Political Notebook

Goodhue vets sponsor candidate meet and greet — not debate

Goodhue County United Veterans is sponsoring a candidate meet and greet on Monday, but don't say it's a debate. Heidi Krause with the Goodhue County Veterans Service Office said they were surprised to hear that the event was being reported by some media as a gubernatorial debate. Far from the case. Rather, it is a chance for county, state and federal candidates to introduce themselves to voters and answer a couple of question.

The meet and greet will be at 7:30 p.m. on Monday at the Cannon Falls VFW/American Legion. So far, only DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton has said he will attend. The group has not heard back yet from Republican Tom Emmer and IP candidate Tom Horner.

2nd District Republican Rep. John Kline has said he will not attend. His DFL challenger Shelley Madore is planning to be there. Other candidates who have confirmed they will be there are: DFL Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and GOP rival Dan Severson; Senate District 28 DFL candidate Joe Fricke and GOP candidate John Howe; House District 28A DFL candidate Jerry Roth and GOP Rep. Tim Kelly; House District 28B DFL candidate Mark Schneider and GOP Rep. Steve Drazkowski. Senate District 36 DFL candidate Steve Quist; and House District 36B DFL candidate Sigrid Iverson.

A local election wrap-up

Here's a quick recap of the big races. The Associated Press is reporting that Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher has officially conceded to former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton in the DFL gubernatorial race. Statewide, Dayton beat Kelliher by 6,777 votes with 99 percent of precincts reporting. In total, Dayton got 41 percent of the vote and Kelliher got 40 percent. Former state Rep. Matt Entenza came in a distant third with 18 percent.

In Olmsted County, Kelliher narrowly beat Dayton winning by 164 votes.

Republican-endorsed candidate Tom Emmer easily won last night's primary with 82 percent of the vote. That is the same percentage of the vote he got in Olmsted County receiving 3,380 votes.

Independent Party-endorsed candidate Tom Horner got 64 percent of the statewide vote with the second place challenger — Winona-native Rob Hahn — getting 14 percent. Horner did even better in Olmsted County getting 76 percent of the vote.

GOP-endorsed candidate Duane Quam easily defeated challenger Kerry Stoick in the House District 29A Republican primary. He got 66 percent of the vote while Stoick got 34 percent. Quam will now take on DFL-endorsed candidate Doug Wunderlich for retiring GOP Rep. Randy Demmer's seat. Demmer stepped down to run for Congress.

In Senate District 28, DFL-endorsed candidate Joe Fricke had a decisive victory over Bruce Montplaisir getting 75 percent of the vote. Fricke will take on Republican John Howe, current mayor of Red Wing. They are battling to replace retiring DFL Sen. Steve Murphy of Red Wing.

One of the big surprises of the night came in the 2nd Congressional District DFL primary where former state Rep. Shelley Madore beat out the DFL-endorsed candidate Dan Powers. Madore got 55 percent of the vote with Powers getting 45 percent. Madore will challege Republican incumbent Congressman John Kline.