ST. PAUL, Minn- Speaker of the Minnesota House Kurt Daudt stated publicly that he is not sure whether or not he will be entering the Minnesota gubernatorial race.
In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio(MPR) which focused primarily on sexual assault occurring in the Minnesota House, Daudt revealed his ambivalence about running for governor.
“There’s still an opportunity to get in,” Daudt said in the MPR interview, “At some point the door or window will close if I haven’t made a decision to run and that’s ok, too.”
However, when asked by Steve Simpson on CBS radio whether or not he was running Daudt responded with a negative, and then an ‘I don’t know.’
“I am not….I don’t know. I could still. I haven’t made that final decision, but at this point I’m focused on getting us through [appropriations cuts].”
Daudt has been dealing with various issues while in office including the multiple sexual assault allegations against Rep. Tony Cornish (R) and Dan Schoen (D) and the court battle with Governor Dayton over the legislature’s appropriations.
On the matter of appropriations, when asked whether or not he trusted the governor to deal faithfully with the legislature, Daudt responded that he did not trust Dayton.
“I do not [trust Dayton] right now. He told us he would provide us those [tax cuts], then he went and reversed course.”
Regardless, Daudt indicated he was appreciative of Dayton’s promise to not stop a bill which would restore funding to the legislature.
“We don’t want a fight with the governor, and I don’t think he wants a fight with us. We got so much done last year and we did it together.”
In commenting on the gubernatorial race, Daudt indicated he believed the field was still generally very open.
“I don’t think the field is completely developed yet on the Democrat side either, I think Lori Swanson is likely to get into the race.”
Clearly, Speaker Daudt has left the door open for a gubernatorial run.
