2022 MN Primary Election Results for Lakeland Viewing Area

Voters went to the polls on Tuesday all across Minnesota for the state’s primary election, which narrowed the candidate pools in several races, including some in the Lakeland viewing area. Below are winners for city, county, and state races, along with U.S. Representative races for Districts 7 and 8, with all precincts reporting:

Municipal Races:

For the Bemidji City Council At Large seat, Ron Johnson and Audrey Thayer have moved on to the general election. Both are already city council members – Johnson, who has been redistricted out of his current Ward 3 seat, won 35.98% of the vote, and Thayer, who presently holds the Ward 1 seat, got 27.71% percent of the vote. Also running for the At Large seat were incumbent Daniel Jourdain, who got 24.14%, and Pam Dreyer, who received 12.17%.

Primary elections were held for the Ward 1 and 4 seats on the Brainerd City Council. Kara Terry and Leonard D. Skillings will move on to the general election in the special election for Ward 1, with 43.48% and 30.98% of the vote, respectively. William Bieser, who was appointed to the seat last month, received 25.54% of the vote.

In Brainerd Ward 4, incumbent Gabe Johnson will be on the ballot in November with 43.38% of the vote and will face off against Emily LeClaire, who won 29.04%. Johnathan Miller received 27.57% of the vote.

County Races:

Joe Gould and Don Heinonen will both be running in the fall for Beltrami County Commissioner – District 2. Gould led all other candidates with 52.47% of the vote, while Heinonen won 19.91%. Among other candidates, Adam J. Bommersbach received 11.28%, Darren Tobey took 10.59%, and James Ravnikar got 5.75%.

Steve Barrows and Tad Erickson are in the running this fall for Crow Wing County Commissioner – District 3, with Barrows, the incumbent, receiving 45.71% of the vote and Erickson winning 25.41%. Candidate Keith M. Johnson got 18.67%, Jazz Ness took 6.46%, and Jacob White received 3.76%.

For Beltrami County Sheriff, Jason Riggs and Jarrett Walton will face off in the general election. Riggs, a captain with the sheriff’s office, received 54.79%, and Walton, who is the county’s chief deputy and was endorsed by current sheriff Ernie Beitel, got 23.54%. Bidal Duran, a narcotics investigator with Hubbard County, got 21.67% of the vote.

For Clearwater County Sheriff, incumbent Darin Halverson pulled away with 73.61% of the vote, while Larry D. Johnson won 18.19% – both will be running in the general election. Renee Benson received 8.20%.

For Itasca County Sheriff, Joe Dasovich (with 45.65% of the vote) and Jeff Carlson (with 26.33%) will be competing for the position in November. Bryan D. Johnson got 21.28% of the vote and Dale H. Kaiser received 6.74%.

With all votes in for Mille Lacs County Sheriff, Kyle A. Burton and and Travis Johnson will face each other after received 60.78% and 23.97% of the vote, respectively. Patrick Broberg got 9.65% and Ryan VanDenheuvel got 5.61%.

For Wadena County Sheriff, incumbent Mike Carr, Jr. received 71.96% of the vote and will compete against Milo Scott in the fall, who got 25.68%. Jason Hofer won 2.36% of the vote.

State Legislative Races:

Although Bret Bussman was the endorsed Republican candidate for Senate District 5, Paul Utke (who currently holds the Senate District 2 seat) will be running for the position in the general election after winning 57.33% of the vote. Democrat A. John Peters will be Utke’s opponent in the fall.

For Senate District 10, Nathan Wesenberg gets approval from Republican voters to run in the general election with 36.81% of the vote, beating Steve Wenzel, who had 32.46%, and Jim Newberger, who got 30.73%. Wesenberg, a political newcomer, will compete against Democrat Suzanne M. Cekalla.

In the Republican primary for House District 5B, Mike Wiener has won by a margin of only 40 votes, receiving 50.48%. Sheldon Monson received 49.52% of the vote.

Josh Heintzeman, currently the state Republican Representative for District 10A, beat Doug Kern in the GOP House District 6B primary with 79.92% of the vote. He will face DFLer Sally Boos in the fall.

In the primary election for Republicans in House District 10A, Ron Kresha took 73.60% of the vote to defeat Charles “Chuck” Parins. Kresha is currently the Representative out of District 9B.

U.S. Congressional Races:

DFLer Jill Abahsain will face incumbent Republican Michelle Fischbach in the race for U.S. Representative in District 7 this fall. Abahsain won 58.99%, with opponent Alycia R. Gruenhagen receiving 41.01%.

For U.S. Representative in District 8, incumbent Pete Stauber will again represent the GOP after handily beating opponent Harry Robb Welty with 91.02% of the vote. On the DFL side, Jen Schultz won with 86.14% of the vote, with John Munter getting 13.86%.

Statewide Races:

In both the Republican and Democrat primaries for Governor and Lt. Governor, Scott Jensen and Matt Birk will officially be running against Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan. Jensen and Birk received 89.31% of votes in the GOP primary, and Walz and Flanagan received 96.52% on the DFL side.

For Secretary of State, Kim Crockett and incumbent Steve Simon will represent the GOP and the DFL, respectively, in November. Crockett beat her opponent, Erik van Mechelen, with 63.15% of the vote, and Simon defeated Steve Carlson with 72.51%.

In the race for Attorney General, Jim Schultz pulled out ahead in the Republican primary with 52.51%, beating Doug Wardlow, who got 34.76%, and Sharon Anderson, who received 12.72%. For Democrats, incumbent Keith Ellison won 89.34% of the vote to beat Bill Dahn, who got 10.66%.