page_title: Mark Dayton
section_title: Tenure
hierarchical_section_title: Mark Dayton / Governor of Minnesota / Tenure
caption_attribution_description: English: Minnesota Chief Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea administers the oath of office to Mark Dayton as he becomes Governor, with his two sons holding a Bible. With them on the stage are Walter Mondale and Yvonne Prettner Solon.
context_page_description: 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.
  A native of Minnesota, Dayton is the great-grandson of businessman George Dayton, the founder of Dayton's, a department store that later became the Target Corporation. He embarked on a career in teaching and social work in New York City and Boston after graduating from Yale University in 1969. During the 1970s, he served as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator Walter Mondale and Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich. In 1978, Dayton was appointed the Minnesota Economic Development Commissioner and married Alida Rockefeller Messinger, a member of the Rockefeller family.
  Dayton ran for the U.S. Senate in 1982 against Republican Party incumbent David Durenberger. He defeated former U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy in the Democratic primary, and the general election became one of the most expensive in state history.
context_section_description: Dayton took the oath of office to become Governor of Minnesota on January 3, 2011. Taking office a few weeks before his 64th birthday, Dayton was the oldest person ever inaugurated as governor in Minnesota history. Former Vice President and Senator Walter Mondale served as Master of Ceremony at the inauguration. The first DFLer to serve as governor in 20 years, Dayton succeeded Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty. On January 5, Governor Dayton signed two Executive Orders allowing the Minnesota Departments of Commerce and Health to apply for federal health-care grants, and provide $1.2 billion in federal funds toward an Early Option for a statewide Medicaid Opt-In program. These Executive Orders reversed the previous administration's ban on federal funding for the state's health-care system. In March 2011, Dayton signed a law increasing penalties on those who injure or kill police dogs.
  On July 1, 2011, the Minnesota government went into a shutdown as a result of an impasse during budget negotiations between Dayton and the Republican-led legislature. On July 20, 2011, Dayton and the legislature reached an agreement, ending the 20-day shutdown.
  Dayton led an effort to have a new stadium constructed for the Minnesota Vikings. In May 2011, after efforts to have the stadium financed by Hennepin County failed, Ramsey County officials announced they had reached an agreement with the Minnesota Vikings to be the team's local partner for a new stadium, subject to approval by the Minnesota Legislature and to approval of a sales tax by the Ramsey County Board. Dayton was reluctant to go along with the team's Arden Hills proposal because it would cost a total $1.1 billion, including an additional $131 million for road improvements, and later tried to make a push to have the stadium built on the site of the farmers' market near Linden Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. On March 1, 2012, plans to build the stadium in either Arden Hills or the Linden Avenue site were abandoned after an agreement was announced by Dayton for a new stadium to be built on the site of the Metrodome, pending approval by the state legislature and the Minneapolis city council. In May 2012, the proposal to build the stadium on the Metrodome site was passed by the Minnesota Legislature and soon afterwards signed into law by Dayton;  On May 25, the proposal was officially finalized after receiving the approval of the Minneapolis City Council.
  In the legislative session that ended in May 2013, Dayton pushed for and won a $2.1 billion tax increase, mostly on the wealthy and cigarettes. He also signed a bill legalizing gay marriage in Minnesota, created free, statewide, all-day kindergarten and financed expansions of the Mayo Clinic, 3M and Mall of America. In the spring 2014 session, Dayton came under fire from supporters and foes alike for opposing the legalization of medical marijuana, which polls showed 65% of Minnesotans support. One supporter, the mother of a child with severe epilepsy, alleged Dayton told her in a meeting that he would not legalize the drug but she could buy the drug illegally instead. Dayton denied saying that. On April 2, Marijuana Policy Project began airing an ad across the state attacking Dayton's opposition to medical marijuana legalization, featuring a St. Paul mother and her child whose severe seizures could be cured by medical marijuana.
  On December 6, 2017, Politico reported that Dayton was expected to appoint Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith to Al Franken's Senate seat if Franken decided to resign amid multiple sexual misconduct allegations against him. On December 7, Franken announced he would resign in "the coming weeks".
caption: Dayton being sworn in as Governor
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