Product Code Database
Mark Brandt Dayton (born January 26, 1947) 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.
Dayton is the great-grandson of businessman George Dayton, the founder of Dayton's, a department store that later became the Target Corporation. He embarked on a career in teaching and social work in New York City and Boston after graduating from Yale University in 1969. During the 1970s, he served as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator Walter Mondale and Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich. In 1978, Dayton was appointed the Minnesota Economic Development Commissioner and married Alida Rockefeller Messinger, a member of the Rockefeller family. Dayton ran for the U.S. Senate in 1982 against Republican Party incumbent David Durenberger. He campaigned as a Populism in opposition to Reaganomics and famously promised "to close tax loopholes for the rich and the corporations—and if you think that includes the Daytons, you're right." Durenberger won the election, and Dayton returned to the Rudy Perpich until his election as Minnesota State Auditor in 1990.
In 1998, Dayton ran for governor, losing the Democratic nomination to Hubert Humphrey III. In 2000, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Rod Grams. As senator, Dayton voted against the authorization for the Iraq War and introduced legislation creating a cabinet-level United States Department of Peace. In 2006, he chose not to seek reelection, citing his disillusionment with Washington, D.C., and fundraising.
In 2010, Dayton defeated Republican Tom Emmer to become governor of Minnesota despite national success for the Republican Party, including in the Minnesota legislature. He won a second term in 2014 over Republican opponent Jeff Johnson and opted not to run for a third term in 2018. His major legislative initiatives during his governorship include the legalization of same-sex marriage and the construction of U.S. Bank Stadium.
Mark Dayton was raised in Long Lake, Minnesota, and graduated from the Blake School in Minneapolis, where he was an all-state ice-hockey goaltender as a senior.
Dayton attended Yale University, where he played varsity hockey until an accident on the ice. During his time at Yale, he joined the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (alongside future President George W. Bush) and received his Bachelor of Arts in psychology in 1969. After college, Dayton worked as teacher on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City from 1969 to 1971, and then as the chief financial officer of a social service agency in Boston from 1971 to 1975. He married his first wife, Alida Rockefeller, in 1978.
From 1975 to 1976 he was a legislative aide to Senator Walter Mondale, until Mondale's election as Vice President of the United States. From 1977 to 1978, Dayton served as an aide to Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich. In 1978, Perpich appointed Dayton to head the Department of Economic Development and then the Department of Energy and Economic Development.
Dayton first ran for the U.S. Senate in 1982, challenging Republican incumbent David Durenberger. After losing the election to Durenberger, Dayton returned to the Perpich administration until his election as Minnesota State Auditor in 1990; he served in that position until 1995.
In 1998, Dayton ran for governor, losing the DFL nomination to Hubert Humphrey III. He received 18% of the vote, finishing fourth in the DFL primary. Humphrey lost the general election to the Reform Party nominee, Jesse Ventura.
In 2000, Dayton was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Rod Grams, 49% to 43%.
Dayton ran for the Senate again in 2000. He won the DFL nomination with 41% of the vote in a six-candidate field, and defeated Republican incumbent Rod Grams in the general election, 49% to 43%. Dayton self-financed his campaign with $12 million.
While in the Senate, Dayton donated his salary to fund bus trips for seniors to buy cheaper prescription drugs in Canada. He generally voted with his fellow Democrats.
On February 9, 2005, he announced that he would not run for reelection, saying, "Everything I've worked for, and everything I believe in, depends upon this Senate seat remaining in the Democratic caucus in 2007. I do not believe that I am the best candidate to lead the DFL Party to victory next year." He also cited his dislike of fundraising and political campaigns. Dayton was succeeded in the Senate by Amy Klobuchar, another DFL member.
On September 22, 2005, the 44th anniversary of the day President John F. Kennedy signed the Peace Corps into law, Dayton became the first U.S. senator to introduce legislation creating a cabinet-level Department of Peace. At the same time, Representative Dennis Kucinich introduced similar legislation in the House.
In April 2006, Time magazine rated Dayton one of America's "Five Worst Senators", calling him "The Blunderer" for such "erratic behavior" as his temporary closure of his office in 2004 because of an unspecified terrorist threat, his complaints about "limited power in a chamber where authority derives from seniority", and a February 2005 comment that the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was "worth a hell of a lot more than the whole state of South Dakota", a remark he later apologized for. News reports of a Dayton question-and-answer session quoted him giving himself an F grade for his time in the Senate. Largely based on his Washington behavior, The New Republic dubbed Dayton's subsequent run for state-level elected office "Eeyore For Governor."
In September 2006, Dayton requested a review of the Rogers, Minnesota, tornadoAssociated Press, "Dayton Calls for Rogers tornado investigation" , Star Tribune, September 19, 2006 to determine whether the National Weather Service had acted properly and the victims' deaths were unavoidable.NWS, Weather.gov , NWS Service Assessment of September 16, 2006, Rogers, MN Tornado. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
Dayton claimed that Hanson's duties were directly related to Dayton's legislative functions, and that the decision to fire him could not be challenged. The District Court denied the motion, and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, where oral arguments were heard on April 24, 2007. The Supreme Court ruled 8–0 that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the appeal and dismissed the case, declining to grant certiorari. Dayton reached a settlement with Hanson in 2009, shortly after Dayton became a candidate for governor.
At the close of balloting in the general election on November 2, 2010, Dayton led his Republican opponent, Tom Emmer, by just under 9,000 votes. The margin of victory was small enough to trigger an automatic Election recount under state law. Analysts generally thought it unlikely that Dayton's lead would be overturned. During the hand recount of ballots, Emmer failed to find enough questionable ballots to overturn Dayton's lead. Emmer conceded the election on December 8, 2010. Minnesota Independence Party candidate Tom Horner received 11.9% of the vote, and it has been suggested that Horner cost Emmer the election by Vote splitting.
Ahead of the 2014 gubernatorial election, Lieutenant Governor Prettner Solon chose to retire. Dayton replaced her with longtime political staffer Tina Smith, who had been Dayton's chief of staff. Dayton defeated Republican nominee Jeff Johnson, 50.1% to 44.5%, the first time since 1994 that the winning Minnesota gubernatorial candidate received a majority of the vote.
On July 1, 2011, the Minnesota government went into a shutdown as a result of an impasse during budget negotiations between Dayton and the Republican-led legislature. Broken deals, bitter words and a state shuts down – Star Tribune On July 20, Dayton and the legislature reached an agreement, ending the shutdown.
Dayton led an effort to have a new stadium constructed for the Minnesota Vikings.Mike Kaszuba Dayton meeting with NFL commissioner, Star-Tribune, December 17, 2010, Accessed July 3, 2012. In May 2011, after efforts to have the stadium financed by Hennepin County failed, Ramsey County officials announced they had reached an agreement with the Vikings to be the team's local partner for a new stadium, subject to approval by the Minnesota Legislature and to approval of a sales tax by the Ramsey County Board. Dayton was reluctant to go along with the team's Arden Hills proposal because it would cost $1.1 billion, including an additional $131 million for road improvements, and later tried to have the stadium built on the site of the farmers' market near Linden Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. On March 1, 2012, plans to build the stadium in either Arden Hills or at the Linden Avenue site were abandoned after Dayton announced an agreement for a new stadium to be built on the site of the Metrodome, pending approval by the state legislature and the Minneapolis City Council. In May 2012, the proposal to build the stadium on the Metrodome site was passed by the Minnesota Legislature and was signed into law by Dayton. On May 25, the proposal was officially finalized after receiving the Minneapolis City Council's approval.
In 2012, Dayton commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Dakota War of 1862 with a call for reconciliation, and repudiation of former governor Alexander Ramsey's position. Flags were flown at half mast for a "Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation in Minnesota".
In the legislative session that ended in May 2013, Dayton pushed for and won a $2.1 billion tax increase, mostly on the wealthy and cigarettes. He also signed a bill legalizing gay marriage in Minnesota, created free, statewide, all-day kindergarten, and financed expansions of the Mayo Clinic, 3M, and the Mall of America. In the spring 2014 session, Dayton came under fire from supporters and foes alike for opposing the legalization of medical marijuana, which polls showed 65% of Minnesotans supported. One supporter, the mother of a child with severe epilepsy, alleged Dayton told her in a meeting that he would not legalize the drug but she could buy it illegally instead. Dayton denied saying that. On April 2, Marijuana Policy Project began airing an ad across the state attacking Dayton's opposition to medical marijuana legalization, featuring a St. Paul mother and her child whose severe seizures could be cured by medical marijuana.
In May 2017, Dayton signed an executive order requiring firms that have state contracts not to boycott Israel.
On December 6, 2017, Politico reported that Dayton was expected to appoint Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith to Al Franken's Senate seat if Franken resigned amid multiple sexual misconduct allegations against him. Franken resigned on January 2, 2018, and Dayton then appointed Smith to the seat.
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, and Americans for Democratic Action. He received a 79% rating from the League of Conservation Voters for his support of green energy as of 2010. In 2005, Dayton scored a 9% rating from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.
He supports a progressive tax to decrease state and federal deficits. To create jobs, he proposed a state stimulus package as part of his gubernatorial platform. Dayton supports increased funding for K–12 schools, with increased teachers' salaries and decreased class size.
In July 2000, Dayton answered an election questionnaire saying he would expand Medicare prescription-drug coverage. He favors keeping Social Security intact, opposing its privatization. He received a 90% rating from the Alliance for Retired Americans.
Dayton found his political calling while studying pre-med at Yale University, after his political hero, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated. Dayton soon began his career in public service. In the 1970s, his political activism earned him a spot as the only Minnesotan on Richard Nixon's "enemies list", a fact he cited in future campaign speeches. In a 1982 race, Dayton called his wealth his "original sin" and promised to close tax loopholes for corporations and the rich.
Dayton has been married three times. In 1978, he married Alida Ferry Rockefeller, at the Rockefeller home in Tarrytown, New York. Alida is the youngest sister of former U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller. Together they had two sons, Eric and Andrew. They divorced in 1986.
Despite his wealth, Dayton lives modestly. He is a recovering alcoholic and has been treated for mild depression.Rachel E. Stassen-Berger and Baird Helgeson, 'People have a right to know,' Dayton says, Star Tribune, December 27, 2009 He revealed this information on his own initiative, saying he felt "people have the right to know."
In December 2012, Dayton underwent vertebral fusion surgery at the Mayo Clinic to treat his spinal stenosis. On June 25, 2013, he had to cancel an appearance due to a muscle tear. In January 2016, Dayton fainted while speaking at a campaign event in Woodbury, Minnesota. He was hospitalized overnight. A year later, he collapsed while giving the State of the State address to the Minnesota legislature. After a check by emergency medical services, he was reported to be in fine condition and was sent home that evening. The next day he announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer a week earlier.
On October 8, 2019, the University of Minnesota's Center for Integrative Leadership announced that Dayton had joined the center as an Executive Leadership Fellow for the 2019–2020 academic year.
In December 2020, Dayton married former congressional intern and campaign staffer Ana Orke. He first met her at a 2005 political fundraiser when he was in the U.S. Senate.
| DFL | Mark Dayton | 178,972 | 41.29 |
| DFL | Mike Ciresi | 96,874 | 22.35 |
| DFL | Jerry Janezich | 90,074 | 20.78 |
| DFL | Rebecca Yanisch | 63,289 | 14.60 |
| DFL | "Dick" Franson | 1,336 | 0.31 |
| DFL | Ole Savior | 1,206 | 0.28 |
| DFL | Gregg Iverson | 1,038 | 0.24 |
| DFL | Hal Dorland | 610 | 0.14 |
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|
|
