Councilwomen Julie Trude and Sherri Bukkila faced each other to replace Mike Gamache as Mayor of Andover. Trude gave up her seat, while Bukkila had a "free shot" with her term ending in two years.
This was a close, close result. My choice, Julie Trude was elected Mayor of Andover by just 0.6% of the vote - 5250 (50.00%) - 5184 (49.37%).
Councilwoman Bukkila will return next term with Mike Knight - they both face the voters again in 2016, unless long-time Council member Knight retires in 2016.
There were four candidates for two Council seats this year (the open Trude seat and Tony Howard's, and Tony was seeking re-election). There were three challenges to Howard - Val Holthus, who I strongly supported; James Goodrich, who I opposed; and Tanya Kostick, who was somewhat unknown, even after a LWV debate and candidate profiles. I voted for Howard and Holthus.
So the results were mixed, as Val Holthus was elected, but so was James Goodrich as they defeated Kostick and incumbent, Howard (who may have been hurt by his strong support for city involvement in the expansion of the Community Center/YMCA). Final vote totals were:
| Nonpartisan | VAL HOLTHUS | 4966 - | 29.77% | |
| Nonpartisan | JAMES GOODRICH | 4713 - | 28.25% | |
| Nonpartisan | TONYA KOSTICK | 2651 - | 15.89% | |
| Nonpartisan | TONY HOWARD | 4290 - | 25.72% |
I spent a lot of time and energy this fall on behalf of Peter Perovich, our DFL candidate in 35A. I'm disappointed Peter lost to newcomer, Abigail Whelan, and was surprised by the margin of victory, having expected a result more in line with Peter's narrow loss to Branden Petersen in those same precincts in 2012. Thank you, Peter, for being our candidate in 2014! I know the right thing will be to wish Ms. Whelan well, but it is so frustrating to see such an undeserving person elected to represent half my district in St. Paul. It isn't just that she's a Christian Right, Tea Party-lite Republican, whose values and issues positions I detest - and frankly fear for our future as a result - but as a young woman barely out of school, having done NOTHING in this world to merit being a State Representative (compare her with the resumes of GOPers like Jeff Weaver, Matt Look, even Justin Boals, who she beat in the Primary, and identify for me what she has done for Anoka or for Anoka County or for District 35 prior to running for this office at the beginning of this year). So yes, I'm frustrated that a middle-of-the-road Democrat, with life experiences and leadership responsibilities, didn't earn the votes of voters in District 35A.
Sam Beard was our endorsed candidate in 35B, and until the last 10 days of the campaign, when I saw three more "Beard" signs up, a printed piece of campaign literature, a new Facebook page, and even some Facebook ads, I thought Sam had a campaign in name-only vs. Peggy Scott. Sam got beat by about 66% - 33%. I guess we know our 35B baseline, and it ain't pretty for any of us, including me, who might have entertained notions to run ourselves. Yes one can run, because voters deserve a choice, but as young Matt Gieseke, who ran down in Waconia area, lamented last night, knowing you'll lose badly, and losing badly, is still hard to swallow in the end.
Along with my surprise at the largeness of Peter's loss was my surprise at similar results for JD Holmquist (thought his efforts would gain him some support at the polls) and Jefferson Fietek, who was a great campaigner, had a great organization, and still got clobbered by a guy who barely won in 2012, in Mark Uglem. Hmmm... If a modestly-run campaign loses by about the same margin as two very intensely run campaigns, we DFLers in this part of Anoka County have a lot of thinking and planning to do in 2015.
Very frustrated that rural Minnesota took in a lot of lies about the $90 million vs $77 million dollar Senate Office building, and the lies about getting over-taxed when in fact most of us got tax refunds in 2014. Gridlock and tension ahead. Creepy Republican time - guys like Backer and Miller got elected - very stupid, sleazy people going to St. Paul from that part of the State.
Glad the Statewide DFLers all won - Franken, Dayton, Swanson, Otto and Simon. It was the best part of last night - going to that Elections page at the SOS website!
Worst part of last night - watching the GOP Senate & Gubernatorial landslide unfold as nearly every squeaker led to a GOP win, except NH and VA. Hate seeing those GOP Governor anti-union assholes re-elected - Scott, Snyder, Kasich (no surprise) and Walker. Ugh! Feel real bad for union men and women across this country, especially my AFSCME brothers and sisters.
Finally, Mayor Mike Gamache was elected to the Anoka County Board by 500 votes, defeating former legislator and Board member Debbie Johnson, apparently riding on the great familiarity Andover voters have for him.
These were very interesting results, contrasting the Andover precincts with those in Coon Rapids and Fridley...
GAMACHE JOHNSON WRITE-IN
| Anoka: ANDOVER P-3 | 855 | 430 | 13 |
| Anoka: ANDOVER P-4 | 610 | 312 | 7 |
| Anoka: ANDOVER P-9 | 707 | 328 | 4 |
| Anoka: ANDOVER P-10 | 767 | 333 | 5 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-2 P-1 | 431 | 461 | 5 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-2 P-2 | 248 | 362 | 4 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-2 P-3 | 466 | 556 | 9 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-2 P-4 | 288 | 313 | 4 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-2 P-5 | 318 | 344 | 2 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-3 P-2 | 323 | 418 | 2 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-3 P-3 | 323 | 348 | 4 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-3 P-4 | 255 | 402 | 2 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-5 P-1 | 373 | 469 | 2 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-5 P-2 | 399 | 488 | 8 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-5 P-3 | 194 | 306 | 2 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-5 P-4 | 134 | 187 | 0 |
| Anoka: COON RAPIDS W-5 P-5 | 340 | 416 | 2 |
| Anoka: FRIDLEY W-3 P-1 | 243 | 310 | 4 |
| Candidate Totals: | 7274 | 6783 79 |
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