Tag Archives: Scott Jensen

Election 2026: Minnesota State Auditor

Posted on by
1

This is a statewide race and there are three people running. Incumbent Julie Blaha is not running for re-election. On the ballot:

Zack Filipovich (DFL)
Scott Jensen (Republican)
Jay Reeves (Forward Independence)

I spent more time than I thought I would on this one because Jay Reeves is running a fairly serious campaign and I wanted to treat him seriously. The tl;dr is that I am going to vote for Zach Filipovich, who’s well qualified for the job; I do think Jay Reeves is both more qualified and less of a creep than Scott Jensen, but I think Zach is the best candidate and also, that Jay Reeves is going to come in third.

All three candidates have appeared in two debates together: Almanac on PBS, and on The Sunday Take at the State Fair. I watched (well, listened to) both of these debates.

Scott Jensen (Republican)

When we last saw Scott Jensen, he was losing the 2022 Governor’s race by 8 percentage points. He manages to embody the Republican party at its worst in a whole range of ways; back in 2022 I noted that he’d gone around spreading the “kids have LITTERBOXES now” urban legend, and this year in the State Fair debate (in his closing statement, you can find it 37 minutes in) he brought up Zach’s endorsement from OutFront in order to showcase his own transphobia. You really have to be committed to transphobia to make your transphobic garbage an issue in the race for state auditor. He also seized several opportunities to brag about his COVID denialism. He’s also just not particularly qualified in this race compared to either of his opponents.

He’s also old. I mean, he’s not Trump levels of old, but he’s 71, and since he made an issue of it in the debate (“I will not hold my opponents’ youth and inexperience against them, heh heh”) I feel like I can point this out. He’s 71 and if you watch the debate and then look at his website it’s clear his staff has filtered and photoshopped the heck out of his photos to make him look younger (while still leaving sufficient wrinkles and gray hair that it’s not super obviously filtered.)

The main reason not to vote for him, though, is his record (as a creepy, transphobic, COVID-denying Trumpist). Plus he loves AI and wants to use it more in the Auditor’s office, which sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Jay Reeves (Forward Independence)

Jay enlisted in the Army in 2006 and stayed in until 2023, retiring as a Major (I am very inexpert on this, but my sense is that it’s fairly unusual to make the leap from enlisted man to commissioned officer.) I think he took a medical retirement because he developed cancer in 2022, which he has now recovered from. He talks a lot about his experience with “data analytics” and one of my frustrations in researching him is that it’s hard to figure out what he’s saying he did, exactly. Here’s his LinkedIn. It says he spent 15 years as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist; got a Master’s in Health Informatics from the U of M in 2019; worked as a “Capability Manager (Data Analyst)” in Virginia from 2019-22; and was a laboratory manager for one year at the end. He retired when he did because he had cancer, which I think he’s since recovered from. In 2023, he had a Data Analyst internship at a place called DivvyDose, after which he was a Business Analyst there for three months. Basically, his data analytics experience was presumably while he was in the military so it’s hard to know if he only talks about one thing (making a database to track something COVID-related in the early stages of the pandemic) because that’s the big data analytical thing he did, or because some of what he did, he’s not allowed to talk about. And this matters, because that’s really his major case for qualification, that he does data analysis well. (Or, “data analytics,” a phrase he loves so much you could turn it into a drinking game while watching the debates.)

The Forward Independence party is basically what’s left of the Jessecrats. I used to stop by their booth at the State Fair and pick up their literature to see what they had for a platform, if anything; I remember one year it was a long list of extremely random complaints, like if you had Andy Rooney write you a political platform, and at this point I’m not sure they have a unifying idea beyond “we aren’t Republicans and we also aren’t Democrats.” Jay apparently tried to get endorsed by the DFL to run for the CD 6 seat (against Tom Emmer) and didn’t get endorsed; this came up in one of the debates because Scott brought it up, and Jay’s explanation of why he was trying to run as a DFLer while also still an Independent and also they wouldn’t let him get endorsed because he refused to sign off on some of their beliefs, you know, it was confusing. I was confused. He sounded confused, like it made me wonder if he understood what endorsement was, how it worked, what it means to ask for a party’s endorsement.

Especially since he’s pretty conservative! Over on his Facebook, he has a long post whining about Keith Ellison calling (some) Republicans bigots and racists. Here’s a fun fact: a whole lot of Republicans are bigots and racists. Jay’s post links to a piece on Townhall (a conservative site, I’m not sure if it’s technically pretending to be news or just commentary) that linked to a Twitter post from noted local asshole Dustin Grage who was retweeting some garbage from Alpha News. Garbage all the way down, in other words.

He’s less loudly enthusiastic about AI tools in the auditor’s office (that I found! I may have missed something) (also, he talks a lot about “modernizing” the technology, and probably that means AI) but he is definitely using them in this race. Some post of his mentioned he’d used ChatGPT to write a summary, and this post in particular has the distinct cadence of ChatGPT’s writing style. I don’t love it! It’s already enough work to research candidates without having to wade through piles of crap they couldn’t even be bothered to write, you know?

Finally, even if you love the idea of a third-party guy in this role I will note that he shared a poll that shows Scott with 43% support, Zach with 36%, Jay with 4%, and Undecided at 17%, which means that even if every single Undecided voter breaks for Jay, he would still come in third. Also, Scott Jensen would win.

Zack Filipovich (DFL)

Zach is an uncommonly qualified candidate in that he’s an actual accountant who has worked in local government finance, the thing the Minnesota State Auditor actually oversees. He’s also served on the Duluth City Council.

I do want to acknowledge that it’s been many decades since there was an actual accountant serving in this role. In 2018, the Republican candidate was a CPA which might have been tempting (that’s a link to my post where I acknowledge that an actual accountant in this job might be a good thing) if Pam Myrha hadn’t been so generally loathesome. Anyway, this year I can vote for an accountant who’s also a Democrat, and while this is in fact a job where party should not matter, it’s clear from listening to Scott that it does.

Zach also understands what this job is and he’s energetic, thoughtful, and (I thought this was interesting) aware that in addition to fraud, part of the job of the auditor is to catch mistakes, which are in fact way more common than fraud. I am absolutely going to vote for Zach, and would encourage other people to do the same.

This seems like a good year to fundraise for a trans nonprofit, so I’m fundraising this year for TIGERRS. I don’t have a Patreon, and a fundraiser lets me see in a tangible way that people value my work, which is really helpful as a motivator. (This project is a lot of work.) I raised $7,230 during primary season so I’ve raised the goal.

I also have a new book out! Obstetrix is about an obstetrician who gets kidnapped by a cult because they want someone on hand to deliver their babies; it’s a story about enduring, surviving, and not giving up. You can buy it anywhere fine books are sold, and I’ve been doing my best to keep Uncle Hugo’s, Moon Palace, and Dreamhaven Books in signed copies.

Primary Election 2026: Minnesota State Auditor

Posted on by
Reply

On the DFL side of the ballot, this is uncontested and I would vote for Zack Filipovich. Since I expect the vast majority of my readers are voting in the DFL primary, this is just a “hey, check out THESE weirdos” post for everyone’s amusement. Well, also, just in case anyone searches for the State Auditor race.

On the Republican side there are three people running:

Scott Jensen
Nate George (GOP-endorsed)
Will Finn

Scott Jensen

You probably remember Scott Jensen. He’s the right-wing ghoul who lost to Tim Walz in 2022. He’s an antivaxxer, an ivermectin promoter and provider, and helped spread the gross urban legend that schools have litterboxes for students who identify as cats. (They do not.) He also promoted Trump’s big lie and is anti-abortion though maybe he no longer wants to ban it or maybe he just thinks he can’t or who even knows, really?

He really decisively lost the Republican party endorsement to Nate (77% to 23%). My suspicion is that the party faithful are as sick of him as I am.

Nate George

Nate is endorsed by the Minnesota GOP, by the MCCL (anti-abortion group) because he promised to do everything they want (note: the State Auditor does not have the power to do most of the stuff they’re asking for), and by a group called Moms for America which looks to be some sort of ladies’ auxiliary for the Tea Party assholes (with strong “doesn’t Gilead look nice?” vibes.)

Nate has some legitimate qualifications but also claimed to be a “Certified Fraud Examiner” when he is not a certified fraud examiner. He is currently studying for a test to become one; the certification also requires two years of experience which it doesn’t sound like he has. He may have also claimed to be a licensed peace officer when that licensure had lapsed but honestly, that feels more excusable. He’s also now calling it a “smear” that the DFL has talked about the fact that he lied about his credentials. He’s trying to undermine the article by saying it’s “required multiple published corrections.” The article in question has been updated multiple times, to add things like, “After publication of this story, the George campaign removed infographics from both Facebook posts and replaced them with new versions that list his Certified Fraud Examiner status as ‘Anticipated By September 2026.'” In other words, the corrections were not because they made errors, but because Nate’s campaign responded to being called out by changing the information on their website (as they should!)

On the plus side he does appear to know what the job involves (auditing local governments.)

Will Finn

Will Finn is a libertarian who ran for State Auditor four years ago as a Grassroots – Legalize Cannabis Party candidate. This year he’s running in the Republican primary, but his LinkTree has a link to a scan of his Libertarian Party membership fee payment invoice.

When there’s a libertarian running I’m always tempted to send them this comic (“The 24 Types of Libertarian” by Barry Deutsch) and ask which one they are. Will is anti-ICE, pro-weed, and smug. I do appreciate his anti-ICE stance.

Anyway, I am 100% going to vote for Zach, and I would encourage all of you to do the same!

This seems like a good year to fundraise for a trans nonprofit, so I’m fundraising this year for TIGERRS. I don’t have a Patreon, and a fundraiser lets me see in a tangible way that people value my work, which is really helpful as a motivator. (This project is a lot of work.)

I also have a new book! Obstetrix is about an obstetrician who gets kidnapped by a cult because they want someone on hand to deliver their babies; it’s a story about enduring, surviving, and not giving up. You can buy it anywhere fine books are sold, and Uncle Hugo’s, Moon Palace, and Dreamhaven all (probably) have signed copies.

Election 2022: Governor

Posted on by
3

HEY NAOMI WHERE THE HECK ARE YOUR POSTS

Hello from South Korea! I really truly intended to put a dent in my posts before I went on my (two week) trip to Seoul, and I totally did not even start before leaving, so. We may go old-school for some of these, which is to say, maybe a little less of a deep dive, because let’s be honest, most of you know that what you should do in the partisan races is just. vote. for the Democrat. Your DFL option may be imperfect but the alternative is invariably worse. Unhappy with Tim Walz? Your other option for governor is anti-vax anti-choice anti-gay pro-censorship big-lie-promoting asshole Scott Jensen!

It’s tempting to just leave this post there (I’m in a hotel in Myeongdong with a remarkably uncomfortable desk) but I’ll go through the list of people on the ballot because I really do want to make fun of the “Jury Democracy” guy.

Steve Patterson and Matt Huff (Grassroots – Legalize Cannabis)
James McCaskel and David Sandbeck (Legal Marijuana Now)
Hugh McTavish and Mike Winter (Independence Alliance)
Gabrielle M. Prosser and Kevin A. Dwire (Socialist Worker)
Scott Jensen and Matt Birk (Republican)
Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan (DFL)

Continue reading →

Primary Elections 2022: Governor

Posted on by
1

So I know I said I was just going to leave this for later but I did the thing where I e-mailed a bunch of candidates (in other races, not this one) and now feel duty-bound to actually wait until they’ve had a reasonable amount of time to get back to me (especially the one whose campaign manager e-mailed me back and said he’s out of town) and anyway, this one is straightforward and I can feel like I’m accomplishing something because I’ll have another post up.

In the Governor’s race, there are contests on the ballot for Republicans, Democrats, and both weed parties. Here’s how primaries work in Minnesota: you get a ballot and it’s divided up into sections by party, and you have to pick a party to vote in. You can vote in all the Republican primaries, or all the DFL primaries, or all the Grassroots primaries (there’s only one), or all the Legal Marijuana Now primaries (again, there’s only one). You can also vote in all the nonpartisan primaries regardless — those are typically on the other side of the ballot. If you vote in multiple party primaries (even if you pick different races) you have spoiled your ballot and it will not be counted. (If you’re voting in person, the machine will spit your ballot out and you can trade it in for a fresh ballot and try again.)

DFL: Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan vs. Ole Savior and Julia M Parker.

You know who Tim Walz is and you probably know if you’re happy with him or not. But even if you’re not happy with him, your alternative on the primary ballot is Ole Savior, this guy whose long-time hobby is running in elections. He ran for governor, also in the DFL primary, in 2018, when I described him as the “quintessential flake candidate.”

Here’s the thing that’s kind of weird: I swear I remember that he died. Like I saw a news story about Ole Savior, long-time perennial candidate, dying, and thinking, “gosh, one fewer person on the ballot next time!” and … apparently I hallucinated this? Or dreamed it? It only counts as the Mandela Effect if other people remember it (like the Berensteain Bears) but seriously Ole turning up on the ballot felt like a glitch in the Matrix. I am going to vote for Tim, because there’s an actual primary in the DFL congressional race in 4 and so I’m voting in the Democratic races, and I’m not unhappy enough with Tim to risk even the narrow possibility of an Ole win. (It’s a very, very, very narrow possibility but you never know.)

GOP: Scott Jensen and Matt Birk vs. Joyce Lynne Lacey and Kent Edwards vs. Bob “Again” Carney Jr and Captain Jack Sparrow

Scott Jensen is the right-wing ghoul, forced birther, antivaxxer, ivermectin promoter and provider who got the GOP endorsement. He’s probably going to win the primary.

Joyce Lacey has an impressively pointless website. She has a section labeled “blog” and if you go there, you’ll see a photo of her with a sign saying “viruses come and go, loss of freedom is forever” and the post title “Defending our Freedom” and a photo of her with a sign saying “Life Is For Everyone” with the post title “Defending the Right to Life for All Ages.” If you click on either post, you will find that neither post has any text — they’re just the photo. She does have a Twitter on which she mentions some activism around abuse of guardianship, but her website doesn’t mention it.

BobAgain is another perennial candidate, as is Jack Sparrow, and I’m amused by the team-up. Bob is also running in the First District congressional district special election primary (because of course, this means he can run for two things back to back! presumably if he wins that one he’ll withdraw from the gubernatorial primary but the risk here is not high.)

My favorite bit of Bob’s website is that he has a secret plan for a Viking Super Bowl victory. (This is from his application form for a running mate, which is still up):

Dr. Scott Jensen, one of the GOP candidates, has selected former Viking Matt Birk as his running mate. If they’re endorsed, I’d like to be able to roll out a plan for the Vikings to win the Super Bowl by 2025 – if you know a lot about football, I’ll give your candidacy preferential consideration. To be blunt – winning the Super Bowl is something a lot of Minnesota voters may be more interested in than anything some politico says! This is all part of a general effort to encourage people to think differently – and to begin talking when that otherwise might not happen. (I actually do have a “secret plan” for how to do this – if Jensen/Birk is nominated at the convention it could be rolled out in book form during the campaign – you could possibly help write it and be a co-author. There is an admittedly lighthearted aspect to this. There would be some “serious side effects” from following the plan – that would be worth discussing too – but… bottom line… it could be done.)

If I were voting in the Republican races, I would absolutely vote for Bobagain to be the Republican gubernatorial candidate.

Grassroots – Legalize Cannabis: Darrell Paulsen and Ed Engelmann vs. Steve Patterson and Matt Huff.

It took a lot of digging to find Darrel Paulsen’s website. Googling got me to his LinkedIn, which pointed me to the Facebook of his company, Paulsen and Company, which had a link to his Twitter, which when I scrolled down a bit had a link to his website. He’s a disability advocate and wheelchair user (his website had a link to this really interesting article from a few years ago about his and his wife’s parenting experiences). Anyway, he came to cannabis legalization via disability advocacy, I think.

Steve Patterson’s issues page starts out with a whine about the COVID lockdown (“My business partner Brian Miller and I were on pace to open Prime Stein Brewery in Rochester in June of 2020. That plan was derailed by Governor Walz and he created his first of several overly aggressive executive orders stating that no one could leave their home unless they were going to work.”) Moves on to the statement “I also do not believe in free healthcare as I think if it was free it should be abused” and wraps up with him wanting to enact the “Castle Doctrine” in Minnesota. Whee. I look at people like this and wonder why they’re not running as Libertarians? I assume it’s because the Libertarians aren’t a major party and Grassroots is at the moment.

If I were voting in this primary, which to be honest I have no idea why anyone would, I would vote for Darrel Paulsen.

Legal Marijuana Now Party: Chris Wright and L.C. Lawrence Converse vs. James McCaskel and David Sandbeck.

Chris Wright is one of the founders of the Grassroots party so I find it very funny he’s now running in the LMP primary. His issues page is a mix of “sure, that DFL proposal sounds great” and “I don’t know enough about monetary policy to truly evaluate your proposal but I’m pretty sure you don’t either.” He doesn’t comment on the accidental legalization of THC (none of the weed candidates do, that I saw) but he does have a long rant about why the other legalization bill proposed by the DFL and shot down by the Republicans is basically just as bad as keeping weed criminalized (because there’s a licensing requirement and taxes and stuff.)

Much like how Patterson is a Libertarian running on a weed party ticket because it’s a major party, James McCaskel is a Green running on a weed party ticket because it’s a major party. The text on his Platform page is bold, underlined, and centered, and thus really difficult to read, but they’re basically the Green Party’s Ten Key Values.

If forced to choose between these two people, I guess I would go with Chris Wright on the grounds that at least with him, weed is genuinely central to his political philosophy, he’s not a Green who’s hitchhiking on the LMP because they’re a major party right now and the Greens aren’t.

Honestly, for anyone who’s embracing chaos in their approach to the partisan primaries, you’re not going to beat Bob Again as an option.

In addition to writing political commentary, I write science fiction and fantasy. My book that came out in April 2021, Chaos on CatNet, takes place in a future Minneapolis. It’s a sequel to Catfishing on CatNet and signed copies of both books are usually available from Dreamhaven. You will also be able to get them from Uncle Hugo’s when it reopens at 2716 E 31st St! (and maybe by mail order now? I’m not sure how much mail order Don is doing while getting ready to re-open.)

I do not have a Patreon or Ko-Fi, but you can make a donation to encourage my work! I get a lot of satisfaction watching fundraisers I highlight getting funded (or, in the case of the Movement Voter fundraiser, continuing to raise money past their goal). I explained back in May why I’m fundraising for the Movement Voter PAC and that fundraiser is still active. (Also, I owe some embarrassing readings of my juvenalia to the Internet.)

I also went looking and found two DonorsChoose fundraisers for classrooms at Bethune Community School in North Minneapolis: math manipulatives for pre-K students (this is such a good idea) and a nice book organizer for a first-grade classroom where the shelving is coming apart.