Columbia Heights officialdom will change with the November 8 election, as a handful of primary voters chose to retire long-time council member and former mayor Bruce Nawrocki. They also came out strong for newcomers seeking the two council seats up for election.
In the mayor race, current mayor Gary Peterson garnered the most votes, 677, followed Donna Schmitt, 460, whose current council seat, if elected to mayor, would be replaced by appointment.
Here are the vote totals in the council race: Sean Broom 607, Connie Buesgens 531, Robert “Bobby” Williams (incumbent) 445, and Nick Novitsky 418. Those not making the cut were Bruce Nawrocki 414, Stan Hoium 391, Anna Johnston 361 and Adrian Durand 201.
In the mayor race, those not polling high enough to advance were: Tim Utz at 259, Susan M. Johnson at 252, and Christopher Beskar at 140.
The number of registered voters as of the primary date, August 9, was 10,844.
Mary Kunesh-Podein won the right to advance for the 41B House seat being vacated by Carolyn Laine who is seeking to be District 41 Senator.
In Minneapolis, there were few primary contests. However, in party primaries, Representatives Phyllis Kahn and Joe Mullery, two senior and influential DFL members of the House were turned out. Instead, Ilhan Omar will face Republican Abdimalik Askar and Fue Lee will face Republican Jennifer Carnahan in the general election for districts 60B and 59A, Southeast and North Minneapolis, respectively.