St. Cloud area voters pick new lawmakers

12/28/2005

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) - Voters in the St. Cloud area cast ballots for two new state legislators in special elections Tuesday.

The District 15B House race pitted Stearns County Commissioner Larry Haws, a Democrat, against a write-in effort by Republican Kay Ek, a retired anti-abortion activist.

With 10 of 23 precincts reporting, Haws had 73 percent of the vote to 23 percent for Ek.

In the District 15 Senate race, Tarryl Clark, a Democrat who directs an association of community social service groups, defeated Dan “Ox” Ochsner, a GOP talk radio host, who conceded the race.

With 25 of 42 precincts reporting, Clark had 55 percent of the vote to 38 percent for Ochsner and 7 percent for the Independence Party’s Dan Becker.

In the closely watched House race, Ek made a late entry into the race one week before the election, after the Minnesota Supreme Court removed her daughter Sue from the ballot, saying she hadn’t lived in St. Cloud long enough to qualify as a candidate.

The election fills the seat vacated by DFL Rep. Joe Opatz, who left to become interim president of Central Lakes College in Brainerd.

The House district covers the core of St. Cloud, including St. Cloud State University, whose students are currently on break.Mark Drake, spokesman for the state Republican party, said the turmoil in the House race cost the GOP the Senate race. He said it’s difficult to win when all a party has is a write-in candidate.”

The Ek situation clearly created confusion among the voters and drowned out our message (in the Senate race) that Terrell Clark is a liberal who is out of touch with the district,” Drake said.

But Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, said it’s only the Republicans’ fault for picking a House candidate who didn’t live in the district. He said Clark won her Senate race because she focused on issues that matter to voters.”

I do believe it sent a strong message again that folks in Minnesota care about education, health care, transportation and the environment, and the divisive issues that Republicans have been using come in second,” Johnson said.

“It’s the core issues that continue to win DFL seats with us.”

Clark had already run for the seat twice, losing by just 496 votes in 2002.Republican Sen. Dave Kleis won a race for St. Cloud mayor in November, prompting him to resign from the Senate seat he’d held since 1994.

The district takes in St. Cloud as well as a mostly suburban area to the west and south.The special election won’t change the balance of power in the closely divided state House or Senate.

The DFL majority in the Senate improved to 38-29, including Sen. Sheila Kiscaden, IP-Rochester, who caucuses with the Democrats.