Picture: From left to right starting at top: Dan Wolgamott, Adam Jennings, Ben Schierer, Zack Filipovich, Jay Reeves, Charles Kuchlenz, Nate George, Elliott Engen, and Scott Jensen

While much of the political oxygen in Minnesota has been directed at the Governor race, another statewide race may be talked about much more on election night: The State Auditor election.

Minnesota has become the national laughing stock due to out of control fraud taking place that amounts to billions upon billions in tax dollars lost. While the Feeding Our Future scandal did emerge late into the 2022 general election, Minnesota citizens have largely been unaware of how fraud-ridden MN government programs have been run under Democrats until now.

Now that fraud is center-stage for Minnesota voters, the most natural office the GOP could aggressively pursue is the MN Auditor’s office, which serves as the financial watch-dog for the state. The elected State Auditor position primarily provides oversight and audits of local governments (accounting for about $60B in local spending) while the legislatively-appointed Legislative Auditor oversees financial audits of state agencies. See a graphic describing the difference found on candidate Nate George’s social media below:

While much of the fraud given national exposure has come from state agencies flippantly appropriating tax dollars, the State Auditor’s office will have plenty to investigate and can refer findings of fraud to county attorneys or the AG office. The office can serve as the bully-pulpit for exposing the fraud across MN and providing transparency. Most voters will not distinguish the difference between the State Auditor and the Legislative Auditor and will largely just have the issues of fraud and protecting tax dollars on their mind in regards to this office.

In 2022, Republicans lost the State Auditor race by just 0.34% (8,435 votes). This was the closest statewide race and showcased the biggest vulnerability of MN Democrat control.

Incumbent State Auditor, Julie “White Claw” Blaha, has sat on her hands and done nothing as the massive fraud wasted away MN tax dollars. As seen in reporting from Alpha News, Blaha and then Senate Minority Leader Melisa Lopez Franzen rolled a vehicle with an opened White Claw drink that first responders described as “cold” and “pretty full”. Blaha is not seeking reelection in 2026, likely fearing a humiliating loss.

Four Democrats, three Republicans, and two third party candidates are running in the 2026 State Auditor race.

The four Democrats running include former Duluth city councilman Zack Filipovich, Mayor of Tonka Bay Adam Jennings, former Mayor of Fergust Falls Ben Schierer, and State Rep. DWI Dan Wolgamott (who previously chugged vodka in a liquor store parking lot then drove drunk). It appears all four are seeking the Democrat Party’s endorsement and it is not clear which candidates will abide by said endorsement. A4L could not locate any public attacks Democratic Auditor candidates have launched at each other and very little seems to separate the candidates on matters of policy. 

Ben Schierer is endorsed by radical leftist Keith Ellison, swing district State Senators Aric Putnam (SD14) & Rob Kupec (SD4), and pretend-moderate Collin Peterson. Adam Jennings has the endorsement of State Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart (SD45) along with the United Auto Workers and local officials. Dan Wolgamott is endorsed by 23 current or former State legislators including swing district Dems Brad Tabke and Matt Norris. Wolgamott may also be advantaged by Democrats’ seemingly preferring their party’s Auditor candidate have an alcohol-related incident that they can be held over their heads.

On the Republican side, three candidates are running including Scott Jensen, state Rep. Elliott Engen (36A), and Braham Mayor Nate George. As seen in previous A4L reporting, Scott Jensen ended his embarrassing Governor campaign after it became clear that he had zero chance at becoming the nominee again. Only Nate George has pledged to abide by the MNGOP endorsement and he is also the only Auditor candidate who has signed A4L’s Never Again Pledge.

Jensen comes into the Auditor race with a significant fundraising and name recognition advantage over Engen and George but he has tarnished his reputation with many grassroots conservatives by flip-flopping on every topic imaginable, including gun control and abortion. As seen in previous A4L reporting, Elliott Engen is 27 years old who has no serious finance or auditing professional experience and started running for office after an Iowa State Rep. planted a self-described seed in Engen while in a hot tub. Additionally, Engen has a long anti-Trump record and even called Turning Point USA “extremism from the right” and that they were controlled by the “cult of Trump”. While Engen has strong messaging on fraud, Nate George argues that Engen is inexperienced and immature by over-promising and would under-deliver in the State Auditor office. George touts his experience as a U.S. Air Force Reserves veteran, resolving his city’s financial ruin as Mayor, and leading the Licensing and Investigations Division of the Gaming Regulatory Authority for why Republicans should select him. George also held a press conference at the MN Capitol to unveil a new proactive auditing tool to assess risk levels of fraud with benchmarks established to qualify for state grants.

A Libertarian, Charles Kuchlenz, has not yet filed with the CFB (which is required once a candidate raises or spends over $750) but has been promoted on social media by the national Libertarian Party. Kuchlenz is a senior data engineer according to his campaign website. Considering that many if not most libertarian-leaning individuals are fiscal conservatives, Kuchlenz will likely take far more votes from Republicans than Democrats. It is not exactly clear where Kuchlenz falls on many issues but did share an article on social media calling Trump’s second term a “disaster for Libertarians” and post a video telling President Trump to stop “forcing people out” of Minnesota. If Republicans lose narrowly in the general election, Kuchlenz and the Libertarian Party may face the brunt of the blame. Kuchlenz says he considered running as a Republican but would not want to abide by the endorsement. See below:

Another candidate running for State Auditor is a Forward-Independence Party candidate named Jay Reeves who has also filed to run. The origin of this party is that the MN Independence-Alliance Party spun off from the Reform Party following Ross Perot’s presidential runs and Jesse Ventura’s 1998 Governor election victory. Recently, the party joined forces with communist Andrew Yang’s Forward Party. Yang donated $1K to Mike Newcome, the party’s candidate for MN Governor, but has not donated to Jay Reeves according to Reeves’ 2025 Year-End CFB report. It is not clear if Reeves would detract more support from Republicans or Democrats because the party’s name does not give clear political indications.

In 2022, two marijuana-based party candidates ran in the Auditor race and received a combined 5.35% (131,656 votes) which was much larger than the vote difference between the Republican and Democrat candidates. It is presumed that more of the third party vote came from the left than the right since both parties made marijuana legalization their #1 issue. Jay Reeves and Charles Kuchlenz may cause the inverse reaction this election by winning more GOP votes than Democrat votes. It will not be known until June if Kuchlenz, Reeves, or any other third party candidates will be on the ballot for this office.

As mentioned, the State Auditor race may get the most attention on election night because it is the race that Republicans have the best chance at retaking. Action 4 Liberty will continue to keep Patriots informed by providing liberty-based reporting that cannot be found anywhere else. A4L will never abandon our mission to protect liberty for the next generation.