Star Tribune
Orono to vote for mayor, ending dramatic race that drew big money
Orono residents will vote for mayor Tuesday, ending a contentious contest that drew thousands in campaign spending.
Former Orono school board chair Bob Tunheim is challenging Mayor Dennis Walsh, who says he is seeking one last term after eight years in office. Both candidates are pitching themselves as leaders who will value civility, be responsible stewards of taxpayer money and run operations better than their competitor.
Orono is home to about 8,000 people. It borders a portion of Lake Minnetonka and surrounds the city of Long Lake. The two cities are locked in a lawsuit and face a trial next year, as Long Lake officials accuse Orono of trying to poach their firefighters after Orono broke off to form its own department.
The mayor presides over City Council meetings, serves as a spokesperson for Orono and can declare emergencies, if needed. The position pays $4,200 per year. Local elections have drawn many multiples of that in campaign donations.
A new political committee called Preserve Orono, which sent mailers urging people to vote for Walsh, reported more than $55,000 in contributions this year, primarily from three people. In October, Walsh reported about $36,000 in campaign contributions, about $35,000 of which was a loan from himself. Tunheim reported about $30,000 in contributions.
Other notable west metro races:
Residents will vote in three competitive Plymouth City Council races, with at least one seat guaranteed to flip.
ST. CLOUD – Voters today will decide which St. Cloud City Council member will be promoted to mayor.
Candidates Jake Anderson and Mike Conway are vying to take the place of Mayor Dave Kleis, who is retiring after two decades at the city’s helm.
The August primary winnowed a packed six-candidate mayoral field to Anderson, a 45-year-old IT manager for Stearns County, and Conway, a 58-year-old consultant at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. Conway is in his second term on the St. Cloud City Council; Anderson in his first, after serving several years on the city’s Planning Commission.
Kleis is the city’s longest-serving mayor. In April, he announced he wouldn’t seek re-election after serving five terms.
St. Cloud voters will also cast ballots for six candidates vying for three at-large seats on the City Council. Candidates include incumbent George Hontos, as well as Scott Brodeen, Tami Calhoun, Hudda Ibrahim, Mark Johnson and Omar Abdullahi Podi.
If elected, Ibrahim and Podi would be the first Somali Americans to serve on the council. The six candidates were the top vote-getters in the August primary, which narrowed down a field of 16 candidates — the most in 50 years to enter the City Council primary.
Residents in the St. Cloud school district are also voting on seven candidates aiming to fill three seats on the school board. All four incumbents who are up for re-election — Scott Andreasen, Al Dahlgren, Shannon Haws and Monica Segura-Schwartz — are in the mix, along with former school board member Bruce Hentges. Other candidates are Yoanna Ayala-Zaldana and Diana Fenton.
DULUTH – Two longtime local attorneys in private practice are vying for the Sixth Judicial District seat held by Judge Dale Harris, whose retirement at the end of his term in early January 2025 has set up a contested judicial election in northern Minnesota.
Gunnar Johnson of Overom Law, and Shawn Reed, who is with Bray & Reed and has been a hearing officer, face off in the race. The Sixth District position, chambered in Duluth, covers St. Louis, Carlton, Cook and Lake Counties.
The next day, Johnson said he was humbled by the turnout and the vote.
“I’m working hard on this race because of my desire to get back into public service and to bring my experience in the law to our local court,” he said at the time.
Johnson has varied experiences, ranging from legal counsel for the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation and its board to city attorney for Hermantown. He was Duluth’s city attorney for more than a decade, ending when he resigned in 2020 while on administrative leave during an investigation of his treatment of employees.
In the run-up to the election, a former colleague and the head of a Minnesota crime nonprofit told the Star Tribune that when a grant subsidized victim advocate position was put in front of Johnson, one his department would likely get if he applied, he said it wasn’t needed. Victim advocates serve as a guide through the legal process and are standard in a city the size of Duluth, with high domestic violence caseloads.
Johnson said recently that he needed to “ask the hard questions” before applying for the grant.
Walz made his final campaign swing Monday in the critical “Blue Wall” states of Wisconsin and Michigan, and he was set to visit Pennsylvania on Tuesday morning before heading to Washington, D.C., for the campaign’s election-night party at Howard University.
The governor reflected on his whirlwind journey as the gravity of the moment sunk in on Monday. The Democrat who grew up in rural Nebraska and was first elected to public office just 18 years ago could soon find himself in the White House.
“How amazing is it that a kid from Butte, Neb., and a kid from Oakland, Calif. — middle-class kids, her with a single mom trying to buy a home, me with a dad who dies when I’m a teenager and my little brother’s in elementary school, my mom’s a stay-at-home mom — but because of what this country has given us and the opportunities, we are going to be the next president and vice president of the United States,” Walz said.
A Harris-Walz victory in Tuesday’s general election would be historically significant nationally and in Minnesota. Harris would be the first woman elected as president of the United States. And the elevation of Walz would make way for Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan to become Minnesota’s first female and first Native American governor.
