Two St. Cloud Council Races, Legislative Primaries On Tuesday’s Ballot

(KNSI) – Voters across Central Minnesota will narrow the field in a handful of contested local races Tuesday for Minnesota’s primary election.

Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. In partisan races, voters must stay within a single party. Choosing candidates from more than one party will void that portion of the ballot. That rule does not apply to nonpartisan races such as city council and county commissioner, where all candidates appear together regardless of party and the top two vote-getters advance.

Two St. Cloud City Council seats are on the primary ballot. In Ward 1, incumbent Dave Masters, who has served on the council since 2007, faces Charlie Hobbs and Dreyton Nichols. Ward 4 is an open seat after Council President Mike Conway opted not to seek reelection, instead running for the House seat in District 14A. That race drew the largest field in the city, with Amaan Abdi, Joe Baratta, Craig Heurung, and Zak X running. The top two finishers in each ward move on to November.

The other two city wards will not appear on the primary ballot. Ward 3 incumbent Hudda Ibrahim and challenger Luke Christian go straight to the general election, and Ward 2 incumbent Karen Larson is unopposed.

Under the city’s shift to odd-year elections, council members elected this year will serve three-year terms.

In Sherburne County, three candidates are competing for the District 3 commissioner seat, which covers the Becker area. Incumbent Gregg Felber is seeking a second term against Mark Swanson, who lost to Felber by 50 votes in 2022, and Matt Bischoff. Two will advance.

Minnesota House District 14A is contested on both sides. The seat is open because Republican Representative Bernie Perryman is not seeking reelection, choosing instead to run for the Senate seat in District 14. Conway and John Jose will square off in one primary, while DFLers Abdi Daisane and Paul R. F. Schumacher meet in the other. The winners advance to November. District 14A takes includes St. Augusta and parts of St. Cloud, Waite Park, and St. Joseph.

Senate District 13 also has a Republican primary, with Aaron Brutger and Jared Gapinski competing for the open seat Senator Jeff Howe is leaving after two terms. The winner faces DFLer Trent Dilks in the fall. The district includes Sartell, Albany, Cold Spring, Avon, Holdingford, and part of Sauk Rapids.

Statewide, both parties are also choosing nominees for governor and for an open U.S. Senate seat, races expected to drive turnout up and down the ballot.

Early voting has already set a record for a non-presidential primary year. The Secretary of State’s office reported Monday that election officials had accepted 206,196 absentee and mail ballots statewide, with 99,053 returned by mail and 107,143 cast in person.

That tops the 155,097 early ballots accepted in 2022, the last non-presidential primary. The 2020 primary drew 543,665 early voters, though that came in a presidential year at the height of the pandemic.

Voters unsure of their polling place or what appears on their ballot can enter an address at pollfinder.sos.mn.gov. Minnesotans who are not registered can register at the polls on Election Day with proof of residence. Registered voters do not need to bring identification.

The general election is November 3rd. See your ballot by clicking here.

___