Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire challenges Carlson endorsement

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Mike Maguire

Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire announced on April 18 he is contesting the DFL endorsement of Jim Carlson.

Maguire filed an official challenge Wednesday with the Minnesota DFL requesting party officials to vacate the March 24 endorsement of Jim Carlson in the new Senate District 51.

Maguire said the party should hold a primary in August to determine who will challenge Sen. Ted Daley, R-Eagan, in the November election.

Carlson, who was unseated in 2010 by Daley, contended with Maguire for the endorsement in a high-profile campaign.

“This endorsement was made under false pretense,” Maguire said in an interview with Sun Thisweek. “There is no evidence it was mischief or voter tampering but some human error was involved.”

Maguire’s challenge follows last week’s discovery by local party officers that some delegate votes were not counted at last month’s DFL convention.

Responding to delegate concerns convention organizers and party officers discovered a series of vote counting errors and failures to report or count votes cast for Maguire in each of the convention’s first three ballots.

The official count in the fourth round of ballots gave Carlson 200 delegate votes, or 60 percent of the ballots. Maguire took 133 delegate votes, or 40 percent.

“It’s an unfortunate circumstance for everyone involved,” Maguire said. “Those errors changed the dynamics of the convention. … We want to ensure the process has integrity.”

When asked whether he believes a primary will tip the votes in his favor, Maguire said: “We believe that we’re the DFL’s strongest candidate to beat Ted Daley and that voters want a new choice. This is an opportunity for them to demonstrate that.”