Four candidates seek three four-year terms on Brown County Commission

Elisa Sand, Aberdeen News
·3 min read

Brown County residents will decide on Election Day which three candidates will fill the open commission seats for the next four years.

Candidates include incumbent Mike Wiese, appointed commissioner Mike Gage, outgoing state legislator Drew Dennert and former Warner School Board member Chad Fischbach.

Wiese, Gage and Dennert are all Republicans from Aberdeen. Fischbach is a Democrat and lives in Warner.

Election Day is Nov. 8, but early voting has already started. To find a sample ballot, where to vote and more election information, visit the voter portal on the secretary of state's website at https://vip.sdsos.gov/viplogin.aspx.

The election will determine three of the four open seats on the county commission. A two-year term is also open, but the sole candidate to file nominating petitions for that post was incumbent commissioner Doug Fjeldheim, 68, R-Westport. He was first elected in 2014.

More:County commission candidates discuss CO2 pipeline, jail needs, politics at forum

Here's a little information about each of the candidates seeking the four-year commission seats. Unlike in some other counties, Brown County commissioners are all elected at-large as opposed to within districts.

Dennert, 26, has served as a state House of Representatives legislator representing Aberdeen in District 3 for the past six years. In that role, he served on multiple legislative committees, but the two that stand out to him are the six years he spent on the House Taxation Committee and the two years he spent with State Affairs, which he describes as the most influential policy committee in Pierre.

He is part owner of his family's cow-calf operation north of Aberdeen, which goes back six generations.

Fischbach, 48, previously served three years on the Warner School Board. During that time, the board built a new gym, and hired a new superintendent and two principals. He's also active in Warner American Legion baseball and Warner Little League. He farms with his father and brother near Warner, an operation that goes back three generations.

Mike Gage, 45, was appointed to the county commission in December to fill the vacancy left by Rachel Kippley, who was hired as Brown County Fair manager. He previously served in the U.S. Army and operates his family's cow-calf operation northeast of Aberdeen with his father. It's a fourth-generation operation. He also previously served as Lincoln Township supervisor, but resigned the post when he was appointed to the commission.

Mike Gage
Mike Gage

Wiese, 66, has nearly 24 years of experience on the county commission from 1994 to 2014 and again from 2018 until now. He is solutions analyst for Essential Business Products and has been a reserve officer for the Aberdeen Police Department for more than 20 years.

He's served on the James River Water Development District board for 12 years and is now board chairman. He has also spent more than 20 years serving on the South Dakota Public Assurance Alliance, which is a shared risk pool for the county's property and liability insurance.

Mike Wiese
Mike Wiese

More:Regional jail commission meets Wednesday in Aberdeen as Brown County fights capacity issues

Other local counties also have races to decide

Some other counties in northeastern South Dakota also have contested races. Here are the candidates vying for those county posts.

District 1 county commissioner Day County

  • Linda Walters D-Waubay

  • Sara McGregor-Okroi, R-Grenville

District 3 county commissioner Day County

  • Richard L. Tobin, D-Pierpont

  • Daniel Kjos, R-Roslyn

District 5 county commissioner Day County

  • Dari Schlotte D-Webster

  • Derek L. Sinner, R-Webster

Edmunds County auditor

  • Keith Schurr, D-Mina

  • Daniel Hardison R-Bowdle

District 3 county commissioner in Edmunds County

  • Jerome Schaffner I-Ipswich

  • Michael J. Geditz, R-Ipswich

Potter County sheriff

  • Joshua J. Zweber, I-Gettysburg

  • Curtis D. Hamburger, R-Gettysburg

District 3 county commissioner in Spink County

  • Kevin Siebrecht, I-Redfield

  • Michael Siebrecht R-Redfield

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Brown county commission race preview