State House Speaker-designate Kurt Daudt annouced that veteran political operative Ben Golnik will be the executive director of the Republican caucus. That's the top staff job of the newly elected majority caucus.

Golnik stepped down today from the Minnesota Jobs Coalition, a Republican-aligned group of which he was chairman. That group was credited with helping Republicans take back the state House by dumping money into closely contested races. Republicans flipped 11 seats, including 10 in outstate Minnesota, to take a 72-62 majority.

Kevin Magnuson, a co-founder of the Minnesota Jobs Coalition, will replace Golnik as the new chairman of that group.

Golnik has had his own public affairs firm, Golnik Strategies, and has worked at the top of state Republican Party politics for nearly a decade. He was executive director of the Minnesota Republican Party beginning in early 2005. Later, Golnik was regional campaign manager for John McCain's presidential campaign in 2008, and in 2010 he managed the gubernatorial campaign of former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert.