Constitutional offices: DFLers Otto, Swanson, Simon win
Updated: 7:35 a.m. | Posted: 6:00 p.m.
Incumbent DFLers won re-election to the attorney general and state auditor offices, easily defeating Republican challengers. Auditor Rebecca Otto and Attorney General Lori Swanson both won third terms.
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In a third constitutional office, secretary of state, DFLer Steve Simon beat Republican Dan Severson Wednesday morning in the race to replace DFLer Mark Ritchie, who chose not to run again after two terms.
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Simon is a state representative from Hopkins who has sponsored legislation to allow greater absentee voting.
Severson is a former representative from Sauk Rapids who lost to Ritchie in 2010. He has expressed concern about voter fraud and in the past has pushed for photo identification requirements for voting.
In the auditor's race, Otto captured 52 percent of the vote to Gilbert's 39 percent.
Gilbert, former Long Lake mayor and an accountant who lost a Republican endorsement battle in 2010, criticized Otto's vote on the Minnesota Executive Council against mining leases without stronger assurance against financial losses.
Otto defeated Matt Entenza in an August primary.
In the race for attorney general, Swanson defeated Republican challenger Scott Newman with a 53-to-38 percent margin. He charged during the campaign that she had made the office too political in her eight years in office.
DFLers have held the office for 43 years.
One point of interest in that race was whether former DFL Rep. Andy Dawkins would gain 5 percent of the vote as a Green Party candidate. He fell well short of that.