Mark Dayton

Mark Brandt Dayton is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He was a United States Senator for Minnesota from 2001 to 2007, and the Minnesota State Auditor from 1991 to 1995. Dayton is the great-grandson of businessman George Dayton, the founder of Dayton’s, a department store that later became the Target Corporation. Dayton first became politically active in the 1960s.

About Mark Dayton in brief

Mark Brandt Dayton is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He was a United States Senator for Minnesota from 2001 to 2007, and the 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. 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. 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 Iraq War, and became the first senator to introduce 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 ofMinnesota 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, leaving office in January 2019. His major legislative initiatives as governor include the legalization of same-sex marriage and the construction of U.

S. Bank Stadium for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. Dayton was born on January 26, 1947 in Minneapolis and is the eldest of Gwendolen May and Bruce Bliss Dayton’s four children. His father, Bruce Dayton, was the chairman and CEO of Dayton Hudson Corporation, the company that later become the Target corporation. He graduated from the Blake School in Minneapolis. 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 B. A. in psychology in 1969. After college, Dayton worked as teacher in the Lower East Side of 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. 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, he served as Minnesota Economic Development Commissioner and married Alida Rockefeller Messinger. In 1990, Dayton was elected Minnesota State auditor and served until 1995. In 1996, he ran for the first time as Minnesota State Governor, losing to Republican incumbent David Durenberger. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1998. In 2002, Dayton became Minnesota State Treasurer. In 2004, he became Minnesota’s first openly gay governor.

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