So on Tuesday Democrats got together to choose a candidate to try to win back the governor’s mansion. And once again, the candidate chosen was not the candidate that the party endorsed at its convention.
This is nothing new. DFLers have turned their back on their party’s endorsee routinely over the years, and when they haven’t, the electorate as a whole has. No DFL endorsee has won the governor’s race since Rudy Perpich in 1986, and no non-incumbent DFL endorsee has won the governor’s race since Wendell Anderson did it in 1970 – a futility streak that spans 40 years, and now will reach 44.
Really, it’s even more stark in visual form:
Year | Party Endorsee | Primary Winner | Elected Governor |
2010 | Margaret Anderson Kelliher | Mark Dayton | TBD |
2006 | Mike Hatch | Mike Hatch | Tim Pawlenty |
2002 | Roger Moe | Roger Moe | Tim Pawlenty |
1998 | Mike Freeman | Skip Humphrey | Jesse Ventura |
1994 | John Marty | John Marty | Arne Carlson (I) |
1990 | Rudy Perpich | Rudy Perpich | Arne Carlson |
1986 | Rudy Perpich | Rudy Perpich | Rudy Perpich |
1982 | Warren Spannaus | Rudy Perpich | Rudy Perpich |
1978 | Rudy Perpich | Rudy Perpich | Al Quie |
1974 | Wendell Anderson (I) | Wendell Anderson (I) | Wendell Anderson (I) |
1970 | Wendell Anderson | Wendell Anderson | Wendell Anderson |
1966 | A.M. “Sandy” | Karl Rolvaag | Harold LeVander |
1962 | Karl Rolvaag | Karl Rolvaag | Karl Rolvaag |
1960 | Orville Freeman (I) | Orville Freeman (I) | Elmer Andersen |
1958 | Orville Freeman (I) | Orville Freeman (I) | Orville Freeman (I) |
1956 | Orville Freeman (I) | Orville Freeman (I) | Orville Freeman (I) |
1954 | Orville Freeman | Orville Freeman | Orville Freeman |
1952 | Orville Freeman | Orville Freeman | C. Elmer Anderson |
1950 | Harry Peterson | Harry Peterson | Luther Youngdahl (I) |
1948 | Charles Halstad | Charles Halstad | Luther Youngdahl (I) |
1946 | Harold Barker | Harold Barker | Luther Youngdahl |
1944 | Byron Allen | Byron Allen | Edward John Thye |
It’s quite remarkable, the inability of the DFL convention to produce a governor who wasn’t already a sitting governor. The Republicans have done so as recently as 2002. The Independence Party did it in 1998, for goodness’ sake. And yet the only DFLer in the past 40 years to win the office of governor away from another party did so by going around the party, winning the party primary in 1986. If Mark Dayton wins this year, as I expect he will, he will have taken the same path as Rudy Perpich did.
This is, to be blunt, a huge indictment of the way the DFL caucus system works. For whatever reason, the party itself seems incapable of picking candidates for governor who can survive both primaries and general elections. More than ever, it’s clear that the process by which the DFL picks its endorsed candidates has to change – and that candidates who bypass the party conventions are not disdaining the party, but rather simply trying to win.
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