Arne Helge Carlson (born September 24, 1934) is an American politician. He served as the 37th governor of Minnesota from January 7, 1991 to January 4, 1999. He had been the state auditor from January 4, 1979 to January 7, 1991 and had served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from January 1971 to January 4, 1979. He served one term on the Minneapolis City Council from 1965 to 1967 and was the Republican candidate for mayor in 1967, losing to Democratic-Farmer-Labor incumbent Arthur Naftalin.

He served in office as an Independent-Republican, but his positions were generally considered moderate and he is remembered as a champion of bipartisanship. In September 2004, he described himself politically as an independent from any political party. From 1965 to 1977, he was married to Barbara Carlson , who went on to also serve on the Minneapolis City Council and run for mayor. She was in the 1990s a radio talk show host on KSTP-AM, owned by Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation. Together, they had a son, Tucker, (no relation to the CNN personality) and two daughters, Christina (dec.) and Anne. Carlson's second wife was Joanne. They had no children. Carlson had a daughter with his third wife, Susan, who served as First Lady of Minnesota.

Recent developments

In a 2004 interview, Carlson announced that he no longer considers himself a Republican because of the Minnesota Republican Party's "move to the extreme right". He now says he is a political independent.