Just a week ago Minnesota voted for who would be our next Governor. In my first article I gave you some helpful criteria in helping you vote for who would best represent Minnesota. It was no surprise when we found out that Mark Dayton had won the election.

Minnesota decided to vote in a democratic incumbent to office. It is the first time that Dayton has been re-elected into office, before voluntarily stepping down the former U.S Senator and State Auditor only served one term in both of those offices. Dayton has become the first Democratic Farm Laborer Governor since Rudy Perpich in 1986 to be elected to a two consecutive term, but at the age of 67 Dayton says that he will not run for office again. From the very beginning of the fight for Governor, Dayton had a lead over Tea Party Republican Jeff Johnson. Dayton was leading 50 percent to 44 percent, and the Independent nominee Hannah Nicollet staggered behind with only three percent. After finding out that Dayton had won, Jeff Johnson said that it was unlikely he would run for a high office position again, but he still wants to help better our community as much as he can.

While Dayton has filled the position of Governor for the past two years, he has paid off $2.8 billion dollars towards the IOUs to state school districts, financed the all-day free kindergarten program across the state of Minnesota, boosted spending on the k-12 state program, and provided early learning scholarships. Since Dayton has been in office he has provided 172,000 new jobs, and the unemployment rate has dropped 4.1 percent, the lowest it has been in eight years – all according to Twin Cities News.

In office for a second term Dayton hopes to increase funding for roads and bridges, boost aid to kids in k-12th grade, continue the tuition freeze, and provide tax breaks for child care costs. Hopefully the Minnesotans voted in the right person to help aid Minnesota in the process to becoming a much more prosperous state. Congrats to Mark Dayton for winning the 2014 Minnesota Governor Election!