McLeod County DFL
Get to know your candidates for office:
MN Auditor
The Office of the State Auditor oversees local government financial activity in Minnesota by performing audits of local government financial statements and by reviewing documents, data, reports, and complaints reported to the Office. The financial information collected from local governments is analyzed and serves as the basis of statutory reports issued by the Office of the State Auditor.
Next Election: 2026
2026 Primary information
Important Dates:
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Statewide Caucus: February 3, 2026
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Statewide Primary: August 11, 2026
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Election: November 3, 2026
Candidate - Zach Filipovich
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As the only accountant in the race, I’m ready to start day one to make sure our local governments —from our smallest rural townships to cities, school boards to soil districts—have the tools, data and support they need to make the best decisions for their own communities.
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Zack is an Accountant from Duluth and running to be our next State Auditor. He is a public finance expert and regional economic development advocate. As an accountant for over a decade, Zack has worked with small businesses, individuals and local governments to help them be more financially sustainable. His work has focused on ensuring dollars are used wisely and that communities, especially those in Greater Minnesota, have the resources they need to thrive. In 2013 he ran and won as the youngest city councilor in Duluth's history. After serving 8 years representing the city At-large, Zack went back to the University of Minnesota Duluth for his MBA.
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He is a former AFSCME member and known for rarely missing a Central Labor Body meeting.
Candidate - Adam Jennings
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https://www.adamforauditor.com/
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My name is Adam Jennings. I’m a dad, a veteran, a small business owner, and the mayor of Tonka Bay. I’m running to be the next Minnesota State Auditor because, at its core, the Auditor’s job is about service and accountability, and that’s been the story of my life.
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I’m a finance guy who stumbled into politics, not the other way around. After 9/11, I joined the National Guard because I wanted to serve. I was supposed to go into artillery, but it turns out I’m color blind, which is not the best trait when you’re supposed to be loading color-coded powder bags. So instead, I was introduced to finance, and that set me on a path I never expected.
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Because the Auditor’s office is about making sure Minnesotans can trust how our tax dollars are spent. It’s about overseeing more than $60 billion in public spending: the budgets that run our schools, our counties, our cities, and our pension funds. It’s about finding fraud, fixing mistakes, and giving local leaders the tools they need to make good decisions.
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At the end of the day, this office isn’t about me. It’s about making sure Minnesota has an Auditor who maintains the integrity of the job, and who carries on the legacy of Democratic leaders like Mark Dayton, Rebecca Otto, and Julie Blaha. The Auditor’s office works best when it’s about good governance, not partisan games. That’s the kind of Auditor I’ll be. Someone who shows up, does the work, serves with integrity, and never forgets that in Minnesota—just like in finance—everybody counts.
Candidate - Ben Shierer
https://www.benforminnesota.com/
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Ben Schierer grew up in Fergus Falls, Minnesota—a community that has always shaped his values and commitment to public service. Fergus Falls is where Ben and his wife, Tessa, are raising their five children, and where together they built two Main Street businesses from the ground up. It’s also where Ben served two terms as mayor, earning reelection as a rural progressive in one of the reddest parts of the state.
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That experience taught him how to bring people together across divides, get results, and prove that small towns can be places of big ideas.
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Now, Ben is running to be Minnesota’s next State Auditor. The Auditor oversees more than $40 billion in local government spending and serves on critical boards that shape the state’s future, from housing and rural finance to pensions and development. Ben knows firsthand how important it is to give local leaders the resources they need to face the challenges and meet the possibilities in their communities, like housing, clean energy development, and tools to drive economic growth and create jobs in small towns and big cities alike. He believes the Auditor’s job is about more than balancing the books—it’s about building strong communities by making sure every tax dollar works as hard as Minnesotans do.
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As State Auditor, Ben will be a watchdog for taxpayers, a partner to local governments, and a leader who knows how to bring people together to get results. For Ben, it’s not about left or right—it’s about making sure Minnesota’s future is strong, fair, and built for everyone.
Candidate - Dan Wolgamott
https://www.house.mn.gov/members/profile/15499
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Dan Wolgamott is a dad, husband, State Representative, and progressive champion running to be your next State Auditor.
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Dan is the only candidate in this race with a proven progressive track record AND a plan to prevent Republicans from using fraud as a weapon to gut programs to help our most vulnerable Minnesotans. As our next state auditor, Dan will stand up for all Minnesotans and push back against Trump’s out of control federal government and the corporations that are preying on our communities.
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Dan knows how to take on the right-wing propaganda machine and win. In his first election to the State House in 2018, he successfully flipped a competitive district by unseating a Republican incumbent. Since then, Dan has helped deliver historic progressive accomplishments, all while maintaining the support of his swing district through years of difficult elections for Democrats. Currently, Dan is the only DFL State Representative to win a Trump district in the state of Minnesota, a true testament to his hard work and record of results.
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Dan has found that his most fulfilling work has been collaborating with local governments, earning public accolades from both the League of Minnesota Cities and the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities. He worked directly with cities, counties, and townships throughout the state of Minnesota to chief-authored over 40 bills concerning local government, ranging from city tax increment financing, local road and bridge replacement cost-share appropriation allocations between counties, cities, and townships, intra-governmental data exchanges, local pipeline building permit requirements, county cost-share payment modifications, local cost-share assistance accounts, and more!