Otto, Swanson re-elected as auditor, attorney general

State Auditor Rebecca Otto and Attorney General Lori Swanson were re-elected on Tuesday night. The Associated Press called the race for Swanson early in the night, but didn’t project an Otto win until well into Wednesday morning. Swanson took an early lead and stayed above 50 percent throughout the night, while Otto only bested her opponent by a handful of points.

Otto faced a challenge from former Republican State Auditor Pat Anderson, who held the position from 2003 to 2007.

The fact that they have both held the office has become a campaign issue.

Otto said that during Anderson’s term, the office made errors in its accounting, and she claimed that Anderson made errors on her campaign finance reports.

Anderson’s supporters, on the other hand, issued a deluge of government data requests which flooded the auditor’s office this summer.

Lori Swanson, the incumbent DFL Attorney General, faced a challenge by Republican Chris Barden, a psychologist and lawyer.

The race drew little attention, but both traded barbs about each other’s ethics late in the campaign. Swanson said that Barden’s crusade against “repressed memory syndrome” would hamper his ability to handle mental health cases as attorney general.

Barden said that Swanson’s office has been plagued by scandal since she took office.