Early career

Carlson served one term on the Minneapolis City Council from 1965 to 1967, and was the Republican candidate for mayor in 1967, losing to Democratic-Farmer-Labor incumbent Arthur Naftalin. He was a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from January 1971 to January 4, 1979. In 1978, he ran for and was elected state auditor. He was reelected in 1982 and 1986, serving in that position from January 4, 1979, to January 7, 1991. As State Auditor, Carlson worked to create uniform accounting for cities, counties, townships, and special districts, making Minnesota a leader in uniform accounting. He also overhauled the State's multi-billion dollar pension investment portfolio to allow private sector management, which significantly improved the rate of return.

Minnesota Governor

Election in 1990

Carlson's long tenure as auditor, in addition to his noted speaking abilities, made him a leading contender for the Republican nomination in 1990. However, although he initially led in public opinion surveys, his status as a moderate Republican or even liberal Republican made him unpopular among party activists.^[5][6] They instead backed Carlson's primary rival, businessman Jon Grunseth, a younger and more right wing candidate who had never held elected office.^[5]

In the Republican primary, Grunseth defeated Carlson, who came in second place.^[5] In 1990 general election polling, Grunseth was the favorite to defeat the incumbent governor and DFL nominee, Rudy Perpich, who was the state's longest-serving governor.^[6][5] However, a scandal arose in mid-October, three weeks before the general election, after the Star Tribune published a front-page article with an account that, in 1981, Grunseth had invited three then-teenaged friends of his stepdaughter, as well as his stepdaughter herself, to go skinny-dipping in the pool at his home.^[7] Although three of the four girls corroborated the report, Grunseth denied any improper conduct, and suggested that the allegations were orchestrated by Perpich.^[5][6]

On October 15, 1990, with fifteen days of campaigning left before Election Day, Carlson revived his campaign for governor as a write-in candidate, and took part in an unusual three-way debate broadcast by Twin Cities Public Television,^[6][5] which became the highest-rated locally produced program in the station's history.^[8] Grunseth initially refused to drop out, thus splitting the Republican vote and providing an opportunity for Perpich to run for reelection. Nine days before the election, however—after vacillating for days and after another Star Tribune article, reporting that Grunseth had a lengthty extramarital affair—Grunseth withdrew. As the runner-up in the primary, the Independent-Republican Party Executive Committee declared Carlson the Republican nominee.^[5][6][7][9] Five days before the election, in a 5–2 decision, the state Supreme Court ruled that Carlson was eligible to appear on the ballot In the November 6, 1990 general election, Carlson defeated Perpich by 3.3 percentage points, 50% to 47%.^[5][6][8]

Tenure

Carlson with President Bill Clinton in 1993

Carlson was elected the 37th governor of Minnesota in the November 1990 general election, and served from January 7, 1991, to January 4, 1999. He won as a member of the Independent-Republican Party. In September 1995, the party changed its name to, simply, the "Republican Party."

During his administration, Carlson worked to solve an inherited $2 billion state budget deficit. By the end of his term, the state had surpluses of $2.3 billion in FY1997 and $1.9 billion in FY1998. His administration restored the AAA bond rating from all three Wall Street major bond houses and was the first such state to receive the upgrade in 25 years.

Carlson increased funding for elementary and secondary education by 9%, created a top-level Children's Cabinet to develop a single integrated agenda and budget for all state children's programs and initiatives, laid the groundwork for the first light rail in Minneapolis with state and federal funding of $160 million and was successful in getting school choice funded which was hailed by the "Wall Street Journal" as a model for the rest of the country.

In 1993, Carlson served as Chairman of the Midwestern Governors Association. That same year he signed into law the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which banned LGBT discrimination in housing, employment, and education.^[10]

In 1994, the delegates to the Minnesota Republican Party State Convention viewed Carlson, who supported gay rights and abortion rights, as liberal. The party's right wing dominated the selection of convention delegates, and at the June 1994 convention Carlson won only 29% of the votes at the state Convention, with Allen Quist, a figure popular among grassroots Christian right activists, winning 69% of the delegates' votes.^[11][12] Carlson described Quist as a "cult leader with a Messianic complex"^[12] and in the September 1994 state primary, Carlson and running mate Joanne Benson won renomination by a 2:1 margin, with the endorsement of business groups, every major newspaper in the state, and the Teamsters union.^[13] Carlson won the November 1994 general election by a large margin, 63% to 34%, over Democratic candidate John Marty.

As governor, Carlson was known as a fan of the University of Minnesota and its sports teams; his official portrait in the Minnesota State Capitol shows him wearing a letter jacket from the school. Carlson also worked closely with the President of the University of Minnesota, Mark Yudof, in improving the University's physical plant and in 1998, proposed and secured passage of an historic capital improvement package for all higher education with $206 million earmarked for the University of Minnesota. That led to projects ranging from building a molecular and cellular Biology Center to major renovations and upgrades to Walter Library.

Post-governorship

In 1998, after leaving office, Carlson was appointed to the board of directors of the IDS Mutual Fund Group, which was part of the American Express Financial Advisors, a Minneapolis-based company.^[14] He was named chairman and CEO of the board the next year.^[15]

Carlson has remained politically active in retirement. On 2010, he announced that he would embark on a "Paul Revere" tour of Minnesota to bring attention to fiscal problems facing the state.^[16] During the 2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, which occurred after Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and the Republican state legislative leaders could not agree on a budget, Carlson collaborated with Walter Mondale and several other prominent political and business leaders to propose a nonpartisan budget commission.^[17]

In 2001, in a MPR-St. Paul Pioneer Press Poll Carlson ranked second (behind Hubert Humphrey) among prominent Minnesota political figures on their contributions to the state. Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed said Carlson made a "great or major contribution" to the state.^[18]

In retirement, Carlson often endorsed Democratic and DFL candidates over Republican candidates. He endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.^[19][20] In 2016, Carlson endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.^[21][22] Carlson endorsed Democratic nominee Joe Biden over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.^[23] He endorsed Tim Walz over Randy Demmer in the 2010 election to Congress,^[20][24] and the same year broke with his party to endorse Independence Party candidate Tom Horner in Minnesota's gubernatorial race^[25] and Tim Walz for Congress. In December 2010, as part of a post-election party purge of moderates, the Minnesota Republican Party Central Committee narrowly voted to ban Carlson and 17 others from participating in party events for two years.^[26]

Carlson was an outspoken critic of Joan Gabel's performance as president of the University of Minnesota.^[27]

Carlson and Mondale also teamed to oppose a voter identification amendment to the state constitution in the 2012 election.^[28] The amendment was defeated.

Carlson is a longtime campaign finance reform proponent. He is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One,^[29] and criticized the impacts of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. In 2012, Carlson teamed up with his former rival, John Marty, to support legislation that would prohibit corporations with more than 20% foreign ownership from donating to political campaigns, and to require board of directors or executive councils to approve political contributions made by the corporation or union (rather than allowing executives or presidents to unilaterally make such contributions).^[30]