The political fallout from the climate lawsuit filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in 2020 continues as the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports the case “has become a campaign issue” in the state’s attorney general’s race less than three months before Election Day “as Ellison defends his seat this year.”

The coverage from the Star Tribune – the state’s flagship newspaper – firmly pushes the issue into the heart of the political debate as Ellison’s Republican challenger, Jim Schultz, blasted the lawsuit:

“Schultz … has made an issue of the suit on the campaign trail. In an interview, he described it as ‘frivolous’ and said the Attorney General’s Office should focus on violent crime by hiring more prosecutors in that area.

“‘It has zero chance at succeeding,’ Schultz said of the fossil fuel lawsuit. ‘It’s fundamentally motivated by headlines and pleasing one side of the political aisle.’” (emphasis added)

The story has even gone national, with Fox News picking up on the Star Tribune’s coverage.

But the Star Tribune hasn’t covered the case closely thus far, and the story left out many of the reasons the case has become such a lightning rod issue in the attorney general’s race.

Read the full blog at EIDClimate.org.