Matthew "Matt" Keating Entenza (born October 4, 1961) is a

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

lawyer and former politician who served six terms in the

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the U.S. state of Minnesota's Minnesota Legislature, legislature. It operates in conjunction with the Minnesota Senate, the state's upper chamber, to write and pass legislation, whic ...

. He served as House Minority Leader from 2003 to 2006. After leaving the legislature, he was an unsuccessful candidate for various statewide offices, including

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

, and most recently

state auditor State auditors (also known as state comptrollers, state controllers, or state examiners, among others) are fiscal officers lodged in the executive or legislative branches of U.S. state governments who serve as external auditors, program eval ...

Background

Entenza was born in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. He studied at Augustana College in South Dakota before transferring to

Macalester College Macalester College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate institution with an enrollment of 2,142 students in the fall of 2023. The college ha ...

. After graduating, Entenza studied law at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

and taught

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

. After returning to Minnesota, he received his J.D. with honors from the

University of Minnesota Law School The University of Minnesota Law School is the law school of the University of Minnesota, a public university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school confers four law degrees: a Juris Doctor (J.D.), a Master of Laws (LL.M.), a Master of Science in Pa ...

Service in the Minnesota House of Representatives

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, Entenza was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives from District 64A in 1994. The district includes portions of the city of

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

in Ramsey County. He served on the K-12 Finance, Education Policy, and Commerce committees.

2006 Minnesota Attorney General race

In 2006, Entenza resigned as House Minority Leader to focus on a campaign for Minnesota Attorney General. He withdrew from that race on July 18, 2006. Critics had raised concerns of a conflict of interest due to Entenza's wife's high ranking executive position at

UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American Multinational corporation, multinational for-profit company specializing in health insurance and health care services based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Selling insurance products under UnitedHealth ...

. Entenza's political campaign committee was also fined $28,000 by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board on August 15, 2006, for exceeding the legal amount for contributions.

2010 gubernatorial campaign

Entenza sought the office of governor in 2010. He first announced that he would seek the Minnesota DFL's endorsement for the 2010 Minnesota gubernatorial race, later dropping out of the endorsement process and running a primary campaign without the DFL endorsement. Before removing himself from the official endorsement process, he was endorsed by Minnesota Congressman

Keith Ellison Keith Maurice Ellison (born August 4, 1963) is an American politician and lawyer serving since 2019 as the 30th attorney general of Minnesota. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Ellison was the U.S. representative for fr ...

in May 2009 and Minnesota Stonewall DFL in December 2009. On May 27, 2010, he announced television broadcaster Robyne Robinson as his lieutenant governor running mate. Entenza was not endorsed by the state party, and elected to participate in the primary election, in which he finished third, after

Mark Dayton Mark Brandt Dayton (born January 26, 1947) is an American politician who served as the List of governors of Minnesota, 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He served as a United States Senate, United States Senator representing Minneso ...

and

Margaret Anderson Kelliher Margaret Anderson Kelliher (born March 11, 1968) is an American politician, City Operations Officer for the City of Minneapolis, former Director of the Minneapolis Department of Public Works, former Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Tra ...

2014 Minnesota State Auditor race

In the 2014 election, Entenza ran for

Minnesota State Auditor The state auditor of Minnesota is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Nineteen individuals have held the office of state auditor since statehood. The incumbent is Julie Blaha, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor ...

against the DFL-endorsed incumbent,

Rebecca Otto Rebecca Otto (born July 9, 1963) is an American politician who served as State Auditor of Minnesota from 2007 to 2019. Affiliated with the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), she served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 20 ...

. He bypassed public financing, which allowed him to exceed state spending limits. Despite spending more than $675,000 of his personal money on the race, Entenza received only 19% of the votes cast in the primary contest on August 12.

Personal life

Entenza has three adult sons and is divorced from their mother, Lois Quam. He has since remarried, to Minnesota-native Jean Fox Entenza. Entenza is a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

References

External links

Entenza Robinson for Minnesota
''official campaign site'' *
Voting record (2005-2006)
at

Minnesota Public Radio Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, KNOW-FM, News & Information, KSJN, YourClassical MPR and KCMP, The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper ...

Votetracker {{DEFAULTSORT:Entenza, Matt 1961 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Politicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota Politicians from Santa Monica, California University of Minnesota Law School alumni Macalester College alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Lutherans from Minnesota 21st-century members of the Minnesota Legislature