Mark Dayton picks Yvonne Prettner Solon as running mate

Image via Dayton for Governor

Yvonne Prettner Solon

"I am very proud to introduce the woman I believe will be Minnesota's next Lieutenant Governor," Dayton said this morning. "I am deeply grateful that she is willing to leave the Minnesota Senate, where she has been such an outstanding leader and superb public servant for her constituents in Duluth."

In his announcement, Dayton played up Solon's health care credentials alongside her legislative smarts. A clinical psychologist with three degrees from the University of Minnesota, she has practiced at the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation, the National Alliance for Business, the U.S. Department of Labor, Duluth Public Schools, UMD, the Marty Mann Halfway House for Women, the Range Mental Health Center in Virginia, and now at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth.

Solon was a chief senate author of the Children's Health Security Act, and introduced the Pharmaceutical Pricing Criteria Reporting Act and the Prescription Drug Bulk Purchasing Program. Dayton also commended her work on progressive energy policies.

The DFL's endorsed candidate for governor, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, picked Minnetonka City Manager John Gunyou as her running mate last week. Gunyou was state finance commissioner under former Republican Gov. Arne Carlson.

Matt Entenza, who like Dayton is running in the DFL August primary without his party's backing, says he intends to announce running mate before the end of May -- via Twitter.

On the Republican side, the party's endorsed candidate, Tom Emmer, recently named Annette Meeks as his running mate. A conservative think-tanker, she's also a Pawlenty appointee to the Metropolitan Council, representing north, downtown Minneapolis and south-central Minneapolis.