Democratic candidate for governor Rebecca Otto is proposing Minnesota open a state-run bank, modeled after a program North Dakota has had since the early 1900s. Otto says, “We have family farmers right now that aren’t able to get their hands on crop insurance because the system is really there for big ag…. We have students who have loans and debt that is just crushing them. We also have small businesses that can’t get access to capital.” Otto says as part of setting up a state bank, she’d establish a task force to look at ways of mitigating risks to taxpayers. In her “Local Economies” plan, Otto also proposes single-payer health insurance and improving broadband Internet access statewide.
Two other Democrats, Tim Walz and Erin Murphy, are competiting with Otto for the D-F-L Party endorsement at its state convention the first weekend of June in Rochester. Republicans are slated to pick their candidate for governor that same weekend in Duluth.