Hopkins defeats Medure to join Itasca County Board

GRAND RAPIDS — Local businessman Larry Hopkins won the Itasca County District 4 special election Tuesday, April 8, with 56% percent of the vote, according to unofficial results.

He will represent southwestern Grand Rapids and Harris, Blackberry, Splithand, Wildwood and Spang townships on the Itasca County Board.

The previous District 4 commissioner, Burl Ives, died while running for reelection. His posthumous win triggered the special election.

In the February primary, Hopkins finished second of five candidates. He earned fewer votes than former Itasca County Sheriff and Grand Rapids School Board member Pat Medure in five of the seven precincts. But he flipped three of those Tuesday, including the largest, Harris Township.

In a Wednesday interview with KAXE, Hopkins attributed those gains to simply letting more people know there was an election.

“In February, I had a number of people say, 'Oh, I didn't even know there was an election, and so, I think just getting out, and we really, really hammered the fact that there was an election," he said.

"I got some additional signs that has the vote date on them, and all our social media stuff has a vote date on there, and so I think that was probably the difference.”

The 61-year-old owns Hopkins Electric. He previously told KAXE his top priorities are fiscal responsibility, land management, transparency and accountability and balanced growth.

Hopkins said, "having never done this before," he'll start out slow, learning the system and getting to know his fellow commissioners.

"Thank Pat for a good race, and thank everybody ... who helped me so much, and for all the effort people put in. It's very much appreciated," he said.

"Look forward to serving the people of Itasca County and specifically District 4."