As the campaign for the US 8th District Congressional seat wound down, Congressman James Oberstar told reporters that he would win “by double digits.” His challenger, Chip Cravaack, got busy visiting 36 towns in the last 96 hours of the race. Here Cravaack, who upset Oberstar in the 2010 General Election, meets with a group of Cook County citizens Friday, Oct. 29 in Schroeder at Taconite Harbor Safe Harbor. It was dark, it was cold, but it didn’t deter Cravaack from campaigning. (L-R) Dan Sommerdorf, Michelle Cummins, Chip Cravaack, Mark Breitsprecher, Jane Howard, Mary Petz, Marion McKeever, Ben Petz, Judy Gregg and Rae Piepho.
The Cook County courthouse, normally quiet after dark, was a hub of activity on Tuesday, November 2 as the deadline for voting in the 2010 General Election neared. Election judges were scattered in various rooms at the courthouse and had already begun the count of the mailed-in ballots. County staffers frantically registered last minute voters as 8:00 p.m. neared. By 8:36 p.m. the first precinct—Grand Marais East was finished and shortly after, election results began appearing on the Cook County website. The ballot counting was finished by 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 3. Complete results of the county election races can be seen below and on page A7, although results are not considered final until after the board of canvass on Nov. 5 at 9:00 a.m. in the commissioner’s room.
Grand Marais mayor race very close
One of the first local political contests announced was the Grand Marais mayoral race, which was extremely close and raised an immediate question. Mayoral candidate Mark Sandbo received 308 votes. There were 326 write-in votes. Where all the write-in votes for Larry “Bear” Carlson? Aimee Luick of the Cook County Auditor’s office confirmed that those votes were indeed for announced write-in candidate Larry “Bear” Carlson, so Carlson won the mayoral seat.
The three candidates running for the two city council seats were also fairly close, with Bob Spry garnering the highest number of votes, 357. Incumbent Bill Lenz was only two votes behind with 355. Spry and Lenz will fill the city council seats, defeating Dave Palmer, who earned 332 votes.
School District 166 referendum passes
One of the big campaign issues this year was the School District 166 “Sustaining Excellence” ballot question. The ballot asked, “Shall the increase in the revenue proposed by the board of Independent School District 166 be approved? Despite being told on the ballot that a “yes” vote was a vote for a property tax increase, the voting public chose to support a school district operating levy referendum with a total of 1,487 yes votes over 1,336 no votes.
The day after the election, our news partners, MPR Minnesota Public Radio, reported that of the 77 districts across Minnesota that were seeking operating funds, 43 won at least partial approval of those funds. School district officials like those at ISD 166 argued that flat state funding hadn’t kept pace with increases in costs for things like salaries and health care, so higher property taxes would supplement what was missing from the state.
For School District 166 school board, District 1 was the only race with two candidates still in the running, Deb White of Hovland and Andrew Warren of Colvill. White defeated Warren, so she is the new District 1 school board representative. District 3 candidate Mary Sanders did not have an opponent and she was re-elected. In District 5, Jeanne Anderson was elected with 328 votes. Her opponent, Michael O’Phelan, withdrew from the race but not in time to have his name taken off the ballot. Although he had dropped out, O’Phelan received 217 votes.
Incumbents and Hakes take county board seats
Two incumbent county commissioners retained their seats—Jan Hall defeated Bill Hennessy in District 1 and Bruce Martinson defeated Diane Parker in District 5. District 3 County Commissioner Bob Fenwick was eliminated in the August Primary Election and that race pitted Grand Marais Mayor Sue Hakes against local stonemason Lloyd Speck. Hakes won the seat and will now serve as the District 3 county commissioner.
In other county elections—for Soil & Water Conservation District, Hospital Board, and for Auditor-Treasurer, Sheriff, Recorder, and County Attorney—there were no surprises. All of the candidates were running unopposed and all were re-elected.
North Shore judge is Cuzzo
Another race of great interest to North Shore voters was the contest for 6th District Court – Judge 11 seat. The primary saw eight lawyers competing to be on the General Election ballot. The primary narrowed the race to Timothy Costley and Mike Cuzzo. Although Costley won in Cook County precincts with 1,251 votes to Cuzzo’s 1,108, Cuzzo won the District with 54,596 to Costley’s 35,346.
Cravaack upsets Oberstar
An election surprise was the US Congressional District 8 race in which Republican challenger Chip Cravaack defeated longtime Representative James Oberstar. Cravaack campaigned hard in the Northland, making several visits to Cook County, including one down to the wire, at Taconite Safe Harbor in Schroeder on Friday, October 29. Despite that last minute stop, Oberstar carried the vote in Cook County, defeating Cravaack 1556 to 1129.
Those results did not match the statewide count, which were also very close, however Cravaack won the seat, earning 133,477 or 48.18 percent of the vote versus Oberstar’s 129,070 or 46.59 percent of the vote. On Wednesday, Oberstar spoke in a press conference, defending the work he has done for the Northland. “I can’t change and wouldn’t change any of the votes I cast this year,” he said, adding, “This is the people’s seat. I go in peace of mind and heart, but with sadness.”
Oberstar is the ranking member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He was first elected to office in 1974.
Governor’s race recount?
Gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton easily won the governor race in Cook County with a count of 1,623 over Tom Emmer’s 856, followed by Tom Horner’s 287. But again that count did not translate into the statewide results, which give Dayton the lead by a much narrower margin, less than one-half of one percentage point. Election officials across the state are being asked to recheck their results in the election canvassing process, but an automatic recount seems likely. On Nov. 23, the state canvassing board will meet to certify results. If the vote is still extremely close, a statewide recount will be launched.
At the Capitol
According to Lee Ann Schutz, Election 2010 changed the majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives. When the 87th Legislature convenes on January 4, 2011, Republicans will be the majority with a 72-62 edge. Three races are subject to recount, but a changed count will not change the majority.
In Cook County, District 6A Representative David Dill (D) easily defeated his challenger Jim Tuomala (R). Dill received 1,911 votes to Tuomala’s 873. There were similar results district-wide, with Dill garnering 65% of the vote.
More surprising is that for the first time in 38 years, the Minnesota Senate has a Republican majority. In the Senate District 6 race, Tom Bakk (D) also easily defeated his challenger, Jennifer Havlick (R) with 62% of the vote. In Cook County, Bakk received 1,910 votes to Havlick’s 923.
Election turnout high
According to Auditor Braidy Powers, who oversees the election process, there were 2,858 votes cast. The county has 3,623 registered voters. The percent of Cook County eligible voters who participated in the 2010 general election is 79%.
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