Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota from 1964 to 1976, he was the Democratic Party's nominee in the 1984 presidential election, but lost to incumbent Ronald Reagan in an Electoral College and popular vote landslide. Reagan won 49 states while Mondale carried his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. His vice presidential nominee, U.S. Representative Geraldine Ferraro from New York, was the first female vice-presidential nominee of any major party in U.S. history.
Paul David Wellstone was an American academic, author, and politician who represented Minnesota in the United States Senate from 1991 until he was killed in a plane crash near Eveleth, Minnesota, in 2002. A member of the Democratic Party (DFL), Wellstone was a leader of the populist and progressive wings of the party.
Timothy James Pawlenty is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 39th governor of Minnesota from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Pawlenty served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1993 to 2003, and as House Majority Leader from 1999 to 2003. He unsuccessfully ran for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2012 presidential election. As of 2023, he is the most recent Republican to serve as governor of Minnesota, and his 2006 reelection is the last time a Republican was elected to statewide office in Minnesota.
Harold Edward Stassen was an American politician, military officer, attorney, and member of the Republican Party who was the 25th governor of Minnesota from 1939 to 1943. He was a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 1948, considered for a time to be the front-runner, but came second to New York governor Thomas Dewey. He thereafter regularly continued to run for that and other offices, such that his name became most identified with his status as a perennial candidate.
The 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 1998. Reform Party candidate Jesse Ventura defeated Republican Party challenger Norm Coleman and Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party challenger Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III. Ventura governed with a DFL-controlled state Senate and a Republican-controlled state House. As of 2023, this is the only time that a Reform Party candidate has been elected to Statewide office.
Arthur Naftalin was an American political scientist and politician. A member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), he served as mayor of Minneapolis from July 3, 1961, to July 6, 1969. He was the first Jewish mayor of Minneapolis.
George Latimer was the mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, the state's capital city, from 1976 until 1990. A member of the DFL and a labor lawyer by profession, Latimer was known for his redevelopment of St. Paul's downtown core, serving as mayor during a period when St. Paul's population was declining somewhat as some residents moved to suburban areas while the city's ethnic diversity increased as, among others, Hmong refugees from Vietnam and Laos resettled in Saint Paul.
George Emerson Leach was an American politician who served as a major general in the United States Army and two-time Republican Mayor of Minneapolis.
Margaret Anderson Kelliher is an American politician, Director of the Minneapolis Department of Public Works, former Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, she represented District 60A, which includes portions of the city of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, located in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. First elected in 1999, she served until 2011, also serving as the Speaker from 2007 to 2011. She is the second woman to hold the position of House speaker. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the DFL nomination for Governor of Minnesota in the 2010 gubernatorial election, losing to former Senator Mark Dayton. Anderson left the Minnesota House of Representatives at the conclusion of her term in 2011 and re-entered politics when she ran for the DFL nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives in Minnesota's 5th congressional district in 2018, losing to Ilhan Omar. Since 2019 Kelliher, has worked in transportation management roles for the government, first as Commissioner of MnDOT, and later as Director of Public Works for the city of Minneapolis.
Mithun was an advertising and marketing firm, founded in 1933 by Ralph Campbell and Ray Mithun. It was part of Interpublic Group of Communication Companies. The core business was consumer advertising through radio, TV, print, digital, mobile and out-of-home. The company was based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On January 27, 2016, Mithun ended its 83-year history through a restructuring that consolidated Mithun, Compass Point Media and McCann Worldgroup’s Minneapolis-based General Mills account team into newly formed McCann Minneapolis.
Minnesota is known for a politically active citizenry, with populism being a longstanding force among the state's political parties. Minnesota has consistently high voter turnout; in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, 77.8% of eligible Minnesotans voted – the highest percentage of any U.S. state or territory – versus the national average of 61.7%. This was due in part to its same day voter registration laws; previously unregistered voters can register on election day, at their polls, with evidence of residency.
Martin Williams Advertising, Inc. is an advertising agency, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since 1998, Martin Williams has been part of the Omnicom Group. Clients include Payless ShoeSource, Raymond James, Syngenta, Cargill, Marvin Windows, Simmons Bedding Company, and P.F. Chang.
Occupy Minneapolis (OccupyMN) is a grassroots collaboration that began in October 2011 with a series of demonstrations in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Protesters have staged numerous occupations, most notably of the Hennepin County Government Center plaza.
The 2013 Minneapolis mayoral election was held on November 5, 2013 to elect the mayor of Minneapolis for a four-year term. This was the second mayoral election in the city's history to use instant-runoff voting, popularly known as ranked choice voting, first implemented in the city's 2009 elections. Municipal elections in Minnesota are nonpartisan, although candidates are able to identify with a political party on the ballot. After incumbent Mayor R. T. Rybak announced in late 2012 that he would not seek a fourth term, 35 candidates began campaigns to replace him. Many of these candidates sought the endorsement of the Minneapolis unit of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), though the convention ultimately ended with no endorsement.
The 2018 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 6, to elect the 41st Governor of Minnesota as incumbent Democratic governor Mark Dayton chose not to run for re-election for a third term. The Democratic nominee was congressman Tim Walz from Minnesota's 1st congressional district while the Republicans nominated Hennepin County commissioner Jeff Johnson. The Independence Party of Minnesota didn't field a candidate for the first time since 1994. Going into the election the polls showed Walz ahead and the race was characterized as lean or likely DFL.
Aisha Gomez is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Gomez represents District 62A, which includes parts of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota.
Sydney Jordan is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2020. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Jordan represents District 60A, which includes parts of Minneapolis in Hennepin County.
A mayoral election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the mayor of the U.S. city of Minneapolis. Incumbent DFL mayor Jacob Frey won reelection to a second term, becoming the first Minneapolis mayor to win a second term since R. T. Rybak in 2005. Minneapolis mayoral elections use instant-runoff voting, also known as ranked-choice voting. All candidates appear on the same ballot and there is no primary election, nor is there a runoff. Minneapolis's twin city, Saint Paul, also held a mayoral election on the same day, using the same system.
Esther Agbaje is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2021. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Agbaje represents District 59B, which includes portions of north and downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota.
Emma Greenman is an American politician who has served in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2021. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), Greenman represents District 63B, which includes parts of south Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota.
