Hansen to face Mackner for Becker County District 3 seat

By Robert Williams

Editor

Former NFL and NDSU great Phil Hansen was a victor in the Becker County Commissioner District 3 primary on Tuesday, Aug. 13.

Hansen was the top vote-getter with 331 votes (50.38 percent). Terry L. Mackner was second with 223 votes (33.94 percent). Frazee’s Hank Ludtke received 103 votes (15.68 percent). Ludtke withdrew from the campaign early in the race and endorsed Hansen. Nearly half of Lutdke’s votes came from Frazee where he was the victor with 42 votes, to Hansen’s 37 and Mackner’s 25.

Of Hansen’s votes, 65 percent came from Lake View Township (123) and Erie Township (91).

Hansen and Mackner will vie for the open seat left by outgoing Board Chairman John Okeson.

District 3 includes the following townships/cities: Burlington Township; Erie Township; Holmesville Township; Lake View Township; City of Frazee.

Hansen led in Burlington Township votes 53-24.

Mackner was victorious in Holmesville Township 30-27.

Two other seats are up for grabs in Becker County. 

District 4 Commissioner Richard Vareberg led all vote getters with 328 (41.89 percent). He will face Donald Skarie who outdistanced Jason Bristlin 291 votes to 164.

District 5 Commissioner Barry Nelson nearly doubled up the total votes of his two challengers. Nelson had 489 votes (63.26 percent) to Jack Heisler’s 185 votes and 99 for Dave E. Shaw.

Heisler and Nelson will face off on the November General Election ballot.

Otter Tail County

District 3 and 5 Commissioner seats are open this fall in Otter Tail County. Current Board Chairman Kurt A. Mortenson had 1,195 votes (60.69 percent) of the votes in District 3. He will face runner-up Greg Anderson (600 votes, 30.47 percent).

District 5’s seat is vacant after the resignation announcement of Leland (Lee) Rogness earlier this summer. Rogness served the board for 15 years.

Sean Sullivan and Ben Schierer will vie for District 5. Sullivan had 1,017 votes to Schierer’s 793, 50.7 percent to 39.53 percent. Challengers Victoria McWane-Creek (111 votes) and DuWayne R. Cookman (85) each earned less than 6 percent of the total votes cast.

Congressional

District 7

Seeking a third term in Congress, representing Minnesota’s Seventh District, Michelle Fischbach defeated challenger Steve Boyd with 64.66 percent of Republican votes. Boyd earned 16,645 votes (35.34 percent).

Fischbach will run against Democrat, AJ (John) Peters in November. Peters ran unopposed.

In Frazee, Fischbach earned 53 votes to 23 for Boyd, while the race was much closer in Vergas with Fischbach winning 20-18. A dozen votes were cast for Peters.

District 8

There was no drama in the Eighth Congressional District. Incumbent Rep. Pete Stauber and Democratic challenger Jen Schultz both received over 90 percent of the votes in their respective victories over Harry R. Welty (9.49 percent) and John Munter (9.04 percent).

U.S. Senator

Royce White defeated Joe Fraser to secure the Rebublican’s lead challenger position against incumbent Democrat Amy Klobuchar. 

White earned 38.5 percent of the vote statewide to Fraser’s 29.3 percent of the vote. Klobuchar faced little challenge earning 94.29 percent. Her 305,055 votes were astronomical in comparison to the second-highest democrat Steve Carlson’s 9,535 (2.95 percent).

Klobuchar earned 26 of 31 Democratic votes in Frazee. Royce had 35 votes to lead with 47.3 percent of the votes. Fraser was a distant second with 14 votes (18.2 percent). In Vergas, Royce had a leading 13 votes. John Berman was second with 7. Klobuchar earned 10 of 11 votes.

Becker County voter turnout for the Primary Election had 3,735 people voting out of nearly 22,036 registered voters. Of 40,003 registered Otter Tail County voters, 7,891 went to the ballot box.