Mike Ciresi - U.S. Senate Run

U.S. Senate Run

Ciresi ran in the 2000 Senate primary for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), spending several million dollars of his own money on the campaign. Ciresi ran as a self-described progressive moderate, and was endorsed by the Sierra Club and the Minnesota Nurses' Association. Ciresi was handily defeated by Mark Dayton, an heir to the founders of Target Corporation, in the four-way DFL primary. Dayton then came from behind in the polls to defeat first-term incumbent Republican Senator Rod Grams in the general election.

Dayton announced in early 2005 that he would not seek a second term in the 2006 elections. Although Ciresi indicated an interest in the race and registered the domain name ciresiforsenate.com within 48 hours of Dayton's announcement, he announced on February 7 that he would not seek the nomination. He would have faced Hennepin County district attorney Amy Klobuchar and Ford Bell in the DFL primary.

On April 18, 2007, Ciresi announced that he would seek the DFL endorsement for the Senate seat held by Norm Coleman. Other Democrats in the race included author and satirist Al Franken, professor and author Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, and Human Rights Activist Jim Cohen. On March 10, 2008, Ciresi announced his withdrawal from the primary.

See also: Minnesota United States Senate election, 2008

On June 7, 2008, the Minnesota DFL endorsed Franken. Ciresi was widely reported on June 11 as saying he was "leaving all options on the table" when questioned about a possible primary run against Franken . But Ciresi eventually dropped out of the race without challenging Franken in the primary.