Mark Dayton


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, 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 populist 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 Perpich administration 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.

Early life, education, and career

Dayton was born on January 26, 1947, in Minneapolis and is the eldest of Gwendolen May and Bruce Bliss Dayton's four children. He is a great-grandson of businessman George Dayton, the founder of the Dayton's department store chain. His father, Bruce Dayton, served as the chairman and CEO of Dayton Hudson Corporation, the company that later became the Target Corporation. Bruce Dayton also founded the B. Dalton bookstore chain in 1966.
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 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.

Early political career and U.S. Senate

Dayton first became politically active in the 1960s. He protested the Vietnam War in April 1970 at one of Minnesota's major antiwar protests against Honeywell, where he was maced by police. Dayton's father served on the Honeywell board of directors and the two had a strained relationship after the incident.
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%.

U.S. Senate

Elections

Dayton first ran for the U.S. Senate in 1982, challenging Republican incumbent David Durenberger and former U.S. senator Eugene McCarthy in the DFL primary. McCarthy's reputation was harmed by his endorsement of Republican Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election; Dayton defeated him with over 69% of the vote. The general election was one of the most expensive in state history. Dayton campaigned as a populist 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, who was considered a moderate but had supported Reagan's tax cuts, won the election, 52% to 46%.
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.

Tenure

As senator, Dayton voted against the authorization for Iraq War, and was the first senator to introduce legislation creating a cabinet-level United States Department of Peace.
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, tornado to determine whether the National Weather Service had acted properly and the victims' deaths were unavoidable.

Committee assignments

The 2003 lawsuit Office of Senator Mark Dayton v. Brad Hanson involved an accusation of wrongful termination by Brad Hanson, who worked as State Office Manager for Dayton, and who was fired shortly after taking medical leave for a heart problem. Hanson sued under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, claiming that Dayton had discriminated against him because of a perceived disability. Dayton argued that he was immunized from suit by the speech or debate clause of the United States Constitution. 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.

Governor of Minnesota

Elections

On January 16, 2009, Dayton announced his candidacy for Governor of Minnesota. In a crowded Democratic field of challengers, Dayton chose to bypass the state caucuses and convention in favor of the primary election. He stated he made that decision because the primary election is a more democratic method of choosing a candidate. He relied on personal funds for his campaign. On May 24, 2010, he announced State Senator Yvonne Prettner Solon of Duluth as his running mate for lieutenant governor. On August 10, 2010, Dayton defeated the DFL-endorsed Margaret Anderson Kelliher in the primary election by 1,500 votes, 41.33% to 39.75%, in what was called a "remarkable political comeback". He was later endorsed by the Minnesota DFL to earn his party's nomination 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 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 splitting the vote.
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.