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These are the contested races in Northern Minnesota

Contributed
/
Lorie Shaull

The first of two candidate filing periods in Minnesota closed Tuesday, June 4.

Candidates could file for federal, state and county offices, along with city and school board races in which a primary is possible.

Primary election day is Aug. 13. Early voting begins June 28 and ends Aug. 12. In partisan races, more than one candidate per party triggers a primary. In nonpartisan races, the number of candidates must be more than double the number of seats for a primary to occur; the primary will narrow the number of candidates to two per seat.

Filings for municipalities and school districts without primaries open July 30.

The following is a list of candidates running in contested races in Northern Minnesota compiled by KAXE News, per the Secretary of State's 2024 candidate filings database.

Not sure which districts you're in? Visit the Minnesota Legislature's Who Represents Me? tool or your local county elections office.

Don't see an office you know is up for election? It may be uncontested. Check out our full list of candidate filings.

Report an error or omission by emailing news@kaxe.org.

Note: An asterisk (*) denotes races appearing on primary ballots in August.

Table of Contents

Federal and State

U.S. Senator

7th Congressional District

8th Congressional District

House District 1A

House District 1B

House District 2A

House District 2B

House District 3A

House District 3B

House District 4B

House District 5A

House District 5B

House District 6A

House District 6B

House District 7A

House District 7B

House District 10A

House District 11A

6th Judicial District

Counties

Becker County

Beltrami County

Carlton County

Cass County

Clearwater County

Cook County

Crow Wing County

Itasca County

Kittson County

Mahnomen County

Norman County

St. Louis County

Wadena County

Cities

Bemidji

Brainerd

Buhl

Chisholm

Ely

Eveleth

Hibbing

Mountain Iron

Two Harbors

Virginia

School Boards

Red Lake

Federal offices

U.S. Senator

  • Democrat*: Steve Carlson, Ahmad R. Hassan, George H. Kalberer, Amy Klobuchar (incumbent, party endorsed), Ole Savior
  • Republican*: John Berman, Loner Blue, Joe Fraser, Alycia R. Gruenhager, Patrick D. Munro, Raymond D. Petersen, Christopher Seymore Sr., Royce White (party endorsed)

7th Congressional District

  • Democrat: AJ "John" Peters (party endorsed)
  • Republican*: Steve Boyd, Michelle Fischbach (incumbent)

8th Congressional District

  • Democrat*: John Munter, Jen Schultz (party endorsed)
  • Republican*: Pete Stauber (incumbent, party endorsed), Harry R. Welty

State offices

House District 1A

  • Democrat: James Sceville (party endorsed)
  • Republican: John Burkel (incumbent, party endorsed)

House District 1B

  • Democrat: Mike Christopherson (party endorsed)
  • Republican: Steve Gander (party endorsed)

House District 2A

  • Democrat: Reed Olson (party endorsed)
  • Republican: Bidal Duran Jr. (party endorsed)

House District 2B

  • Democrat: Michael Reyes (party endorsed)
  • Republican: Matt Bliss (incumbent, party endorsed)

House District 3A

  • Democrat: Harley Droba (party endorsed)
  • Independent: Rich Tru (Forward Party)
  • Republican: Roger J. Skraba (incumbent, party endorsed)

House District 3B

  • Democrat: Mark Munger
  • Republican: Natalie Zeleznikar (incumbent)

House District 4B

  • Democrat: Thaddeus Laugisch (party endorsed)
  • Republican: Jim Joy (incumbent, party endorsed)

House District 5A

  • Democrat: Brian Hobson (party endorsed)
  • Republican: Krista Knudsen (incumbent, party endorsed)

House District 5B

  • Democrat: Gregg Hendrickson
  • Republican: Mike Wiener (incumbent)

House District 6A

  • Democrat: Earl Butenhoff (party endorsed)
  • Republican: Ben Davis (incumbent, party endorsed)

House District 6B

  • Democrat: Emily LeClaire (party endorsed)
  • Independent: Troy Kenneth Scheffler (Americans First)
  • Republican*: Josh Heintzeman (incumbent), Matthew Eric Zinda

House District 7A

  • Democrat: Aron Schnaser (party endorsed)
  • Republican: Spencer Igo (incumbent, party endorsed)

House District 7B

  • Democrat: Lorrie Janatopoulos
  • Republican*: Matt Matasich, Cal Warwas (party endorsed)

House District 10A

  • Democrat: Julie Samsal Hipp (party endorsed)
  • Republican*: Ron Kresha (incumbent), Diane Webb-Skillings

House District 11A

  • Democrat: Pete Radosevich (party endorsed)
  • Republican: Jeff Dotseth (incumbent, party endorsed)

6th Judicial District

  • Judge Bench 6*: Gunnar B. Johnson, Peter Raukar, Shawn Reed, John B. Schulte, Gerald Wallace
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County offices

Becker County

  • Commissioner District 3*: Phil Hansen, Henry "Hank" Ludtke, Terry L. Mackner
  • Commissioner District 4*: Jason Dale Bristlin, Donald Skarie, Richard Vareberg (incumbent)
  • Commissioner District 5*: Jack Heisler, Barry Nelson (incumbent), Dave E. Shaw

Beltrami County

  • Commissioner District 2: Adam J. Bommersbach, Joe Gould (incumbent)
  • Commissioner District 3: Kari Howe, Scott Winger
  • Commissioner District 4*: Frank Duresky, Tim Sumner (incumbent), John Wilson Winnett

Carlton County

  • Commissioner District 1: Caleb Dunlap, Sarah Plante Buhs
  • Commissioner District 5*: Neil Dickenson, Alex French, John Peura, Dan Reed, Jason Syrett, Chad Walsh
  • Soil and Water Conservation District 1: Michelle Boyechko, Barbara M. Dahl (incumbent)
  • Soil and Water Conservation District 5: Bruce Heikes (incumbent), Roger Hurd

Cass County

  • Commissioner District 3*: Karen Goodenough, Rusty Lilyquist, Jim Qualley

Clearwater County

  • Commissioner District 2*: Adam Broden, Carl McCollum, James O'Bryan, Bryan Ramsrud, Greg Scherzer
  • Commissioner District 4*: Bruce Emmel, Corey Petterson, Juleigh Prosser

Cook County

  • Commissioner District 2: Garry Gamble, Jan Sivertson
  • Commissioner District 4: Ann Sullivan (incumbent), Arvis Thompson

Crow Wing County

  • Commissioner District 5*: Doug Houge (incumbent), Johnna Johnson, Jamie Lee

Itasca County

  • Commissioner District 4: Burl Ives (incumbent), Brian Oftelie

Kittson County

  • Commissioner District 2*: Paul Dziengel, Theresia Gillie (incumbent), Waylin Olson
  • Commissioner District 4*: Allison Frislie, Derry Jones, Corrine "Missy" Karboviak, Leon Olson (incumbent)

Mahnomen County

  • Commissioner District 5: John M. Darco (incumbent), Charlie Pazdernik

Norman County

  • Commissioner District 1*: Randal Gorder, Sarah Green, Timothy Oistad
  • Commissioner District 5*: Darren Andersen, Gregory Crader, Nicole Nogowski, John Rosenberger

St. Louis County

  • Commissioner District 3: Ashley Grimm (incumbent), Janet Kennedy

Wadena County

  • Commissioner District 2: Michael Weyer (incumbent), Bryan Winkels

City offices

Bemidji

  • Mayor*: Daniel Jourdain, Jorge Prince (incumbent), Adam Steele
  • Council Ward 1: Gwenia Fiskevold Gould (incumbent), Ron Johnson
  • Council Ward 3*: Katie Carter, Mark Dickinson, Greg Kuhn
  • Council Ward 5*: Bill Batchelder, Lynn Eaton (incumbent), Michael Meehlhause

Brainerd

  • Council At-Large (elect two): Mike O'Day (incumbent), Kevin H. Stunek, Shirley Yeager
  • Council Ward 1: Tad A. Erickson, Kara Terry (incumbent)
  • Council Ward 3: Jeff Czeczok, Tiffany Stenglein (incumbent)

Buhl

  • Mayor: Jim Matthews, Shari Swanson
  • Council (elect two): Renee Loeffler (incumbent), Taunya Teska-Erickson, Susan Trunk, Linda Woods Pulford

Chisholm

  • Council (elect three)*: Audry M. Bailey, Brandan Fiedler, Seraphia Gravelle, Marty Halverson (incumbent), Cheyenne Mikkola-Rahja (incumbent), Travis Vake (incumbent), James Varda

Ely

  • Council (elect three): Jerome J. Debeltz (incumbent), Paul Kess (incumbent), John Lahtonen, Frederica Musgrave, Emily Roose

Eveleth

  • Mayor: Larry Bol, Robert Vlaisavljevich (incumbent)
  • Council (elect two): Aaron Johnson, Joseph S. Koivunen (incumbent), Brian Lillis (incumbent), Anna Tomczak

Hibbing

  • Council Ward 3: Jennifer Hoffman Saccoman (incumbent), John Packa

Mountain Iron

  • Mayor: Peggy C. Anderson (incumbent), Paul Jacobsen
  • Council (elect two)*: Daniel L. Gunderson, Bradley Gustafson, Kristina Hawkins, Joe Prebeg Jr. (incumbent), Edmund "Ed" Roskoski (incumbent)

Two Harbors

  • Council Ward 4: Laura Osbakken Goutermont, Todd Redmann

Virginia

  • Council (elect three)*: Ricky Angellar, Annie Bachschneider, David S. Hansen, Steven B. Johnson (incumbent), Julieanne Paulsen (incumbent), Rodney Salo, Jared Siebert

School Boards

Red Lake School Board

  • At-Large (elect three): Michael W. Barrett Sr. (incumbent), Douglas G. Desjarlait (incumbent), Bryan L. Lussier Jr., Robert McClain