State Auditor 2026 Election Guide

Contributed

Website: zackformn.com

Party: DFL

Age on Election Day: 36

Community: Duluth

Employment: Finance Manager

Please share any prior experience and education that you believe qualifies you for office.

This job is all about building a government that works for people. As the only accountant in the race, I bring a proven track record of fiscal responsibility. Financial statements tell the story of our values and how they can help us make better decisions. As a Certified Management Accountant, I know what it takes to hold people and organizations accountable. I have over a decade of experience managing budgets, overseeing compliance and strengthening internal controls to prevent fraud. As a finance manager and former Duluth City Councilor, I’ve worked with local governments across Minnesota to understand and solve the challenges they face.

Why are you running?

I’m running to help local governments succeed and ensure public dollars deliver results for Minnesota’s communities. The State Auditor’s Office oversees $56 billion across 3,400 local government units. The role is to ensure that our communities, from rural townships and big cities, to counties and school districts, have the tools, data, and oversight they need to make the best decisions to move forward. This office audits the local public dollars closest to each of us. I've seen what happens when local governments have the technical resources to succeed and I've seen the consequences of when they're left behind. We need confidence that our local dollars will be there when needed.

Why should voters elect you?

The State Auditor helps local governments share best practices and ensure that the local tax dollars funding schools, public safety, infrastructure, and community services are being used for those purposes. Accounting is my profession. I'm the only candidate to have worked in a local government accounting office, adhering to governmental auditing standards (GAS) to help keep local public dollars safe. I bring experience in oversight, internal controls and accountability. I’ll be ready on day one to ensure every local tax dollar is accounted for and working for us.

What are your top three priorities, if elected? Please describe specific goals.

I’m focused on protecting taxpayer dollars through strong oversight, guidance and accountability:
Accountability: Protecting taxpayer dollars through strong oversight, internal controls, and guidance to prevent fraud at the local level.
Strengthening Communities: Ensuring local governments rural townships to big cities have the data, training, and resources they need to make the best decisions for their own communities.
Transparency: Increasing transparency at every step through a commitment to public engagement with open houses and forums in every corner of the state.

The Office can act as a partner that provides technical assistance, education, financial oversight, best practices, and transparent reporting. The OSA helps ensure that the local tax dollars funding schools, public safety, infrastructure, and community services are managed responsibly and effectively.

What changes, if any, do you think need to be made to the state auditor’s office?

I’ll take a more proactive approach to oversight, helping local finance officials identify weak points in their processes and strengthening internal controls and guardrails against fraud. This also includes conducting more efficient and timely audits by reducing the turnover rate of the State Auditor’s office itself. I am also committed to providing the background behind the data, holding open houses and forums to ensure transparency at every step. I will work to improve resource sharing, address the critical shortage of finance professionals, and build on how the office provides data and guidance.

Contributed

Website: drscottjensen.com

Party: Republican

Age on Election Day: 71 y/o

Community: Chaska (Carver Co.)

Employment: Catalyst Medical Clinic, Founder/Physician

Please share any prior experience and education that you believe qualifies you for office.

I have multiple degrees and advanced certifications from the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas. Additionally, for 40 years I served in positions that extensively prepared me to execute the duties of the OSA. I served as the Audit Chair for a $1B financial institution for more than a decade. I’ve demonstrated executive guidance by serving on boards for accountants, banks, my local school district, and multiple Chambers of Commerce shaping financial decisions and ensuring transparency. In the MN Senate I was a strong champion and chief author of health care legislation focusing on transparency and ensuring life-saving medication availability. I founded and operated multiple successful businesses and medical clinics. My years as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of MN provides me with an ideal background and skillset to support local governments with financial best practices, internal controls, and compliance. https://www.drscottjensen.com/about.html

Why are you running?

I firmly believe that to whom much is given, much is expected.
The State Auditor role is about public service and leadership - particularly in human services and healthcare which underscores the fact that my skill-set as both a physician and former Vice Chair of the Health & Human Services Committee uniquely qualify me for this position.

Minnesotans have endured years of waste, fraud, and abuse which has been allowed to proceed virtually unchecked by our own government leaders. No more! I understand that we have a trust problem in this state. The only way to restore that trust is for leaders like me to continue to stand in the gap and hold people accountable. I have demonstrated bold leadership throughout my years as a husband, father, business owner, state senator, and a board member. I look forward to bringing that bold servant leadership back to St. Paul.

Why should voters elect you?

With bold courage I stood up for Minnesotans speaking truth to power during the COVID years and confronting the Tim Walz/Keith Ellison look-the-other-way era of fraudulent lying, cheating, and stealing. I put everything on the line - my livelihood, my license, my reputation- in order to defend free speech and health freedom for all. I am the most experienced and qualified leader in this race and the most electable candidate - with nearly a million social media followers, huge name recognition, and a history of record-setting fundraising! The lack of effective leadership in MN government is the true crisis of our time. I will disrupt the current sloppy culture of chaos by building a disciplined team of mission-driven financial experts, forensic investigators, and AI specialists to ensure the protection of Minnesotans’ hard-earned paychecks, the restoration of fiscal integrity, and accountable compliance with the law.

What are your top three priorities, if elected? Please describe specific goals.

If given the privilege of serving as Minnesota State Auditor, I would seek to accomplish the following goals::
Successfully collaborate with the legislative auditor, MMB Commissioner, all branches of government, and the Office of the Inspector General in constructing a clearly defined system of fiscal accountability without gaps in responsibilities (which too often promotes a blame-game mentality.)
Dramatically reduce impact and frequency of unfunded mandates imposed on local counties, cities, towns, and school districts.
Create pathways for all Minnesotans to help stop fraud, protect whistleblowers, and support a statewide initiative regarding government programs that calls for all people to live by the creed; “if you see something, say something!”

Editor’s note: While the state auditor may advocate for legislation, changes to state mandates are made by the state Legislature.

What changes, if any, do you think need to be made to the state auditor’s office?

The state auditor’s role focuses on providing support to local municipalities regarding compliance with operational standards and statutory policies. Specific changes that need to be made to optimize efficacy of the auditor’s role to support fiscal integrity and good governance include:
1) Renewed understanding that the auditor operates independently and reports to all stakeholders
2) Broaden collaboration with the Legislative Auditor
3) Publicly shine a spotlight on emerging issues of concern
4) Ongoing acknowledgment that the auditor is the citizens’ watchdog to make certain that taxpayer dollars are used lawfully, efficiently, and transparently
5) Aggressively support cities, towns, counties, and school districts by publicly identifying unfunded mandates and the harms they cause.

Website: jayreevesformn.org

Party: Forward Independence

Age on Election Day: 51

Community: Victoria, MN

Employment: US Army Retired Major

Please share any prior experience and education that you believe qualifies you for office.

My prior experience and education include:
1. Nearly 17 years of Military Leadership (Retired Major)
2. Master of Health Informatics Degree (University of MN) with a concentration in Data Analytics and Data Visualizations
3. Led a team to create world-wide interactive data dashboard used by the DHA, Pentagon, and Whitehouse
4. Continuous process improvement and standardization expert with training through the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt program
5. Managed and led teams, departments, and divisions with hundreds of civilians and Service Members from across the world on some of the largest IT projects in the history of the Military Health System

Why are you running?

I am running to protect the hard-earned tax dollars of all Minnesotans that have felt the burdens placed on them by increased taxes while fraudsters continue to rob us, blindly. We all pay into these social programs and having access to them when we need them it mandated, not optional. I am sick and tired of seeing the most vulnerable among us continue to be taken advantage of while our elected officials sit on the sidelines and argue about who to blame. I am running to bring Minnesotans a voice and represent them, not some political ideology.

Why should voters elect you?

I have the experience to lead the OSA into the 21st century starting on day one! I am going to bring a proactive approach to our reactive system and bring trust, accountability, and transparency back to our government. Minnesotans deserve better! And I am, without question, the best candidate to lead that office.

What are your top three priorities, if elected? Please describe specific goals.

This is a three step process:

1. We will work with all pertinent state agencies to implement a more streamlined reporting systems that will help local governments succeed and expedite audits
2. Then, from those inputs from the local governments, and others, we will leverage cutting-edge technology to detect fraud in real-time
3. Lastly, that data will be fed into a fully interactive OSA website, so data is accessible to everyone. Full transparency, as the law permits.

What changes, if any, do you think need to be made to the state auditor’s office?

The OSA needs to be a proactive agency, not a reactive one. Their technology is significantly outdated, and it needs a leader with the expertise to make that happen. There needs to be someone truly qualified to lead that office, not a figurehead. Further, the office needs a leader that is going to refocus on the mission of protecting taxpayer dollars and communicating with Minnesotans about their findings. Minnesotans deserve transparency and accountability. We will give that to Minnesotans. Lastly, we will remove all doubt as to possible or implied partisan bias by remaining truly independent. We will not engage in hot button political issues that are outside of the purview of the Office of the State Auditor. We have to rebuild the lost trust of Minnesotans. I am the candidate to do that.