Day one of MN Republican Convention wraps up

(ABC 6 News) – Members of the Minnesota GOP will be endorsing multiple positions ahead of this year’s election in Rochester this weekend.

Three candidates were endorsed on Friday as state auditor, secretary of state and attorney general.

Republicans voted to endorse Ryan Wilson for state auditor and Kim Crockett as secretary of state. As for attorney general, this vote came by surprise as Doug Wardlow dropped out of the endorsement battle and Jim Schultz was endorsed after four rounds of balloting.

Schultz said that in this race against Attorney General Kieth Ellison, they will focus on how Minnesotans are deeply concerned about public safety.

"But that fact is we need an attorney general that gets it done every day of the week and doesn’t point to excuses from anyone. When I’m the attorney general, we’re going to beef up that office and quite frankly we will reallocate resources as needed to ensure that we have adequate criminal attorneys to put people in prison and keep them there," Schultz said.

State Sen. Carla Nelson said she is thrilled to have Republicans back in Rochester, the area that she represents.

"And at the end of the weekend, selecting those candidates that we think will best be able to carry on our vision of limited government, personal responsibility, empowering people, spurring economic growth, and win," Nelson said.

Republicans will endorse a candidate to run against Gov. Tim Walz in the November election on Saturday starting at 9 a.m.

ABC 6 News will be providing full coverage of day two at the Mayo Civic Center.