by Mike Knaak
news@thenewsleaders.com
St. Joseph voters re-elected Rick Schultz as mayor. He gathered 1,825 votes compared with challenger Anne Buckvold’s 1,276 votes. Schultz was first elected mayor in 2010. He was re-elected in 2018 without opposition. Buckvold is a current city council member.
One newcomer will join longtime member Bob Loso for two seats on the City Council. Kelly Beniek received 1,025 votes and Loso received 1,084. Other candidates on the ballot were Mike Osterman, 934; Paul Orvis, 801; Carmie Mick, 739; and incumbent Troy Goracke, 609.
The mayor serves a two-year term and council members are elected for four years.
Seven candidates were on the ballot for four St. Cloud school board seats. Voters returned incumbents Shannon Haws, Monica Segura-Schwartz and Al Dahlgren to the board along with Scott Andreasen.
The results:
Shannon Haws 24,351.
Scott Andreasen, 21,837.
Monica Segura-Schwartz 20,180.
Al Dahlgren 19,219.
Andrea Preppernau 17,658.
Hani Omar-Jacobson 12,953.
Omar Abdullahi Podi 9,795.
School board members serve four-year terms.
Voters re-elected by wide margins two Republicans to the Minnesota Senate and House.
In Senate District 13, Republican Jeff Howe won a second term with 32,623, or 69 percent, of the votes over DFL challenger Michael Willemsen, who finished with 14,326 votes. District 13 wraps around the city of St. Cloud and covers most of eastern Stearns County from Sartell to Paynesville to Lynden Township and Sauk Rapids in Benton County.
Lisa Demuth won a second term in the house with 16,056 votes, or 71 percent, over DFL challenger Katy Westlund, who finished with 6,610 votes. House District 13A runs from St. Joseph west to Paynesville and south to Kimball and Lynden Township.
Legislators two-year terms. After the 2020 and 2026 elections, senators serve four-year terms.
In an uncontested race in Stearns County Commissioner District 2, Joe Perske was re-elected with 98 percent of the votes.
In the presidential race, St. Joseph voters preferred Donald Trump by a 52 percent to 48 percent margin. Trump received 1,724 votes compared with 1,602 for Joe Biden.
Vote totals are unofficial tallies from the Minnesota Secretary of State.
