Elected State Auditor Rebecca Otto announced she is running for the DFL nomination for governor in 2018.
The campaign begins with a "listening tour" that kicks off in Stillwater Monday. Prior to her three terms as State Auditor, Otto was a one-term legislator from the eastern Metro.
Otto was elected State Auditor in 2006 and has been re-elected twice, including by a wide margin in 2014. The Auditor oversees more than $20 billion spent annually by local governments. Otto sued three counties, after the 2015 Legislature passed a bipartisan law that allowed some local government entities to bypass the State Auditor and contract with private audit firms. She called the Legislature's move an "unprecedented effort to privatize a core function" of her office and has spent more than $250,000 fighting the move.
Republicans in the Legislature have criticized the lawsuit as a waste of taxpayer money.
Otto also served on the Forest Lake school board and chaired a successful $52 million school levy campaign.
She cofounded a 50-employee business that she later sold, according to her website.
DFL Gov. Mark Dayton has said he will not seek a third term.
So far, Rep. Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, and St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman have announced they will also seek the DFL nomination in what is expected to be a crowded field. Late last year Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she would seek another term in the U.S. Senate rather than run for governor.
