by Dennis Dalman
news@thenewsleaders.com
Three incumbents who represent Sartell handily survived primary challenges in the Aug. 14 primary election.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Plymouth) received 183,692 votes statewide. Her challengers, Democrats Dick Franson, Jack Edward Shepard and Darryl Stanton garnered respectively 6,839 votes, 6,640 votes and 5,157 votes. Those vote totals were considered “unofficial” as of Wednesday morning on the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website.
Franson is a retired Minneapolis appraiser, Shepard is a Burnsville dentist and Stanton is a small business owner in Eden Prairie.
On the primary ballot for Republican challengers to Klubuchar, Kurt Bills, with a vote of 63,423, defeated his challengers David Carlson, with 43,877 votes; and Bob Carney, Jr., with 15,877 votes. Carlson is a Twin Cities businessman, and Carney is an Edina businessman.
Bills, a high school teacher and first-term Minnesota legislator, will face off with Klobuchar in the Nov. 6 general election for the U.S. Senate seat.
U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Stillwater), the incumbent, also defeated her challengers — Stephen Thompson, a computer analyst from Lino Lakes; and Aubrey Immelman, a college professor from Sartell. Vote totals were Bachmann 14,569; Thompson 2,322; and Immelman 1,242.
Bachmann will face off with Twin Cities businessman Jim Graves, who garnered 8,600 votes in the primary, running unopposed on the DFL ticket.
There were two Independent Party candidates challenging each other to run for the U.S. Senate seat. Stephen Williams, a farmer from Austin, garnered 3,071 votes to best Glen R. Anderson Menze, a Starbuck farmer and accountant, who received 2,073 votes.
In Minnesota Senate District 13, incumbent Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Paynesville) defeated challenger Fadumo Yusuf of Fridley. Fischbach garnered 1,484 votes. Yusuf received 160.
Voters will decide between Fischbach and DFL challenger Peggy Boeck in the Nov. 6 election. Boeck, also from Paynesville, received 765 votes, running unopposed in Tuesday’s primary election.
In the two races for Minnesota Supreme Court positions, for the Chief Justice seat, Lorie Skjerven Gildea, with a vote of 14,063, defeated challengers Jill Clark (61,267 votes) and Dan Griffith (85,887 votes). For Associate Justice, Seat 4, David R. Stras, who received 139,265 votes, defeated candidates Alan Nelson (61,938 votes) and Tim Tingelstad (83,990 votes).