Candidate Grading & Endorsement Overview
Last Updated: August 10th, 2022
The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus grades candidates for Minnesota’s Constitutional Offices, including Governor. Our connected political fund, the Minnesota Gun Owners Political Action Committee endorses candidates. These organizations share the same leadership and Board of Directors.
We issued surveys to all candidates in the Governor’s race as of June 2022.
Our grades are based on several factors, including a candidate survey that was sent to each candidate, their public record of votes and statements, and grades from like-minded gun rights organizations. All grading recommendations are reviewed and approved by our board.
To receive a grade of A- or higher, a candidate must support all of our legislative priorities, including Stand your Ground and Constitutional Carry, and must oppose all gun control legislation. Our PAC only endorses candidates who receive the grade of A- or higher, support our core legislative priorities of Constitutional Carry and Stand your Ground, and asks for our endorsement in the survey process.
An individual without a track record in legislative office or as a Constitutional officer in Minnesota will be designated with a (P) indicating that their grade is primarily based on their survey results as they do not have a voting record to point at.
2022 Governor Candidate Grades - General Election
|
Name |
Party | Grade | Returned Survey | Legislative Vote Score | Sponsored Gun Control |
|
Scott Jensen |
GOP | ? | Yes | 100% |
Yes |
| Tim Walz | DFL | F | No | N/A |
N/A |
Grading Notes
- We did not receive a survey from Tim Walz. His grade reflects his record as Governor where he has called for multiple gun control measures in Minnesota.
- Scott Jensen served in the Minnesota Senate. Each has a 100% lifetime voting record on Second Amendment legislation. This score does not reflect sponsorship of any legislation.
- As a Senator, Scott Jensen co-authored two gun control bills in 2018, later removing his authorship from one of them. See our full notes below.
Governor's Race: General Election Endorsement
We have chosen to not endorse a candidate for Governor in the 2022 General Election.
As explained below, we endorsed then-candidate Scott Jensen for Minnesota Senate in 2016. He later betrayed his endorsement pledge by supporting two gun control bills, detailed below.
As a Senator, Scott Jensen never voted for a gun control bill. He has voiced nothing but support for the 2nd Amendment in his campaign for Governor.
We stand by our statement at the time of his support of gun control as a Senator that Dr. Jensen is no longer eligible for endorsement by our organization. Voters will have to decide whether or not to trust Dr. Jensen with their Second Amendment rights.
See the Dr. Scott Jensen section below for additional information and a link to our website Scott Jensen on Guns which explains the factual record in great detail with links to source documents, audio clips, and videos.
Read our Press Release announcing that we will not endorse a candidate for 2022 at this link. Read our letter to Dr. Jensen informing him of our endorsement decision at this link.
Dr. Scott Jensen (GOP): ?
Dr. Jensen submitted a survey that reflects complete alignment with the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus positions on pro-gun rights and anti-gun legislation, including Stand Your Ground and Constitutional Carry.
However, Dr. Jensen has a mixed record on the Second Amendment in Minnesota:
- In the 2016 election, he sought the endorsement of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus & PAC by submitting a survey in which he pledged to work with our organization and oppose gun control legislation like Universal Background Checks.
- In 2018, following the tragedy at Parkland, he co-authored and introduced two gun control bills in the Minnesota Senate along with two Senate DFL Leaders.
- At a press conference on March 12th, 2018, Jensen made a number of statements, including:
- “I don’t think I’m going to lose my seat over this issue. But if I do, que sera.”
- “I have a permit to carry. I don’t dare trust myself. I think I probably shoot my foot off, but I do have the ability to do it because I wanted to learn what you have to go through in order to have a permit to carry. “
- “I object to the constitutional carry because I don’t want other states doing an end around. We’ve got good strong standards if you’re going to get a permit to carry. I want to see those preserved.”
- “Absolutely, I may have changed what I wrote on a form two years ago before I’d ever had a public debate. How many shootings have taken place since then? Am I a person that will try to take in the data and feel the rhythm of life around me and let that influence how I view the world? For sure. I don’t think I betrayed anybody.”
- A few days later, Jensen’s bills were lauded by Michael Bloomberg’s Moms Demand Action and Everytown gun control groups.
- Following the introduction of his legislation, he published an op-ed column in the Sun Patriot explaining his gun control legislation and calling for a form of gun violence restraining orders (aka Red Flag Gun Confiscation OrdersS)
- On May 1st, 2018, under pressure from our organization and others, he removed himself from the Universal Background Check Bill, SF 3279, but never removed himself from the other gun control bill.
- Even in 2019, he was photographed with Moms Demand Action activists at the Minnesota State Capitol.
- But later in the 2019 session, he co-authored SF 1262, a Stand Your Ground Bill.
- As a candidate in the 2022 Governor’s Race, Senator Jensen has made strong statements in support of the Second Amendment.
- Now, in 2022, he’s seeking our endorsement again, offering an explanation for his 2018 legislation as a part of his 2022 survey.
We’re appreciative that as a State Senator, Dr. Jensen reversed his position on at least one of the two gun control bills that he filed in 2018, but it’s difficult for us to understand his true position on the Second Amendment given his earlier pledges and surveys and his later actions.
Because of this, we have chosen to award Dr. Jensen a “?” for his race for Minnesota Governor and have created a factual website with details and source documents on Dr. Jensen’s record on the Second Amendment.
We stand by our statement at the time of his support of gun control as a Senator that Dr. Jensen is no longer eligible for endorsement by our organization. Voters will have to decide whether or not to trust Dr. Jensen with their Second Amendment rights.
References
Tim Walz: F
Prior to running for Minnesota Governor in 2018, Tim Walz was a highly-rated pro-Second Amendment legislator with a 100% voting record on gun rights issues. He switched to a strong anti-gun position when he ran for Governor and endorsed Red Flag Gun Confiscation Orders, Universal Gun Registration, magazine restrictions, bans on commonly-owned sporting rifles, and more.
Governor Walz did not return our survey.
We have awarded Governor Walz an “F” for his race for re-election as Minnesota’s Governor.