Editing Rudy Perpich (section)

==Gubernatorial campaigns==
Most of the statewide [[Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party|DFL Party]] ticket was defeated in [[1978 Minnesota gubernatorial election|1978]]; the defeated candidates included Perpich, the candidates for both [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] seats, and Auditor Robert Mattson. Anderson's arrangement to have himself appointed to the Senate and Perpich's role in that appointment were deemed major factors in those defeats.

Perpich worked at [[Control Data Corporation]] in New York and [[Austria]] for several years. In [[1982 Minnesota gubernatorial election|1982]], he challenged the DFL Party's endorsed candidate for governor, [[Warren Spannaus]], in the primary election, and won. He then defeated Independent-Republican nominee [[Wheelock Whitney, Jr.|Wheelock Whitney]] in the general election. Upon his victory, he became the state's first [[Roman Catholic]] governor. As of 2025, he remains the only Catholic elected governor of Minnesota. Perpich served as the Chairman of the [[Midwestern Governors Association]] in 1984.

Perpich was reelected in 1986, but lost to [[Arne H. Carlson|Arne Carlson]] in 1990, a bizarre campaign in which Carlson replaced the [[Republican Party of Minnesota|Independent-Republican Party's]] candidate [[Jon Grunseth]], who had beaten Carlson in the [[Partisan primary|primary]]. (After Carlson's surprise primary defeat, a bipartisan, grassroots group, Minnesotans for the WRITE Choice, launched a noisy, media-intensive campaign urging Carlson to re-challenge Grunseth.) Grunseth was forced to withdraw amid allegations of a [[sex scandal]] just two weeks before the election. Perpich was Minnesota's last DFL governor until [[Mark Dayton]] took office in 2011.