2010 Minnesota Governor’s Race

Check here for the latest news about the 2010 governor’s race.

Candidates

Exploring / Running?

Announced?

Filed?

See: Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board list

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL.org)

Tom Bakk
State Senator (Cook)
Yes Yes (CF Board) • Bakk2010.com
Mark Dayton
Former U.S. Senator
Yes Yes (CF Board) • MarkDayton.org
Matt Entenza
Former House Minority Leader
Yes Yes (CF Board) • Entenza.com
Susan Gaertner
Ramsey County Attorney
Yes Yes (CF Board) • SusanGaertner.com
Margaret Anderson Kelliher
Speaker of the House (Mpls)
Yes Yes (CF Board) • MargaretForGovernor.com
John Marty
State Senator (Roseville)
Yes Yes (CF Board) • JohnMarty.org
Felix Montez Yes (CF Board) • Website
Scott Raskiewicz Yes Yes (CF Board) • sjr4gov.org
Tom Rukavina
State Representative (Virginia)
Yes Yes (CF Board) • RukavinaForGovernor.com
R.T. Rybak
Minneapolis Mayor
Yes Yes (CF Board) RTRybak.com
Ole Savior Yes (CF Board)
Paul Thissen
State Representative (Minneapolis)
Yes Yes (CF Board) • PaulThissen.com

Republican Party (MnGOP.com)

Bob Carney, Jr. Yes Yes (CF Board) • republicancontract.com
Leslie Davis
Yes Yes (CF Board) • lesliedavis.org
Tom Emmer
State Representative (Delano)
Yes Yes (CF Board) • EmmerForGovernor.com
Bill Haas
Former State Representative
Yes Yes (CF Board) • Haas2010.com
Phil Herwig Yes (CF Board)
Peter Roess Yes Yes (CF Board) cleanwaterdreamteam.org
Marty Seifert
House Minority Leader (Marshall)
Yes Yes (CF Board) • SeifertForGovernor.com
Independence Party (IndependenceMinnesota.org)
Rob Hahn Yes Yes (CF Board)

Tom Horner Yes Yes (CF Board) Horner2010.com
John Uldrich Yes (CF Board)
Rahn Workcuff Yes (CF Board)

Other Parties

Green-Richard Klatte Yes (CF Board)
Constitution-Harley Swarm Yes (CF Board) • SwarmForGovernor.com
Other-Chris Wright Yes (CF Board) VoteWrght.org

Confirmed not running

I- Joe Repya
R- David Hann
State Senator (Eden Prairie)
DFL-Steve Kelley
Former State Senator (Hopkins)
R-Norm Coleman
Former U.S. Senator
R-Pat Anderson
Former State Auditor
R-Mike Jungbauer
State Senator (East Bethel)
R - Paul Kohls
State Representative (Victoria)
DFL - Chris Coleman
St. Paul Mayor
DFL-Doug Peterson
President, MN Farmers Union; Former State Rep.
R-Steve Sviggum
DOLI Commissioner, Frmr Speaker of the House Suspending his campaign August 19, after ruling on Hatch Act.
R-Paul Koering
State Senator (Ft. Ripley). Abandoning his possible run.
DFL-Tarryl Clark
State Senator (St. Cloud). Running for U.S. Congress in the 6th District.
R-Jim Ramstad
July 14: “I have decided not to become a candidate.”
DFL-Roger Moe
DFL-Mark Ritchie
Secretary of State
R-Laura Brod
July 8: “Suspending the conversations…related to the potential of [her] candidacy”
R-Michele Bachmann
U.S. Representative (MN-6)
R-Dick Day
State Senator (Owatonna)
R-Brian Sullivan
Businessman, national RNC member
Independence-Tim Penny
Former U.S. Rep. & IP candidate
R-David Olson
MN Chamber of Commerce
June 24, 2009, “At this point, I am not a candidate.”

Explanatory notes

  1. “Exploring/Running” means the candidate is just that, exploring a candidacy or openly running. You’ll note we did not account for those potential candidates who insist they are being drafted or solicited to run. That old saw is meant to nurture the thinking that if but not for all that “organic” cajoling, the candidate wouldn’t get in the race. To that, we’ve always said “BS.” Someone either wants to run for office or not. We’ve got question marks in the columns for people whose names are consistently on lists, but who haven’t made a public statement either way. When someone says he or she is definitely not running, we’ll drop that person to the “Confirmed not running” list below the matrix.
  2. “Announced” means that person has officially announced he or she is running.
  3. “Filed” means that a campaign committee has been officially filed with the Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board (CFB).

We made the distinction between “announced” and “filed” because many times candidates won’t officially announce until long after they’ve filed committees to legally raise money. [These candidates want that "I'm being begged" factor, but also, getting out there and trying to raise money helps many candidates decide whether to formally announce.]

Finally, do note the prominence of the time and date stamp. Every time there’s a change, we’ll update our list. Our primary vehicle for gathering that intelligence will be Twitter, where most Minnesota political news seems to be breaking. However, we always welcome updates by the new (compared to Twitter) snail mail: email. Please send all updates and comments to staff@politicsinminnesota.com.


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