Pathway to the Governor’s Mansion in Minnesota, Part III: Ethnic Heritage

Or, the end of Scandinavian dominance

(Previous installments of Smart Politics’ ‘Pathway to the Governor’s Mansion’ series include reports on the political experience and geographic background of successful gubernatorial candidates in Minnesota history).

The elections of the last two governors in the Gopher State have sent important, but different messages to the nation, with the common headline being that Minnesota politics is unpredictable and does not always follow the national trend.

The election (that few predicted) of a former professional wrestler and actor in 1998 (and a former satirist and actor for Senate in 2008) have lead some commentators to dismiss the state’s political outcomes with the line, “Only in Minnesota.”

Moreover, the (re)election of a Republican Governor in a light blue state during a deep blue Democratic tsunami in the 2006 midterms also signaled to the nation that Minnesotans speak with a voice of their own.

But the election of Jesse Ventura and Tim Pawlenty to St. Paul has also sent another message – to Minnesotans themselves. And that is a signaling that ethnic background is much less of an important variable in who governs the Gopher State.

Prior to the election of Ventura, 17 of the previous 18 Minnesota governors dating back to 1915 were either of full or partial Scandinavian ancestry.

In fact, other than Rudy Perpich (of Croatian descent) the only other governor who was not full-blooded Scandinavian during this span was the state’s 25th Governor, Harold Stassen. Stassen was part Norwegian, German, and Czech.

Overall, of the 38 men who have served as Governor, 20 have a full-blooded Scandinavian ethnic background.

But while Norwegians may have the highest national and statewide profile of all the European settlers of the Gopher State (a profile enhanced nationally by the Minnesota Vikings and regionally by Lena and Ole jokes), the Swedes have actually had the most success in gubernatorial elections.

There have been nine governors of Swedish descent in Minnesota history, with all but one elected to office in the 20th Century – beginning with the state’s 14th Governor, John Lind in 1898, and ending with Arne Carlson, who was first elected in 1990.

In between, seven other Swedish-Americans were elected governor: John Johnson, Adolph Eberhart, J.A.A. Burnquist, Luther Youngdahl, C. Elmer Anderson, Harold LeVander, and Wendell Anderson.

There have been seven Minnesota governors of Norwegian descent. The first Norwegian (and Scandinavian) Governor of the Gopher State was Knute Nelson, the 12th Governor of Minnesota who was elected in 1892.

It took 28 years before another Norwegian was elected – J.A.O. Preus in 1920. Over the next forty years another four governors of Norwegian descent were elected: Theodore Christianson in 1924, Elmer Benson in 1936, Edward Thye in 1944, and Karl Rolvaag in 1962. The last Norwegian to be elected Governor of the Gopher State was Al Quie in 1978.

Another three governors of Minnesota were of both Swedish and Norwegian descent: Floyd Olson (elected in 1930), Orville Freeman (1954), and Elmer Andersen (1960).

The only other ethnicity that has been represented in the Governor’s mansion by more than one governor is English.

In the state’s early years, as immigrants from Scandinavia were beginning to settle the land, five of Minnesota’s first eight governors were of English descent: Henry Sibley, Henry Swift (who was not elected), Horace Austin, Cushman Davis, and John Pillsbury. The last governor of pure English descent was the 18th Governor, Winfield Hammond, who was elected in 1914 (and died in 1915).

Minnesota Governors by Ethnic Heritage

Heritage	Number	Percent
Swedish	9	23.7
Norwegian	7	18.4
Other mix	7	18.4
English*	6	15.8
Norwegian-Swedish	3	7.9
Croatian	1	2.6
Dutch	1	2.6
German	1	2.6
Slovak	1	2.6
Welsh	1	2.6
Danish**	1	2.6

* One Governor of English heritage was never elected to the office: Lieutenant Governor Henry Smith became governor when Alexander Ramsey resigned to take a seat in the U.S. Senate. ** The one Danish Governor of Minnesota was never elected to the office: Lieutenant Governor Hjalmar Petersen became governor upon the death of Governor Floyd Olson. Source: Minnesota Historical Society.

While no racial minority has been ever elected to the Governor’s mansion in the Gopher State, recent years have reflected greater diversity in terms of European ethnic background. Each of the last five governors have a different ethnic heritage: Rudy Perpich is Croatian, Al Quie is Norwegian, Arne Carlson is Swedish, Jesse Ventura is Slovakian, and Tim Pawlenty is Polish and German.

In addition to the three governors of Norwegian-Swedish ethnic backgrounds mentioned above, Pawlenty joins a list of six other governors who had a background of more than one ethnicity – Alexander Ramsey (Scottish and German), William Marshall (Scottish and Irish), Lucius Hubbard (English and Dutch), Andrew McGill (Irish and English), William Merriam (Scottish and French), and Harold Stassen (Norwegian, German, and Czech).

List of Minnesota Governors by Ethnic Background

#	Governor	Years	Ethnicity
39	Tim Pawlenty	2003-present	Polish, German
38	Jesse Ventura	1999-2003	Slovak
37	Arne Carlson	1991-1999	Swedish
35	Al Quie	1979-1983	Norwegian
34, 36	Rudy Perpich	1976-1979, 1983-1991	Croatian
33	Wendell Anderson	1971-1976	Swedish
32	Harold LeVander	1967-1971	Swedish
31	Kark Rolvaag	1963-1967	Norwegian
30	Elmer Andersen	1961-1963	Norwegian, Swedish
29	Orville Freeman	1955-1961	Norwegian, Swedish
28	C. Elmer Anderson	1951-1955	Swedish
27	Luther Youngdahl	1947-1951	Swedish
26	Edward Thye	1943-1947	Norwegian
25	Harold Stassen	1939-1943	Norwegian, German, Czech
24	Elmer Benson	1937-1939	Norwegian
23	Hjalmar Petersen	1936-1937	Danish
22	Floyd Olson	1931-1936	Norwegian, Swedish
21	Theodore Christianson	1925-1931	Norwegian
20	J.A.O. Preus	1921-1925	Norwegian
19	J.A.A. Burnquist	1915-1921	Swedish
18	Winfield Hammond	1915-1915	English
17	Adolph Eberhart	1909-1915	Swedish
16	John Johnson	1905-1909	Swedish
15	Samuel Van Sant	1901-1905	Dutch
14	John Lind	1899-1901	Swedish
13	David Clough	1895-1899	Welsh
12	Knute Nelson	1893-1895	Norwegian
11	William Merriam	1889-1893	Scots, French
10	Andrew McGill	1887-1889	Irish, English
9	Lucius Hubbard	1882-1887	English, Dutch
8	John Pillsbury	1876-1882	English
7	Cushman Davis	1874-1876	English
6	Horace Austin	1870-1874	English
5	William Marshall	1866-1870	Scotch-Irish
4	Stephen Miller	1864-1866	German
3	Henry Swift	1863-1864	English
2	Alexander Ramsey	1860-1863	Scots, German
1	Henry Sibley	1858-1860	English

Source: Minnesota Historical Society.

The diminishing importance of ethnic background in gubernatorial elections today can be seen by the fact that very few of the crop of 2010 candidates even mention their ethnic heritage on their campaign websites.

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