School board election results: Teacher-endorsed candidates lead in Stillwater

Josh Verges, Pioneer Press
Updated ·4 min read

Preliminary vote counts Tuesday night favored the incumbent school board members and teacher-preferred candidates in the Stillwater Area district, while other East Metro races showed a mix of liberal and conservative candidates in the lead.

School board races are nonpartisan, but many races this year in Minnesota and across the country have featured candidates with sharply divergent views on how schools should address issues related to race and gender. Teachers unions have gotten more active in endorsing their preferred candidates, often in response to conservative groups promoting their own people.

In Stillwater, with nearly all the votes counted Tuesday night, it was the teacher-endorsed candidates who held leads across the board.

In a seven-way race for four board seats, incumbents Alison Sherman and Pete Kelzenberg led, followed by Andrew Thelander and Eva Lee.

Jessica Johnson had the most votes among the candidates favored by conservative groups, but it appeared she would fall short of a board seat; she held 13.7 percent of all votes, compared to Lee’s 15 percent. Philip St. Ores and Mark Bezdicek also ran.

Stillwater Area voters also faced a special election for a two-year term following a resignation. The teacher-endorsed Bev Petrie, who joined the board by winning a 2020 special election, led challenger Larry Becking nearly 2-to-1.

ISD 622

Three of four incumbents were on their way to re-election to the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school board with nearly all the votes counted late Tuesday night.

Michelle Yener had 31 percent of the votes in a four-way race, followed by Caleb Anderson. For the third spot, lone challenger Dan Peltzman had a 1 percentage point lead over incumbent Ben Jarman.

Voters in the district also had a special election for the final two years of Steve Hunt’s term following his resignation. Kita Yang, who the school board appointed to fill Hunt’s seat on an interim basis, held a commanding lead over the teacher-endorsed James Lipps and conservative pick Thomas Willenbring.

Lakeville Area

With three of 21 precincts reporting votes by publication time, nothing had been decided in the seven-way race for Lakeville Area school board.

Early returns had teachers union favorites Carly Anderson and Andy Lundblad holding the top two spots, followed by Kim Baker and Brian Thompson. Conservative picks Bree Schindele and Marilee Jager came next.

The lone incumbent, the teacher-endorsed Kathy Lewis, was in last place.

Forest Lake Area

The seven-way race for three seats on the Forest Lake Area school board saw two competing slates of candidates and no incumbents.

With nearly all precincts reporting votes Tuesday night, voters appeared to favor candidates from each side.

Luke Hagglund and Curt Rebelein Jr., favored by conservatives, were in first and third place, respectively.

Jill Christenson and Todd Proulx, endorsed by the teachers unions, were in second and fourth.

They were followed by Laura Ndirangu and Ashley Bulmer, with April Eagan far behind.

Mahtomedi

In a six-person race for three seats on the Mahtomedi school board, newcomer Jenny Peterson and incumbent Paul Donna led with nearly all the votes counted.

The final spot was close, with Ryan Domin just ahead of incumbent Kevin Donovan and Kevin Hiniker.

There were no official endorsements in the race from either the local teachers union or the Minnesota Parents Alliance, but Peterson, Donna and Domin were seen as the preferred candidates for conservative voters.

Hastings

Mark Zuzek, a former teacher and superintendent, was leading a three-way special election for Hastings school board with one-quarter of precincts reporting votes.

Zuzek, who was endorsed by the local teachers union, would get the final three years of Mike Reis’ term following his resignation last summer.

Reis was one of three conservative board members elected last year. Todd Kullmann, who supported that slate of candidates, was second in the early vote count Tuesday, trailing Zuzek 50 percent to 39 percent.

Pamela Onnen was a distant third.

Farmington

At press time, no votes had been counted in the incumbent-free Farmington school board race, where eight candidates were running for three seats.

The teachers union endorsed Kelsey Jezierski and Maggie Storlie, as well as Melissa Gorman. The conservative Minnesota Parents Alliance endorsed Gorman, Becky DeWilde and David Barr.

Also running were Joe Fritz, Steven Tschetter and Sue Tullar.

South St. Paul

No votes had been counted at press time in South St. Paul, where 22 candidates were running for four seats.

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