Braham mayor Nate George to pursue state auditor office in 2026

Braham mayor Nate George has announced that he will seek the Republican endorsement to run for state auditor in 2026.

In an interview on Thursday, George said his candidacy for the position is similar to how he got involved with politics in the first place — he was asked to.

"Turns out that a lot of people like what progress we've made in Braham, as far as turning the financial situation around and getting more oversight into the budget, and doing better budget planning, making sure that we're accountable for where the people's money is going," George said. "That's really the primary job of the state auditor, is to make sure that all local governments are doing that across the state."

George also said that fiscal responsibility and eliminating fraud are key tenets of the role.

"We need someone in that position who's going to bring integrity back to that office and call out wrongdoing when they see it," he said.

George added that he'll be hitting the ground running in his efforts to secure the endorsement.

"Obviously, the focus right now is going to be on registered Republicans around the state and locally," he said.

Caucusing will take place statewide on Feb. 3, when local political parties will meet to elect delegates to send to the endorsing conventions for Minnesota's congressional districts.

There, they'll vote on who they'd like to see for their respective party's endorsed candidate.

"It's a long road, a long process from here, but it'll happen quickly," George said.

On Thursday morning, incumbent state auditor Julie Blaha announced she won't seek reelection in 2026.

During the campaign cycle, George said his duties and efforts as mayor will continue as normal. His current term expires at the end of 2026.

"It would be a relatively smooth transition into the state role," George explained.

George said that if he doesn't receive the endorsement for state auditor, he'd have the ability to withdraw from the race and run for reelection for another two-year term as Braham mayor.

"If I get the endorsement for state auditor, it'll turn into a full statewide campaign, and go all the way to the end in November," he said.

Braham construction update

George also shared an update about ongoing construction projects in Braham, where there's a lot of new blacktop as of late.

The downtown section of Central Drive has been completed with replaced water infrastructure under the road after work faced some challenges.

"Higher than normal rain amounts kind of delayed the project, and we had an underground oil contamination that wasn't properly dealt with when it occurred several decades ago," George said.

George also said the new water infrastructure will help make sure Braham residents and businesses get quality drinking water going forward. A wastewater treatment plant project is on track to be wrapped up this fall.

County Road 4 was also resurfaced through Braham through a county project done in conjunction with the city's construction efforts.

And more roadwork is on the way: MnDOT recently held an open house at Braham City Hall about a Highway 107 reconstruction project slated for late 2027 or early spring of 2028.

"Just about every street in Braham — the majority of them — will be completely resurfaced or rebuilt over the next four to five years," George said.