Rebecca Otto | |
---|---|
18th Auditor of Minnesota | |
In office January 2, 2007 –January 7, 2019 | |
Governor | Tim Pawlenty Mark Dayton |
Preceded by | Patricia Anderson |
Succeeded by | Julie Blaha |
Member of the MinnesotaHouseofRepresentatives from the 52B district | |
In office January 2003 –January 2005 | |
Preceded by | Mark Holsten |
Succeeded by | Matt Dean |
Personal details | |
Born | San Diego,California,U.S. | July 9,1963
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Shawn Lawrence Otto |
Education | Macalester College (BS) University of Minnesota (MEd) |
Rebecca Otto (born July 9,1963) is an American politician who served as State Auditor of Minnesota from 2007 to 2019. Affiliated with the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL),she served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2003 to 2005 and on the Forest Lake School Board.
Before entering politics,Otto was a science teacher and a business owner. She lives on a farm near Marine on St. Croix with her husband,Shawn Lawrence Otto,a screenwriter,novelist,and science advocate. She is the third woman to serve as State Auditor,the first female Democrat to be elected to the post,the first Democrat ever to be reelected,and the first woman to be elected to a third term. In 2013 she became president of the National State Auditors Association and in 2014 was named one of 15 Most Influential Professionals in Government Auditing. [1]
Otto led a successful school levy campaign in Forest Lake,and then was elected to the Forest Lake School Board. In her first race for the Minnesota State House in 2002,she was defeated by incumbent Mark Holsten. The seat then became vacant after Governor Tim Pawlenty appointed Holsten as Deputy Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. A special election was held,which Otto won,defeating Republican nominee Matt Dean. [2]
In 2003,Otto and her husband,Shawn Lawrence Otto,were indicted by a grand jury on charges of knowingly distributing false campaign material,a misdemeanor. Otto said the charges,derived from a complaint filed by Republican House Speaker Steve Sviggum,were politically motivated and baseless. [3] Her supporters included former Republican Governor Arne Carlson,who signed a letter criticizing the indictment as politically motivated and raised money for her defense. In December 2003,the presiding judge dismissed the charges and struck down the campaign finance law being used in the prosecution as unconstitutional.
In 2004 Otto lost her reelection bid to Matt Dean.
In March 2005 Otto declared her candidacy for State Auditor. She won the DFL endorsement to run against Republican incumbent Patricia Anderson. After discovering hundreds of millions of dollars in errors made by Anderson, [4] Otto won the 2006 general election by the largest margin of victory over an incumbent in 112 years. Governor Carlson supported Otto's candidacy,as did two other former state auditors,Mark Dayton and Judi Dutcher. In 2010,Otto was reelected to a second term in a rematch against Anderson by 25,483 votes. In 2014 she was elected to a third term,defeating Matt Entenza in the DFL primary,81%-19%, [5] and winning the November general election with 52% of the vote.
In January 2017,Otto announced her intention to seek the DFL nomination in the 2018 election for Governor of Minnesota. [6] Her candidacy attracted international attention for its carbon fee and dividend policy to mitigate global warming. [7] In May 2018,Otto chose running mate Zarina Baber,an IT professional. [8] At the June 2018 state DFL convention,Otto did not receive the party's endorsement. [9] The following Monday Otto announced she would honor her commitment to withdraw from the race without the endorsement. [10]
Mark Brandt Dayton is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He served as a United States Senator representing Minnesota from 2001 to 2007 and as Minnesota State Auditor from 1991 to 1995. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), which affiliates with the national Democratic Party.
The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the U.S. state of Minnesota's legislature. It operates in conjunction with the Minnesota Senate, the state's upper house, to craft and pass legislation, which is then subject to approval by the governor of Minnesota.
Tina Liebling is a Minnesota attorney and politician who is a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represents District 24B, which consists almost entirely of the city of Rochester in Olmsted County, in southeastern Minnesota. She was a candidate for the Governor of Minnesota in 2018, but withdrew from the race in mid-March.
Matthew "Matt" Keating Entenza is a Minnesota lawyer and former politician who served six terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives. He served as House Minority Leader from 2003 to 2006. After leaving the legislature, he was an unsuccessful candidate for various statewide offices, including governor, attorney general, and most recently state auditor.
Judith H. Dutcher is an American attorney and former politician who served as the Minnesota State Auditor from 1995 to 2003 as both a Republican and Democrat (DFL). She was the first woman to serve as Minnesota State Auditor.
Patricia "Patti" Anderson is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2023. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, Anderson represents District 33A in the northeastern Twin Cities metropolitan area, which includes the cities of Forest Lake, Hugo, and Mahtomedi and parts of Washington County.
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.
Matthew T. "Matt" Dean is an American politician. He served as the Majority Leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, he represented District 38B, which included portions of Ramsey and Washington counties in the eastern Twin Cities metropolitan area. He is an architect and the owner of Dean Architects in Dellwood.
Mark William Holsten is an American politician in Minnesota. Holsten, a Republican, served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1993 to 2002. He represented district 56A until November 2002 and, after redistricting, won election in 52B but was appointed Deputy Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources before the following session started. He served as chairman of the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Committee. Holsten was appointed to replace Eugene R. Merriam as Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources starting in January 2007.
Robyne Robinson is an American television journalist and entrepreneur. She ran as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota in 2010.
The 2010 Minnesota gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 to elect the 40th Governor of the U.S. state of Minnesota for a four-year term to begin in January 2011. The general election was contested by the major party candidates State Representative Tom Emmer (R–Delano), former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton (DFL), and Independence Party candidate Tom Horner. After a very close race, Dayton was elected governor. Emmer would be elected to the United States House of Representatives four years later.
Elections were held in Minnesota on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Primary elections took place on August 10, 2010.
The 2010 Minnesota State Auditor election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 to elect the Minnesota State Auditor for a four-year term. Incumbent Rebecca Otto of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) was narrowly re-elected to a second term.
The 2006 Minnesota State Auditor election was held on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Republican Patricia Anderson was defeated by former State Representative Rebecca Otto of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL). Independence Party of Minnesota candidate Lucy Gerold finished third.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Minnesota on November 4, 2014. All of Minnesota's executive officers were up for election as well as all the seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives, several state judicial seats, a United States Senate seat, all of Minnesota's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives, and several seats for local offices. A primary election was held on August 12, 2014, to nominate major political party candidates for partisan offices and candidates for nonpartisan offices.
The 2014 Minnesota State Auditor election was held on November 4, 2014, to elect the Minnesota State Auditor.
The 2018 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 6, to elect the 41st Governor of Minnesota as incumbent Democratic (DFL) Governor Mark Dayton chose not to run for re-election for a third term. The Democratic nominee was U.S. Representative Tim Walz from Minnesota's 1st congressional district while the Republican Party nominated Hennepin County commissioner Jeff Johnson for a second consecutive time. The Independence Party of Minnesota did not field a candidate for the first time since 1994. Going into the election polls showed Walz ahead; the race was characterized as lean or likely DFL.
The 2006 Minnesota Attorney General election was held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006 to elect the Minnesota Attorney General for a four-year term. DFL incumbent Mike Hatch chose to run for governor instead of reelection. Lori Swanson of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) won election to her first term.
The 2018 Minnesota State Auditor election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the state auditor of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Julie Blaha, the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) endorsed candidate, won the election.
The 2022 Minnesota State Auditor election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the state auditor of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Incumbent DFLer Julie Blaha narrowly won re-election to a second term.
Walz's campaign briefly teamed up with the campaign of State Auditor Rebecca Otto, the third candidate in the race who was dropped after failing to garner 10 percent of the vote on the second ballot.