UPDATE: This post has been corrected and updated since its release Tuesday morning.
Today, State Sen. Roger Reinert (DFL-Duluth) told me he would not run for Minnesota Secretary of State. After giving it some thought, he decided he didn’t want to go after a job that took him out of Duluth.
Last month quite a tizzy broke out over the retirement announcement of SOS Mark Ritchie, spawning a mad dash of possible candidates from both parties. Later, Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) backed out and now Reinert. It boils down to this:
DFL: Former Rep. Jeremy Kalin, Rep. Debra Hillstrom and current SOS administrator elections official Rachel Larson Bohman. Rep. Steve Simon, considered a election law specialist, is also a possible candidate, though hasn’t announced yet.
GOP: Rep. Joyce Peppin and Pat Garofalo are is considering a run, as is Sen. Warren Limmer and former SOS administrator and Rep. Kent Kaiser. Other candidates include former GOP nominee for the office Dan Severson and Dennis Nguyen.
Reinert’s exit removes the only northern Minnesota name from the list. It’s possible to imagine new names emerging but, now that the “open seat” fervor of last month has settled down, maybe not.
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