Day One: Three Contested Primaries

The filing period for public service began today, and so far, there are three confirmed contested primaries, all of them between DFLers.

07B, Duluth, has been served by retiring DFL state representative Mike Jaros for about 2 million years. DFLers in that city have a lock on the seat, so it is no surprise that Jaros’ retirement sent locals scrambling. Aaron at MNBrown has and will continue to provide excellent coverage as the dozen or so contenders file for office, but so far, Roger Reinert and Marshall Sternersen are the only two official filers. Reinert is the president of the Duluth City Council, while Sernersen is a labor leader, party chair, and a fellow at the Center for the Study of the presidency. This race is hot and we’ll be watching.

27A, Albert Lea, is currently served by first term incumbent Robin Brown who took some grief (and earned some praise) in local press for her vote in favor of roads and transportation funding. Neither she nor her challenger, William Wagner, has campaign websites, so I have requested some comments from the candidates. Check back for an update.

37B, Apple Valley & Rosemount, has been a featured race here at MN Blue. The DFL endorsee, Phillip Sterner, is facing off against Dr. Kurt Walter-Hansen (I’d link to his website if I could find it), whom he had defeated for the endorsement among delegates at the convention. Dr. Walter-Hansen is a veterinarian and ran for mayor of Rosemount in 2006 after enjoying considerable media attention as the “victim” of a City of Rosemount eminent domain ruling. There was some confusion during the endorsement race on this issue.

Sterner, who sat on the board which decided the eminent domain issue, actually voted against the use of eminent domain and tried to work behind the scenes to find a better resolution for Dr. Walter-Hansen’s property. Walter-Hansen also was a 2006 candidate for mayor of Rosemount, which he lost by only a handful of votes out of 850 or so cast. I reached the Sterner campaign for comment, and they expressed disappointment and frustration as they had hoped to continue to work for Dr. Walter-Hansen to further the interests of the community. The Sterner campaign conceded that it needed to shift focus somewhat in light of Dr. Walter-Hansen’s filing today, but they remain as focused as possible on defeating the dangerous extremist Judy Lindsay in the general election.