KAXE contacted every candidate twice using contact information submitted to the Secretary of State's Office to invite them to participate in our Election Guide.
Candidate responses have not been edited and are published as submitted.
As necessary, our news team added contextual information clearly marked with an "editor's note" and in italics, though responses have not been uniformly fact-checked. With our small team of three, we are unable to proactively fact check every statement made by candidates. But we will make every effort to make note of inaccuracies if they come to our attention.
Please contact our news team at news@kaxe.org with questions or comments or to report any errors.
KAXE's Election Guide only includes candidates in contested races. Visit our full list of who's running for office in Northern Minnesota to see who else is on the ballot.
District 2
Theresia Gillie
Incumbent: Yes
Age on Election Day: 62
City/Township of residence: Thompson Township
Where are you currently employed, and what is your role?
Kittson County Soybean and Wheat farmer and Kittson County Commissioner District 2
Please share any prior experience that you believe qualifies you for office.
I was elected for County Commissioner in the fall of 2016 and I have been a very active commissioner for the past 8 years. For 40 years I have been a farmer and a landowner in Kittson County. I feel I am a good communicator. I graduated from General Colin Powell’s High Performance Leadership Academy (2022), and Minnesota Ag and Rural Leadership Program (2004). I served as President of the Minnesota Soybean Growers (2016-2017) and held a number of other officer positions and chaired many committees being a commissioner and on the Soybean Board. I continue to be involved in our community. I was a coach for 10 years and I have been a mentor for many young women. I feel I am very dedicated and passionate about our county to keep it a wonderful safe place to live and raise a family. I deal with Policy....Not Politics, so the right things get done for Kittson County.
Please describe the roles and responsibilities of the office you are running for.
It is the job of the County Commissioner to act on behalf of the people of Kittson County. Attending all board meetings and attend other committees on behalf of Kittson County. To be the fiscal eyes on the finances of the county and manage the budget and the departments that provide services for the residents of our county. I also feel it is my responsibility to be the voice for our small rural county not only in our county, but to represent Kittson County on the district, region, state and national levels.
Why are you running for office?
First of all, I love dealing with people and I enjoy figuring out solutions to problems. I feel I am a good communicator and act in the best interest of the county and District 2. I strive to be a voice for Kittson County on the district, region, state and national level. I have been appointed to some committees to represent rural counties. What works for some areas may not work for us. I also want to make sure the Minnesota Revenue doesn’t reconfigure the formula to shift utility, pipeline and rail taxes. These companies pay about 40% of our tax levy and I don’t want those tax dollars to be shifted to our local homeowners, landowners, and our small businesses.
What are your priorities, if elected? Please describe specific policy goals.
My goal is to protect the Minnesota Revenue tax formula to keep the pipeline, utilities, rails, etc paying their share of our tax levy. I plan on continuing to work with Association of Minnesota Counties to be that voice for our County. I will work closely with our state legislators, so MN Revenue can’t make any changes without state legislation. I will be working with our local state legislators (and others that I know) to get some capital infrastructure bonding for the water tanks in Kennedy. It didn’t pass the last legislative session, but I plan on going back with the City of Kennedy for this. I have talked to legislators from around our state to separate the basic infrastructure need bonding from other bonding like football fields and parks, etc. Improvements to our Rural water system with some federal funding would be great. We need to address problems and possible failures to the system. We are so fortunate to have a clean reliable water source right here in Kittson County. It needs updating and hopefully we can offer this valuable service to residents who are not on the system. The City of Kennedy has some sewer issues also, so I will be looking into that with their City Clerk on some state bonding for that also.
Across the region, renters and owners are struggling to afford housing. If elected, what would you do to address the issues of availability and affordability for your constituents?
This is an issue across the State. We need to be active by working with our state and federal legislators to help young families afford housing and get some incentives for people to own their own home. People who own homes are more engaged in their community. It makes every community stronger and healthier when people are invested in a home they own.
What effective policies will you support that will prepare your county now, next year and in the future to improve resiliency against climate change?
We need to prepare a permitting policy as wind turbines and solar are entering our county. We need to have a balance between wind and solar, fossil fuels and growing energy (like renewable diesel) to keep energy affordable for our residents.
High taxation is a concern for many Northern Minnesotans. Please share any specific opinions you hold related to taxation, and how you plan to ensure tax dollars are used efficiently and effectively.
We go through a long budget process every year and address each department budget, line by line, to see where we can trim some costs while still providing the services we need to maintain for our residents. Most of the services we offer are unfunded mandated services and we try to provide these services at the lowest cost to our taxpayers. We need to keep our roads safe for our community and keep our communities safe and we are succeeding this at a reasonable cost.
How do you plan to improve transparency and trust in government?
We livestream our county board meetings. We are fortunate to have our local newspaper attend all of our meetings also, so issues are addressed in public in a timely manner in an open forum. Our minutes are also posted in the newspaper and on our County website.
Waylin Olson
Incumbent: No
KAXE did not receive a response from this candidate.
District 4
Derry Jones
Incumbent: No
KAXE did not receive a response from this candidate.
Leon Olson
Incumbent: Yes
KAXE did not receive a response from this candidate.
Still have questions for the candidates? Contact information for all those who've filed to run for office can be found at candidates.sos.state.mn.us.
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