Star Tribune
St. Cloud, MN-area voters to decide on three ballot questions
ST. CLOUD – On Election Day, St. Cloud voters will be asked to make decisions on a new fire station and moving city elections to odd years, and — for those who live in Stearns County — how to fund a new county jail.
Stearns County officials are planning to build a new $325 million justice center complex that includes a 270-bed jail, a judicial center with courtrooms, and a law enforcement center that houses the Sheriff’s Office. In the summer, Stearns County board members voted to move those facilities out of downtown.
The question before voters is how to fund that center. If voters approve the ballot question, the county will increase the countywide sales tax by three-eights of a cent for 30 years to fund the project. If they vote it down, the county can instead pay for the project with property taxes.
In St. Cloud, city officials are asking residents to approve raising property taxes to fund a new $43.5 million fire station on the city’s southwest side.
The new station would provide fire and emergency services to a fast-growing part of the city and improve response times across the entire city. It would also include a training center for first responders in St. Cloud and surrounding communities.
Lastly, St. Cloud voters are being asked if they want to amend the City Charter so that elections are held on odd years. Mayor Dave Kleis suggested the change to prevent the mayor and City Council seats from being overshadowed by state and national races.
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.
