This year is shaping up to be a contentious election season in Le Sueur County as a flurry of candidates have started to campaign for municipal, School Board and countywide elected offices.
Filing deadlines for local seats have closed as of Tuesday, Aug. 13, but candidates have up to two days to withdraw their filings. Here’s the status of the local races.
Le Sueur
This fall is shaping up to be a competitive election season in Le Sueur between a three-way race for the mayoral seat and four candidates submitting their bids for a spot on the City Council.
In the race for mayor, first-term incumbent Shawn Kirby is fending off challenges from City Councilor Mike Touhey and 40-year Le Sueur resident Jerry Arthur Geisler.
Kirby previously served one term on the Le Sueur City Council before being elected Mayor in 2020 and has been a resident of the community for nearly 40 years. In his professional life, Kirby is a director at Kolden Funeral Homes and previously served as President of the Minnesota Funeral Directors Association between 2015-2016.
Touhey is currently serving his first-term on the City Council after being elected in 2022. He is a retired director of plastics operations at Le Sueur Inc., has lived in Le Sueur for over 40 years and is a self-described fiscal conservative.
Geisler is a disabled Vietnam War veteran and a 30-year retired member of the US Post Office. He previously owned and operated the Don Geisler Insurance Agency in the Le Sueur-Henderson area with his father Don Geisler, who ran the agency in Belle Plaine. He is also an Eagle Scout, former scoutmaster and has served on the board of Ducks Unlimited for five years. In his campaign announcement, Geisler said he hopes to slow down city spending and support the police department.
On the City Council side, four candidates are competing for three available seats on the council, currently being held by councilors Mike Touhey, Dave Swanberg and Scott Schlueter. With Touhey entering the mayoral race and Swanberg declining to run for another term on the council, Schlueter is the only incumbent to have filed a bid for re-election.
Schlueter, who was elected to the City Council in 2020 after serving 11 years on the Planning Commission, is running alongside newcomers Wendy J. Smith, Annette Pruitt-Rogers and Kathleen Nelson.
Le Center
While the mayoral race in Le Sueur has attracted multiple candidates, the same can’t be said for Le Center, where first-term mayor Christian Harmeyer is running unopposed after being elected to the position in 2022.
However, the community can expect some shakeups on the City Council, as both councilors Collin Scott and Nathan Hintz have declined to run for re-election. Their decision not to run has left room for former Le Center City Councilor Bob Emmers and Thomas John Vavra to run for the open seats unopposed.
Meanwhile, two candidates have filed to run in the special election for Antonio Ruiz-Mendez’s seat on the council. With the incumbent declining to run, Tri-City United Le Center Physical Education Teacher Philip Campbell and Erik Huxford, a product specialist at MEI-Total Elevator Solutions, are squaring off in a special election to fill the seat for the next two years.
Cleveland
After fending off two challenges for his seat as Cleveland mayor in 2022, Don McCabe is expected to have an easier race this year, as he runs for re-election unopposed.
Two seats are up for grabs on the City Council, where incumbents Mark Hintgen and Tonya Schummer have both filed for re-election. Former Cleveland City Councilor Nancy Gens is also running to take a seat back on the council after launching a failed bid for the Cleveland mayorship in 2022.
Kasota
In the city of Kasota, Mayor Betty Ingalls is facing a challenge from Marie Borglum, while incumbent councilors Roger Rehnelt and Richard Borglum face competition for their seats from Bradley G. Ingalls and Tim Witty.
Le Sueur-Henderson Public Schools
It appears that no candidate will have an easy path to the Le Sueur-Henderson School Board this year, as six contenders have filed for three open seats on the board.
Kelsey Schwartz is the only incumbent running for re-election this year, as incumbents Marie Walker and Steven Cross have declined to enter the race.
With the race wide open, a number of prominent figures in the Le Sueur-Henderson School system have thrown their hats into the ring, including Le Sueur-Henderson youth wrestling coach Joseph Bushway, former Le Sueur-Henderson schoolteacher Sue Hynes, former Hilltop Elementary Dean of Students and Le Sueur-Henderson Education Association Union Chair Christa Luna.
Marci Greisen, a former member of the Le Sueur-Henderson elementary school task force, and Henderson Sauerkraut Days committee member Brooke Wentzlaff have also entered the race after previously being passed over for appointments to the School Board.
Tri-City United Public Schools
Three candidates are running uncontested for open spots on the Tri-City United School Board. Trevor Houn and Chris Vlasak are both running for re-election, while Suzi Ripp, a TCU substitute teacher from Le Center, is also running. Vice Chair Kevin Huber chose not to run again.
Cleveland School Board
The race for a spot on the Cleveland School Board is similar to Tri-City United’s with two incumbents and a newcomer running uncontested for three open seats. Andy Jindra and School Board Chair Scott Miller have both filed for re-election while Molly Stoffel, a Blue Earth County children’s mental health case manager seeks an open seat on the School Board.
County commissioners
In the contest to represent New Prague, Heidelberg and Lanesburgh Township on the Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners, Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative District 3 Secretary and Treasurer Liz Krocak and retired Scott County Sheriff’s Deputy Dennis Tietz have entered the race for the District 1 Commissioner seat.
Krocak has lived on a century farm in Montgomery for over 40 years and previously served eight years on the Montgomery-Lonsdale School Board and nine years on the Le Sueur County FSA County Committee. She was a chair on both boards for several years.
Krocak also currently serves as Lanesburgh Township Clerk and has been involved in the Le Sueur County Broadband Initiative, Montgomery Farmers Market, Montgomery Community Foundation and St. John Lutheran Church Council.
Prior to his retirement in 2022, Tietz spent 26 years with the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, serving as a patrol deputy, recreational safety deputy, transport deputy, SWAT sniper, crime scene team member and court security deputy. He also co-hosted a monthly public safety radio show on KCHK Radio for 15 years and had helped organize the Scott County Annual Youth Fishing Derby since it started 23 years ago.
The rural New Prague resident has several other members of law enforcement in his family including his brother, retired Le Sueur County Sheriff David Tietz.
Whoever wins, District 1 will have a new representative as incumbent David Gliszinski has declined to run for another term after serving on the county seat since 2013.
The race for District 3 on the other hand is uncontested with incumbent Le Sueur County Commissioner John King running unopposed. King has sat on the board since 2013, representing Le Sueur and Derrynane and Tyrone Townships. He is also the owner of his own veterinary practice, Veterinary Ventures.
Most Popular
Comments / 0