Incumbents win majority of contested races in April election

By Cara L. Dempski

Several St. Croix and Dunn County towns and villages saw contests for open seats during this year’s spring election season.

There were several candidates vying for new positions and incumbents hoping to maintain their offices. Below are the results of the contested elections.

Town of Forest

Incumbent chairman Jaime Junker and supervisory incumbents LaVerne Hoitomt and Craig Paulson maintained their seats in the April 2017 election.

Junker’s challenger, Roger Swanepoel, picked up only 81 votes to the incumbent chairman’s 166. Paulson led the trio of town supervisor candidates with 190 votes, while Hoitomt picked up 170. Challenger Bruce Fouks earned 79 votes.

Town of Glenwood

All incumbents seeking reelection maintained their seats in the Town of Glenwood.

Chairman Mark Maes will remain in office after defeating challenger Joe Draxler 109 votes to 69, and incumbent treasurer Audrey Maes was reelected after earning 115 votes to opponent Julie DuBois’ 62 votes.

Joyce Keenlyne and Heidi Wagner were both up for election to fill the seat being vacated by current clerk Mark Myers. Wagner earned 56.4 percent of the vote with a tally of 97, while Keenlyne copped only 75 votes.

Town of New Haven

Marv Prestrud will stay at the head of the Town of New Haven after garnering 65 votes to defeat opponents Doug Enloe (48) and write-in candidate Brian Loida (9).

Diane Duerst held on to her spot as town clerk when she defeated write-in challenger Kimberly Durland 82 votes to 33. Incumbent treasurer Laura Ulrich also kept her seat after beating Renee Bartz 74-50.

Don Cormican was the lone incumbent running for another term as town supervisor, and earned the least votes of the four candidates. Tom Schoonover took 64 votes, and Jeff Carlsrud earned 58 to become freshmen supervisors in Hay River. 

Town of Stanton

Incumbent supervisor Bob Anderson will keep his seat after earning 49 votes in the April 4 election, but his fellow incumbent, Melissa Schutz, was ousted by challenger Steve Nielsen.

The incumbent earned just 32 votes, while Nielsen finished second in the race with 47 votes.

Town of Tiffany

The incumbent town chairman, Chuck Siler, will serve another term as leader of the town board after beating challenger Mike Blechinger 73-50 in the April 4 election. There was a tie in the election for town supervisor one, with candidates Mike Benson and David Bartz drawing 60 votes each. Both names were put into a hat to determine the winner, and David Bartz will be taking the seat.

Steven Boyd bested opponent Robert Utphall 73-51 for town supervisor two, and incumbent town treasurer Laura Rasmussen handily defeated challenger Carla Benson with 115 votes to 10.

Village of Knapp

Incumbent village president Mike Friest chose to step away from the office with the end of his most recent term, which left Georgene Close and Ronald Finder challenging each other for his spot.

The Village of Knapp overwhelmingly approved of Close, who took 77 votes to Finder’s 37 for the village’s top office.

Village of Wilson

Incumbent President Dennis Cowan and trustee Michelle Nelson will maintain their spots after handily defeating challenger Jennifer Thatcher for both positions.

Thatcher earned just 10 votes for president and 10 for trustee, while Cowan kept his seat with 31 votes, and Nelson stayed put after earning 29.