza
5116 Miller Trunk Hwy
Hermantown, MN

Join us to welcome guest speakers Eoin Small from Minneapolis, and Leanna Goose from Leech Lake. Eoin and Leanna are two lead facilitators from the Rise and Repair Alliance which is made up of 21 different Indigenous, environmental and faith organizations that work together to advance indigenous, and climate justice at the state level.

You will enjoy an evening of thought-provoking discussions on how their platform intersects with lawmaker policies, and their impacts that Native Tribal Communities experience today. Topic will mainly focus on protections of wild rice, but other issues may come forward such as: responsible mining practices, returning unlawfully seized public state lands to tribal nations, protections of pipestone quarry, and 100% Electronic waste and recycling.

There will be a pizza buffet with voluntary donations.

Minnesota says’ GAAWIIN! ‘NO’ to Big Tech!

When:

June 26, 1:00–2:45pm

Where:

Minnesota Capitol Front Lawn
St. Paul, MN

Join us June 26th for a rally in front of the Minnesota Capitol, where we will be presenting the Mother Earth Vs Big Tech Petition. This petition advocates for a two-year moratorium on the construction of hyperscaled data centers. Our goal is to deliver this important message directly to the office of the Governor of Minnesota.

More info about Big Tech Issues

Hoyt Lakes Day of Action and Picnic

When:

June 27, 10:30am–5:00pm

Where:

101 Kennedy Memorial Dr
Hoyt Lakes, MN

Attention all St Louis County DFL'ers! Join your local DFL'ers and our amazing candidates like Senator Hauschild and Aaron Kania for a community potluck and some door-knocking! We have a lot of work to do this election season, and our candidates need all of the support we can offer. Come connect with DFL'ers learn about what issues voters care about, and get us one step closer to our BLUE WAVE!

We will be meeting at 10:30 am for a training, knocking to about 1pm, and then reconvening for a picnic potluck afterwards!

Don't worry, we will never send you out to knock on your own if you don't want to!

Unfinished Freedom: 250 Years On

A Free Community Concert

When:

June 28, 1:00–8:00pm

Where:

Miner's Pavilion
1401 NW 3rd Ave
Grand Rapids
(Road Trip!!)

Join us for a fun community event full of music, food and drink for purchase, and connection.

Free event & parking, food & drinks for purchase. Bring a lawn chair!

America’s 250th Birthday!

Bring a Sign That Commemorates Our Rights & Freedoms

When:

July 3, 12:00–1:00pm

Location 1:

Sheridan & Central
Ely, MN

Location 2

Main Street at the Locomotive
Tower, MN

We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what's in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.

Minnesota America 250

Sharing the Spirit of America: Nationwide Reading of the Declaration of Independence

When:

July 8, 5:00–6:30pm

Where:

MN State Capital Rotunda
St. Paul, MN

Join us in the Rotunda for a historic nationwide initiative as citizens across all 50 states, territories, and the District of Columbia unite to read the Declaration of Independence. Commemorating the 250th anniversary of the first public reading on July 8, 1776, this reading celebrates our shared principles and reflects on the unalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness which continue to define the American spirit today.

6th Annual Range Iron Pride Festival

Fantabulous Diverse TRANSformative

When:

August 8, 11:00–4:00pm

Where:

Iron Trail Motors Event Center
Virginia, MN

This year's festival will include vendors, food trucks and a full day of entertainment.

A People's Forum on the Hermantown Data Center

Duluth Indivisible Monthly Meeting

When:

July 9, 6:00–8:00pm

Where:

Grace Lutheran Church
5454 Miller Trunk Hwy
Duluth, MN

Come hear from experts, not people who expect or hope to gain financially or politically from the data center development. We've heard lots of promises; we've seen shifting sands, and we've witnessed NDA's and continued lack of transparency.

Indivisible for Peggy Flanagan

Indivisible U.S. Senate Phone Bank Series

When:

Jul 27–Aug 10, 5:30–7:30 CT

Where:

Anywhere

We’ll be telling voters all about this exciting candidate and why they should be voting to send Peggy to represent them in DC. Help make calls to voters in Minnesota, and let’s send a real fighter for families and a defender of democracy to the Senate!

A short phonebanking training will be included at the beginning of each phonebank, so both first-time dialers and phonebank pros are welcome to join. Be sure to have both a computer and a phone so that you can make calls to voters.

MN Primary Election

When:

August 11

• Primary Election Day is Tuesday, August 11
• Vote by mail or in person June 26 through August 10.
• Register in advance by July 21 to save time on Election Day.

A primary election determines which candidates will be on the ballot in the November general election

Action & Social, BWCA letters to the editor

Sierra Club North Star Chapter

When:

June 24, 5:00–6:00pm

Where:

Online or at the St.Paul Office at 2300 Myrtle Ave, Suite 260

Join us to spend time with other activists and take action to protect the Boundary Waters. We’ll have pizza, snacks and drinks. Join us virtually or at the office and bring your computer or a notepad to draft your letter. We want to make sure newspapers and people across Minnesota are continuing to hear about the need and public support for BWCA protections.

Oppose USPS Rule Change Threatening Mail Voting

by July 2, 2026

On June 2, 2026, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) published a proposed rule to allow the federal government to control who can cast a mail-in or absentee ballot. The rule, a response to an executive order that Donald Trump signed in March, would require states to send USPS a list of every voter slated to receive a ballot by mail. USPS could then refuse to deliver ballots to any voters whose names are not on states’ pre-approved lists.

The rule threatens to disenfranchise the thousands of voters who rely on mailed ballots to participate in elections, including American citizens living abroad, people with disabilities, rural residents, and other communities that have long faced obstacles at the polls. Under this rule, a data or administrative error could block voters from receiving ballots through no fault of their own. Further, election administrators across the country say there is neither time nor funding to comply with the new rule before November 2026 midterms.

Urge Governor Walz to do all they can to stop this rule from taking effect and protect state control over elections and mail-in voting.

Then, submit a public comment to USPS opposing this unlawful rule change. USPS is accepting written comments via email until 5 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 2, 2026.

ICE wants to reopen the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, MN

What happens next depends on us. We keep us safe.

ICE wants to reopen the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, MN as a 1,600 capacity immigration detention center, run by private prison giant CoreCivic. If approved, it would become one of the largest ICE detention facilities in the US, ~60% larger than Delaney Hall.

They're betting this can happen quietly in a small town far from the headlines. Don't let it.

Call your elected officials and demand an end to for-profit detention. Organize locally. Talk to your neighbors. Learn from the protests and hunger strikes happening at detention facilities across the country.

Write Postcards to Swing States

Progressive Turnout Project

Sign up for our Get Out the Vote postcards. We'll send you the postcards for free, along with voter lists and instructions with proven message options. You will need to provide the Postcard Stamps (currently $0.61). All the mailing dates for these postcards are in October.

5calls

Pick an action & make a call

Call for Writing

Activate your voice — storytellers, poets & independent journalists wanted

Panatrope wants you for the launch their new journal!

They are accepting written work of any genre: Poetry: up to 5 pages
Short Fiction or nonfiction: between 400-5000 words.

Call for Storytellers

New show planned to launch in July

"Humans evolved opposable thumbs to be able to hold on. We evolved Story to know what to hold on to."

What’s your story? We’re celebrating the art of oral storytelling — the every day way we all communicate with each other. For our new podcast, 'North Star Lane', we’re collecting personal stories about connections — to place, to the past, to each other. Stories should be 3–10 minutes in length, and can range in tone from funny incident to elegy and everything in between. Michael Goldberg is collecting the stories. Send audio to him — or a note to arrange a phone call or zoom — at goldberg.actionmedia@gmail.com. He is also looking for storytellers for a live storytelling show in Grand Rapids,Labor Day weekend, themed On the Job. Let him know if you’d like more information about that.

North Star Lane is produced by Michael Goldberg, who lives in the woods of northern Minnesota and collects stories from his friends and neighbors. They tell stories about their connections – to place, to the past, to each other – and about things that are important to them. We think a lot of the same things are important to us all.

Building Trust with Community Works

from RUBI

When:

June 24, 5:30 CT

Where:

Online

Find out how to get involved in RUBI’s on-the-ground work to build trust, address concrete local needs, and increase collaboration across the ideological divide in rural and working class communities.

June People Power Action Call: Eyes on SCOTUS

Get updates on key Supreme Court cases this term from the ACLU

When:

June 25, 7:00–8:00pm CT

Where:

Online

In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court is expected to issue major decisions that could affect birthright citizenship, voting rights, gender justice, and other fundamental freedoms. These rulings will undoubtedly shape people's lives and the legal landscape across the country—but they are not the end of the story.

Talons Off Our Wild Rice!

How Talon Mine Threatens MN Clean Water, Manoomin, & Communities

When:

June 30, 6:00–7:30pm

Where:

Online

What threats face clean water and wild rice in Minnesota? How can you help prevent a mining sacrifice zone and protect manoomin/psíŋ for future generations?

Next month, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will open a critical public comment period on the proposed Talon Metals/Rio Tinto sulfide-ore nickel mine in Aitkin County. Your comment is needed to protect the heart of Minnesota’s wild rice abundance, the Mississippi River, and St. Croix River watersheds.

During this FREE webinar and discussion, Paula Maccabee will bring you up-to-date on the history of Talon Metals/Rio Tinto's mine proposal and how you can take action to prevent a mining sacrifice zone. Leanna Goose will share what is at stake for wild rice, fish, community and culture. Bring your questions; all are welcome!

Presenters

Paula Maccabee, WaterLegacy’s Director and Counsel for the past 17 years, has successfully litigated the PolyMet mine cases and defended Minnesota’s wild rice sulfate standard. She has 45 years of experience as a public interest lawyer.

Leanna Goose is a Leech Lake Band Member and an organizer and co-facilitator of the Rise and Repair Alliance. She is working to protect manoomin at the state level and to reestablish wild rice beds impaired due to invasive species.

Attacks on Science

Understanding the threats & taking action

When:

July 1, 3:00–4:00pm CT

Where:

Online

When scientific evidence is suppressed, federal experts are sidelined, or political interference shapes public policy, communities lose access to the information and protections they rely on to stay healthy and safe.

We will introduce our new Attacks on Science Database and demonstrate how it tracks scientific integrity violations across federal agencies.

Leaving MAGA and Connecting Across the Divide

A Conversation with Rich Logis & the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative

When:

July 8, 3:00 CT

Where:

Online

Join RUBI and Rich Logis, CEO & founder of Leaving MAGA, for a conversation about how we talk across the lines that divide independents, Democrats, and MAGA. Rich knows those lines from the inside. He spent years as a true-believing Trump supporter before leaving in 2022, and he started Leaving MAGA to help others who are rethinking where they stand. His focus now is on what it takes to reach people without writing them off — and how to keep the door open for folks who are ready to find their way out.

Dismantling Detention — Close the Camps

Join the Immigrant Justice Summer training series from Indivisible

When:

July 9, 23, & August 6 (& more), 7:00 CT

Where:

Online

The Trump administration is buying up warehouses across the country to expand its detention and deportation regime while planning for more militarized surges in major US cities. The threat is escalating. This resource breaks down what we're demanding, how communities are fighting back, and how you can get trained to respond when ICE comes to your community.

Anti-ICE Protesters in Minnesota Charged with Conspiracy

News Coverage

Guardian: "Fifteen people were charged over alleged interference in Minnesota immigration crackdown

"Prosecutors claim defendants were part of Minneapolis-based ‘antifa’ groups that ‘violently oppose’ law enforcement"

Democracy Now: "What we're really seeing is an expansion of these conspiracy charges across the country. I think the first one was in Plainview, Texas, for this noise demonstration outside a ICE detention facility, where it was expanded to prosecute all members of a political collective in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We saw the use of conspiracy charges in Spokane, Washington to prosecute multiple people who were really only acting at a demonstration together without any evidence of an agreement or a conspiracy."

• It Could Happen Here podcast
• DOJ’s New ICE Protest Indictment Is Its Most Absurd Yet
• International Coverage in the Guardian
• Democracy Now
• Where the real conspiracies lie
• Indivisible on DOJ Indictments of Minnesota Activists
• Labor and faith groups decry federal indictment
• Read the full indictment
• Minnesotans push back against the surveillance state
• How Did the Feds Get Into Anti-ICE Activists’ Signal Messages?
• From Cell to Cell, Jailed Minnesota Unionists Sang of Freedom
• Know Your Rights Resources

Safety, Security, and Digital Preparedness

for a Second Trump Administration

This includes event planning and physical safety, digital security and online privacy, & a rich set of links to other resources.

Recording and Documenting Police and Federal Agents

Take a moment to review this information from the ACLU

"The First Amendment protects your right to take photos and videos of law enforcement officers performing their duties in public. This applies to ICE agents, police, FBI, National Guard troops, and any other government officials. If you're not under arrest, a law enforcement officer needs a warrant to confiscate your device or to view its contents without your consent. If you are arrested, an officer may take your phone but still needs a warrant to search its contents. The government may never delete your photographs or videos under any circumstances.

"While the right to document and record law enforcement and federal agents is protected by the Constitution, we're all too aware that our constitutionally protected rights have been disregarded and violated in the past. Some officers retaliate by making threats, spraying chemical irritants, and arresting people recording them. This resource is intended to give you the tools to exercise your rights, but it's important to understand your risks."

Talking Politics with Neighbors, Friends and Family

Recorded Sessions from Rural Urban Bridge Initiative

This 2-part series includes the following sessions:

• Best Practices for Communicating with Rural Voters "Talk Like a Neighbor" Workshop
• Talking Politics with Friends and Family Communications Workshop

Arguing about politics often ends in frustration and damaged relationships. This hour-long workshop will go over some basic interpersonal communication principles that can help shift the conversation from a grueling debate to a more respectful exchange of ideas.

Organizing to Protect Democracy

Recorded training from the ACLU

In a moment when our right to vote is facing relentless attacks, understanding how elections work has never been more important. Now, we have the electoral knowledge and skills to be active in protecting our democracy.

Hundreds Join Hands Across the Bong Bridge

June 14 Duluth to Superior

"People of the Twin Ports gathered at the bases of the Bong Bridge before the separate groups met at the bridge's center for Sunday’s 'Hands Across the Bong Bridge' event.

"People were adorned in red, white, and blue, holding colorful flags and signs. Some are urging the need to 'protect' and 'preserve' democracy."

Georgia Republicans Backtracked on Gerrymandering

because they feared a showdown over Black voting rights

"Georgia Republicans’ rushed attempt to redraw the state’s political maps collapsed Wednesday before lawmakers could even begin, handing voting rights advocates an important win and exposing the political risk of the GOP’s post-Callais push to dilute Black voting power.

"It happened after Democrats and civil rights advocates turned the planned special session into a public showdown over minority voting rights — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) called the plan 'a betrayal of the highest in the American ideals' — drawing attention to how Georgia Republicans were looking to weaken Black political representation.

"Republican leaders did not reject mid-cycle redistricting because they suddenly opposed gerrymandering or because they embraced fair maps.

"Instead, they backed away after Democrats, civil rights groups and pro-voting advocates mobilized against the plan — and after some Republicans reportedly worried that a racially charged redistricting fight could energize Democratic voters, fracture their own caucus and create more political problems than it was worth."

ICE Spent $700 Million on 7 Warehouses. Now It Wants to Get Rid of Them.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to sell or give away most of the 11 warehouses it bought to detain migrants, reversing course on a signature initiative.

"The shift also raises questions about the original decision-making behind the plan to buy the warehouses — a costly undertaking that involved converting industrial space into places that could house thousands of human beings, with water and sewer capacity and proper ventilation, and created almost immediate conflict with local communities across the United States.

"ICE has been battered by lawsuits over a lack of environmental checks, and the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general is investigating the purchases. The warehouses that ICE plans to hand off or sell are in Romulus, Mich.; Social Circle and Flowery Branch, Ga.; Hamburg and Tremont, Pa.; Salt Lake City; and Roxbury, N.J."

The Obama Presidential Center Opens

i"We wanted the center to be a vibrant, living celebration of community, where we can learn together and share the joys of art and music and sport and play, because it’s in those moments that we’re reminded of our common humanity and strengthen the bonds of trust that not only make our lives richer, but make our democracy stronger."
— President Obama, Grand Opening Ceremony, June 18, 2026

We Are Family Now

Thousands of Knicks fans celebrate big win with joyous New York parade

"'Everybody is happy for one cause and we need that'

"Zohran Mamdani – the mayor, who rightly predicted this would be one of the biggest parades the city had ever seen – was seen dancing on a float in the parade alongside the Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns’s teammate OG Anunoby was in the crowds talking to fans, holding both the NBA Cup in-season championship trophy and a bottle of tequila. The Knicks alumnus Carmelo Anthony danced on a float nearby. Longtime celebrity Knicks fans Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Timothée Chalamet were also in attendance."