Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha announced Thursday that she won’t seek reelection in 2026.
Blaha, a Democrat, was first elected to the position in 2018 and won a second term in 2022. The state auditor is tasked with overseeing tens of billions in public spending across roughly 5,000 local governments in Minnesota. State finances are under the supervision of the nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor.
Blaha is one of Minnesota’s constitutional officers elected by the state at large, the others being the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state.
In 2018, Blaha told the Pioneer Press that she decided to run for auditor after hearing that some Republican lawmakers were considering eliminating the office.
After more than six years in the position, Blaha said she feels ready to pass the office to a successor when her term expires in January 2027.
“I’ve had the honor of serving as Minnesota’s State Auditor. My goals were to rebuild an office that was under attack and protect Minnesotans’ rights to make decisions in their local communities,” she said in a news release. “I am proud to have accomplished those goals.”
State-level councils
Besides overseeing local finances, the state auditor sits on state-level councils including the Executive Council, Rural Finance Authority and the Minnesota Housing Authority.
The auditor also serves on the State Board of Investment and has a say in how Minnesota invests more than $130 billion in state funds.
Before becoming state auditor, Blaha was a middle school math teacher in the Anoka-Hennepin School District, where she served as teachers’ union president. She’s also the former secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO of Minnesota.
Besides her work as an educator and union leader, Blaha is also known for her success in the Minnesota State Fair’s crop art competition, where she took the blue ribbon in 2019 for a piece commemorating the engagement of Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and former Minnesota Public Radio reporter Tom Weber.
While running for office, Blaha described herself as a “bean counter.” Her 2018 crop art submission included those words.
First elected in 2018
Blaha won her first term in 2018 with 49.4% of the vote to Republican Pam Myhra’s 43.2%.
But in 2022 she only narrowly defeated Republican challenger Ryan Wilson. That year, Blaha got 47.5% of the vote to Wilson’s 47.1%.
Wilson criticized Blaha for failing to identify red flags in what became the Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, where a number of people with nonprofits have been convicted for stealing more than $250 million in federal funding for school meals from the Minnesota Department of Education.
Blaha said her office didn’t want to interfere with ongoing investigations and said Wilson did not understand the auditor’s role, as the fraud involved a state agency and not local government.
Blaha and Wilson also disagreed on whether the state board of investment should consider the effects of climate change on its investment returns and avoid assets tied to fossil fuel production.
Wilson said the investment board should try to maximize its returns and that it’s the Legislature’s job to set restrictions. Blaha argued that major financial firms such as J.P. Morgan Chase take climate risks into account while investing.
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