Gov.-Elect Tim Walz Names First 5 Commissioners

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Gov.-elect Tim Walz has named a former speaker of the Minnesota House as his transportation commissioner and is keeping the budget commissioner of outgoing Gov. Mark Dayton.

Walz on Tuesday appointed former House speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher to lead the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The governor-elect also announced that Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Myron Frans will keep his job in the new administration.

Walz also announced three other cabinet appointments. He named Maplewood mayor and former legislator Nora Slawik as chair of the Metropolitan Council. He promoted Alice Roberts-Davis from assistant commissioner to commissioner at the Department of Administration. And he tapped former Obama administration official Jennifer Ho to lead the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.

Cabinet members require confirmation from the Senate, where Republicans hold a one-vote majority.