Live Updates: Primary Election Day in Northern Minnesota

Almost all local resources are 100% reported, with the exception of Norman County Commissioner District 1.

A handful of precinct results still must trickle in for state level and federal races.

To see the remaining results after they come in, you can check out our full list of Northern Minnesota Primary Election results.

BEMIDJI — With a new map after a redistricting lawsuit, all Beltrami County commissioners are up for election this year, but only the largest district had a primary contest Tuesday.

Incumbent Tim Sumner is a Red Lake Band member and has served on the Board since 2012 and will once again appear on general election ballots after receiving 641 votes in the primary.

Challenger Frank Duresky of Waskish will also advance after receiving 431 votes.

Larissa Donovan

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KAXE

Proposals to return state land around Upper Red Lake to the Red Lake Nation, according to Kelliher City Clerk Shelli Krueth, are a top-of-mind issue to local voters.

“It sounds a simple thing, just giving back some state land, you know, no big deal,” Krueth said.

"However, there's a lot of state land up here, and if we were to lose all of that state land, we lose all of our payment in lieu of taxes. So we're losing a huge tax base.”

Larissa Donovan

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KAXE

The Beltrami County Board has not taken a formal position on the House or Senate bills introduced in the Legislature last session that proposed the land transfer to the Red Lake Nation.

BRAINERD — With 91.04% of the vote, state Rep. Josh Heintzeman easily defeated his Republican challenger Matthew Eric Zinda.

A total of 2,032 votes were cast for Heintzeman, with 200 for Zinda, according to unofficial results.

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Heintzeman, R-Nisswa, has served in the Legislature for a decade. This primary victory was even more resounding than in 2022, when his opponent Doug Kern garnered just over 20% of the vote.

In June, Zinda petitioned for Heintzeman’s removal from the ballot, because he wrote “Republican” instead of the full official name “Republican Party of Minnesota” as his party designation. The Minnesota Supreme Court denied the request last month after early voting was already underway.

In response to the petition, Secretary of State Steve Simon said it’s a longstanding practice to presume major party identification in these cases.

His office analyzed this year’s candidates and found that just two candidates out of 82 Republicans running for office used the full party name. None of the 105 Democratic candidates wrote “Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.”

Heintzeman moves on to face DFL candidate Emily LeClair and independent candidate Troy Scheffler, running with the Americans First Party.

CHISHOLM — Chisholm’s only precinct reported results of the City Council primary.

Like Virginia, seven candidates were vying for three seats. Seraphia Gravelle finished last with 112 votes and will not be on the November ballot.

The three incumbents in the race — Travis Vake, Cheyenne Mikkola-Rahja and Marty Halverson — just barely topped the vote count. Top-finisher Vake received 121 more votes than Mikkola-Rahja in second, but Mikkola-Rahja, Halverson and James Varda were separated by 16 votes.

Audra M. Bailey and Brandon Fiedler weren’t far behind, with 17 votes between Bailey and Varda and 33 between Fiedler and Bailey.

VIRGINIA — All five precincts in Virginia have reported unofficial results for the City Council race.

Ricky Angellar’s 131 votes was the lowest of the seven candidates, meaning he will not appear on the ballot in November.

Annie Bachschneider and Julieanne Paulsen finished top two, with 22.94% and 18.84% of the vote, respectively. Jared Siebert finished third with 15.87%, topping incumbent Steven B. Johnson by 11 votes.

David S. Hansen and Rodney Salo round out the list of candidates vying for three seats in November.

All candidates except Paulsen participated in a forum last week, giving voters a sense of the candidates’ priorities.

LITTLE FALLS — With 4,555 votes tallied in House District 10A, just 35 votes separate Rep. Ron Kresha from his Republican primary opponent Diane Webb-Skillings.

Kresha earned 2,295 votes to Webb-Skillings' 2,260, according to the unofficial results. While the margin is close, it isn’t small enough to trigger a publicly funded recount. For a state legislative race, the margin must be smaller than one-half of 1%. The one separating Kresha and Webb-Skillings is 0.76%.

Webb-Skillings could still pursue a self-funded recount.

BEMIDJI — Three primary contests to fill seats on the Bemidji City Council are now complete with unofficial results posted.

In the mayoral contest, incumbent Jorge Prince garnered 841 votes — nearly three-quarters of the votes cast across the city of Bemidji. Challenger Daniel Jourdain, former at-large member on the council, earned 253 votes. Adam Steele finished last with 66 votes.

With incumbent Ron Johnson no longer residing in Ward 3 after 2022 redistricting, the Ward 3 race was an open contest. Mark Dickinson received 204 votes, Katie Carter received 69 votes, and Greg Kuhn finished last with 27 votes.

Incumbent Ward 5 council member Lynn Eaton earned his place on the ballot this November, earning 126 votes in the Tuesday primary. Challenger Bill Batchelder received 104 votes and Michael Meehlhause finished third with 99 votes.

CROSBY — After 17 years serving as Crow Wing County commissioner, Doug Houge appears to be relinquishing his seat to one of two newcomers at the end of the year.

According to unofficial results, Houge came in third place in a tight three-way race, falling just 45 votes shy of second-place candidate Johnna Johnson, who garnered 664 votes. Jamie Lee topped the field with 674 votes, or 34.44%.

This is the second election in a row with a primary challenge for Houge, who faced off against two other candidates in 2020. That year, the third-place candidate opted to continue as a write-in along Houge’s path to victory.

Outside Crosby City Hall tonight, voter Tim Larsen said the county commissioner race was one of his motivating factors for voting in the primary election, and he said he was looking for a change.

“I’m looking for somebody in the county race who — because we’re in Crosby — is a little bit more progressive-looking, forward-looking, to help build housing and promote tourism and help us accommodate all of the people we have coming now,” Larsen said.

Voter Dominic Craig, 21, said he came out to participate in his first-ever primary election to vote for Lee and Congressman Pete Stauber.

“They’re big family people, and I guess we kind of just share the same core beliefs,” he said.

Three local primary contests for Becker County Board are complete with all precincts reporting.

In District 3’s primary contest with no incumbent, Phil Hansen of Detroit Lakes, Henry “Hank” Ludtke of Frazee and Terry Mackner of Rochert appeared on the ballot.

Hansen garnered 331 votes, earning more than half the votes in the contest. Mackner received more than a third of the vote at 223. Ludtke finished last in this primary with 103 votes, meaning Hansen and Mackner will move on.

District 4 saw a tighter race, with incumbent Richard Vareberg challenged by Jason Bristlin of Audobon and Donald Skarie of Detroit Lakes.

Vareberg secured his place on the ballot this November with 328 votes, as did Skarie with 292 votes. Bristlin finished last in this contest with 164 votes.

In Becker County District 5, incumbent candidate Barry Nelson of Audubon will move ahead to the General Election after receiving 489 votes. Challenger Jack Heisler of Ogema, a White Earth band member and buffalo ranch hand, came in second with 185 votes. Dave Shaw of Lake Park finished third with 99 votes.

It’s a tight race for Judge Bench 6 in the Sixth Judicial District, which covers Carlton, St. Louis, Lake and Cook counties.

Just 518 votes separate the top four candidates, with 43% of precincts reporting.

Five men — Gerald Wallace, John Schulte, Peter Raukar, Shawn Reed and Gunnar Johnson — are running to fill the seat vacated by Judge Dale Harris’ retirement at the end of his term.

It’s uncommon for judicial races to not have an incumbent. Most judges retire midterm, and the governor appoints a judge to fill the seat until the next election.

LITTLE FALLS — With 98.63% of precincts reporting in House District 10A, just 50 votes separate incumbent Rep. Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls, from his GOP challenger, Diane Webb-Skillings.

Kresha has served in the Legislature since 2012 and this year, has faced intense criticism from some who believe the representative is a “RINO” — Republican In Name Only. District 10 state Sen. Nathan Wesenberg has been active on social media in his support of Webb-Skillings and critical of Kresha.

Kresha is the Republican lead on the House Education Finance Committee and serves on Ways and Means.

MOUNTAIN IRON — Voters have selected the four candidates who will appear on the November ballot for Mountain Iron City Council.

Daniel L. Gunderson, Bradley Gustafson, Joe Prebeg Jr. and Edmund “Ed” Roskoski were the top four in the five-candidate race, based on unofficial results tonight. Kristina Hawkins, who received 9.61% of the vote, will not move on.

Gustafson finished first with 214 votes, 30.7% of the vote. Prebeg Jr. was second with 174 votes, 24.96%, with Roskoski’s 148 votes, 21.23%, a close third.

IRONTON — The 50th voter in Ironton walked through the doors of City Hall just after 6:30 p.m.

City Clerk Emma Pratt jokingly told the man he’d won a prize for being lucky Voter No. 50. It’s Pratt’s first time serving as an election judge, having worked as city clerk for about a year.

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KAXE

She and three other judges were on the back end of a full day’s work, starting at 5:45 a.m. Pratt would be the one to drive the results to the Crow Wing County Historic Courthouse once polls closed at 8 p.m.

“I think they’re ready for a change, I do,” Pratt said of voters. “They want their voices heard.”

As for which races her neighbors seemed to be paying attention to, Pratt said the Crow Wing County Board primary race appeared to bring people out to vote. Longtime incumbent Commissioner Doug Houge faces two challengers: Jamie Lee and Johnna Johnson.

“The majority of people who’ve come in — I’ve lived here all my life, and I know those people have lived here all their lives,” she said. “And I think that’s what’s bringing them in here. Because they know them [the candidates].”

In the backroom, a smorgasbord of snacks and entrees, including muffins, soup, spinach dip and shrimp cocktail, filled a table with a slow cooker plugged in nearby.

Chelsey Perkins

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KAXE

A large loaf of homemade bread made by another of the judges was part of the spread, too. She bakes bread every week, she said, and even kneads it by hand for special occasions. This batch, though, was helped along by a bread machine. She would have made her homemade potato salad, too, she said, but it was too hot to work in the kitchen.

“So I just decided to swing by Cub instead.”

Election officials across northern Beltrami County are watching the District 4 commissioner race with incumbent Tim Sumner of Red Lake facing two challengers: John Winnett of Hines and Frank Duresky of Waskish.

The Red Lake voting district reported 139 voters as of 5:30 p.m. The Redby district reported 105 voters just before 6 p.m., with election officials in Kelliher reporting 50 voters as of 6:45 p.m.

Due to small populations, many District 4 townships use mail-in voting.

Question of the Week: What’s your favorite thing to bring to a potluck?

Karen, head election judge for the Red Lake district, highly recommended the salad served to election officials by the 4 Directions staff. This recipe is courtesy of Red Lake Agricultural Department’s Cherilyn Spears and Adele Zephier:

Larissa Donovan

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KAXE

Wild rice blueberry salad

• Red Lake grown lettuce 

• Hand-picked blueberries 

• Cooked wild rice (believed to be from Nett Lake, but unsure) 

• Assorted nuts (walnuts, almonds) 

• Equal parts maple syrup & apple cider vinegar, plus olive oil, salt & pepper for the vinaigrette.  

Adele let me sample the salad and some garden-fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. The perfect snack for 100 miles around the region!

Larissa Donovan

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KAXE

Polls are now closed in Minnesota for the primary election.

Results are expected to roll in throughout the night. Stay tuned for live updates from your KAXE Newsdesk, and more observations from in the field at various polling locations throughout Northern Minnesota.

On a weekend trip to the North Shore — driving to Finland and Grand Marais and then looping back to the Grand Rapids area via Duluth — I counted the election signs posted in yards along the route. Well, less that I counted, and more that I shouted out candidate names as my boyfriend groaned and added another tally.

The signage spanned several offices across Itasca, St. Louis, Lake and Cook counties. Multiple signs for the same candidate at one home were only counted once.

Obviously, signage rates are not necessarily representative of a candidate’s popularity, and the Arrowhead tends to lean left compared to other parts of Northeastern Minnesota. But the count is still interesting to ponder — at least to election nerds like me. (Note: My boyfriend is not an election nerd.)

The following is the result of my observations:

Federal

• Kamala Harris: 3  

• Donald Trump: 17 

• Amy Klobuchar: 13 

• Royce White: 4 

• Jen Schultz: 32 

• Pete Stauber: 5 

• Harry Welty: 11 

State

• Harley Droba: 5 

• Roger Skraba: 1 

• Mark Munger: 11 

• Natalie Zeleznikar: 12 

• Spencer Igo: 1 

• Lorrie Janatopoulos: 3 

• Cal Warwas: 15 

• Gunnar Johnson: 3 

• Peter Raukar: 3 

• Shawn Reed: 8 

• John Schulte: 1 

Note: Candidates for House Districts 8A and 8B in the city of Duluth are not listed.

VIRGINIA — Six of the seven candidates running for three Virginia City Council seats participated in a forum put on by Iron Range Today and the Lyric Center for the Art on Wednesday, Aug. 7.

The top six candidates following the Aug. 13 primary will be on the ballot in November. Vying for the seats are Ricky Angellar, Annie Bachscheider, Dave Hansen, incumbent Steven B. Johnson, incumbent Julieanne Paulson, Rodney Salo and Jared Siebert.

Paulson did not attend and said she had a prior engagement. She was given the opportunity to provide an opening statement and did not.

Questions covered everything from housing and property taxes to the Iron Trail Motors Event Center and the retirement of the city’s steam heat system. Much of the discussion centered on financial challenges facing the city’s fire and ambulance.

Read our story and view the entire forum on YouTube.

McGREGOR — In Aitkin’s Shamrock Township, Clerk Candace Kral said residents will vote in supervisors to an expanded township board after a ballot question to voters last March.

Kral said because the township right outside McGregor is more urban, the special election needed to happen in August.

"Basically, we've got to put more people in charge of the funding. We have an over $1 million budget," she said Monday. "We've got three full-time employees, about 55 miles of roads to maintain."

Townships traditionally have three elected supervisors, with boundaries created in the late 1700s when the U.S. Congress divided the Minnesota territory into 36-square-mile plats.

Three candidates are vying to fill seats D and E on the Shamrock Township Board, with the term in effect until the township’s regular election in March.

Beltrami County’s Port Hope Township also has a special election with only one supervisor candidate on the ballot. In the past, Port Hope’s elections were in March on Township Day, when annual meetings take place. But Township Board President Jim Adams said the Board has a goal to move to a more standardized Election Day.

The city of Grand Rapids has moved a primary election polling location Tuesday, Aug. 13, due to a gas leak at Yanmar Arena.

Precinct 3 voters should instead go to the City Hall Council Chambers at 420 N. Pokegama Ave. to cast their primary ballots.

More information, including a map of Grand Rapids' precincts, here.