Dayton, Franken and Mondale rally around Otto
Gov. Mark Dayton, former Vice President Walter Mondale and many other Democrats are rallying around DFL state Auditor Rebecca Otto’s re-election campaign.
The endorsements come one day after former state Rep. Matt Entenza filed to challenge Otto in the DFL primary.
"I had a lot of folks urge me to take a look at this and so I spent some time looking at it,” Entenza said on Tuesday to reporters. “After looking at it, I think you’re going to see a number of endorsements that will be coming out over the course of the next few weeks.”
Entenza declined to say who is backing his campaign.
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Fifth Congressional District Rep. Keith Ellison is among those supporting Entenza.
"Matt has taken on corporate interests, prosecuted white-collar criminals, and stood against photo ID. He introduced the first bill ever in the legislature for marriage equality in 1995," Ellison said. "He brings a valuable progressive voice to the discussion about the future of our state.”
Still, Entenza's supporters do not include some of the biggest names in DFL politics.
Dayton issued this statement through his campaign:
“Before the DFL State Convention, and before I was aware of Matt Entenza’s plans to run for State Auditor in the primary election, I told Rebecca Otto that I would support her in her campaign for reelection. Today, I stand by my promise to support her. Although Auditor Otto and I disagree on some issues, she has been a good State Auditor, and she deserves reelection.”
Dayton, who won the gubernatorial nomination in a primary in 2010 against DFL endorsed candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher, told reporters today he believes anyone has a right to run for office.
"I can't criticize somebody for running against the endorsed candidate after my practice," Dayton said.
The Otto campaign issued a statement saying Mondale is backing her campaign.
She also wrote on her Twitter feed that DFL Sen. Al Franken is backing her campaign.
Fifteen DFL state legislators also wrote statements of support for Otto on their Twitter feeds.
Update: The campaign manager for Congressman Rick Nolan says Nolan is backing Otto's campaign.