Washington County board races come down to the wire

State Rep. Keith Franke and State Sen. Karla Bigham were battling it out for a spot on the Washington County Board on Tuesday night, as were Woodbury City Council member Andrea Date and Michele Clasen.

With 12 of 16 precincts reporting in District 4, Franke, R-St. Paul Park, was leading with 51 percent of the vote; Bigham, DFL-Cottage Grove, had 49 percent.

The two decided to run for the District 4 seat after redistricting radically altered the boundaries of their Legislative districts. The incumbent District 4 county commissioner, Wayne Johnson, left the race in June after Franke announced he was running for the seat.

Bigham, who was elected to the Minnesota Senate in a special election in 2018 and re-elected in 2020, served on the Washington County Board prior to her time in the Legislature. Before that, she served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 and was a member of the Cottage Grove City Council. She works as a paralegal in the Child Protection Division of the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

Elected to the Minnesota House in 2020, Franke, the owner of Park Café and Franke’s Corner Bar in St. Paul Park, previously served in the House from 2016-2018 and is a former St. Paul Park mayor.

District 4 includes Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul Park, Grey Cloud Island Township, Denmark Township and a portion of Woodbury.

District 2

With 17 of 18 precincts reporting, Commissioner Stan Karwoski, who was elected to the county board in a special election in 2016 and re-elected in 2018, was winning with 59 percent of the vote.

Karwoski, 65, a former mayor of Oakdale, was holding off a challenge from former Woodbury City Council member Julie Ohs. Ohs ran against Karwoski four years ago and lost by 11 points.

The district includes Oakdale, Birchwood Village, Willernie, Pine Springs, Landfall and parts of Mahtomedi, Woodbury and White Bear Lake.

Ohs served on the Woodbury City Council for 12 years, starting in 2006. Previous to that she served on the city’s economic development commission, an appointed position. She is a founding member and the current chairwoman of the Woodbury Yellow Ribbon Network and serves on the Met Council Gold Line’s Community Business Advisory Commission.

District 5

Michelle Clasen, a recruitment consultant in healthcare who previously worked in city leadership for more than 12 years, working with communities in Washington, Dakota and Ramsey counties, won with 52 percent of the vote. Her opponent, Woodbury City Council member Andrea Date, received 48 percent of the vote.

The population boom in Woodbury prompted a change in the district boundaries, which required an election in 2022 for the seat. Commissioner Lisa Weik, who had held the position since 2008, decided not to run for re-election.

Date has served on the Woodbury City Council since 2016. Her current term expires in 2024.

In other positions, Washington County Attorney Kevin Magnuson, who took over as county attorney after the death of Pete Orput, ran unopposed.

Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry also ran unopposed.

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