Robinson says candidacy boosted minority turnout; will her endorsement benefit Dayton?

Last night, Matt Entenza’s runningmate, former Fox 9 anchor Robyne Robinson, said the campaign got more minorities involved in the process. If true, will the duo’s endorsement of gubernatorial primary victor Mark Dayton today help draw some of these voters to Dayton’s campaign? On the Entenza campaign site, the pair asked supporters to back Dayton in his bid “to defeat Tom Emmer and his radical agenda in November…  The stakes are too high for any of us to stay on the sidelines.”

City Pages’ Erin Carlyle, reporting from Entenza HQ last night, talked with Robinson, who said, “The campaign really awakened the Somali, Hmong, and African-American communities.”

Perhaps today’s DFL unity event will reveal whether Entenza and Robinson will have any future role in Dayton’s campaign. In addition to diverse backers, the Entenza/Robinson team seemed to also make inroads with younger people as well. Last month, both the campaign and Rhymesayers label announced that Slug from Twin Cities hip hop group Atmosphere had endorsed Robinson and Entenza, and that other community artists, including Brother Ali, P.O.S., Heiruspecs, Peter Parker, Desdemona, Maria Isa and St. Paul Slim, would be making voter outreach videos on the campaign’s behalf. The campaign also counted community organizer and Rhymesayers spoken word artist Toki Wright as a member of its “New Legacy Ticket.”