Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - There will be a couple new faces on both the Olmsted County Board and Rochester School Board and one new face on the Rochester City Council as a result of the 2016 election.

One of the new faces on the county board will be Gregg Wright, who defeated longtime County Commissioner Paul Wilson by a margin of 57 to 42-percent. Mark Thein also handily defeated incumbent Lou Ohly by a garnering 60-percent of the vote. Commissioners Jim Bier and Stephanie Podulke ran unopposed.

The newcomers on the Rochester School Board are Don Barlow and Mark Schleusner. Barlow defeated incumbent Richard Hinds by a 2 to 1 margin, while Schleusner received 70-percent of the vote to easily defeat Ahmed Ragab for the seat that is being vacated by Dan O’Neil. Incumbent Deborah Seelinger was reelected after turning back a challenge by Bobby Gallas with 56-percent of the vote.

Randy Staver will remain president of the Rochester City Council. He defeated challenger Sean Allen by a 53 to 46-percent margin in what is believed to be the most expensive political race in the history of the City Council. Annalissa Johnson was elected to succeed the retiring Sandra Means by defeating Patrick “PJ” Day 53 to 46-percent for the Sixth Ward seat on the Council. Michael Wojcik won a heated race against challenger Scott Hoss by a 54 to 45-percent margin to retain his seat representing the Second Ward and Mark Bilderback easily won reelection in the Fourth Ward with 68-percent of the vote compared to 30-percent for Nicholas Moucha.

All of the incumbents representing Rochester in the State Legislature easily won re-election, while a former member of the Minnesota legislature was narrowly defeated in the race for the District 25B House seat vacated by Democrat Kim Norton. Republican Fran Bradley lost to Democrat Duane Sauke by fewer than 800 votes.

The preliminary results show almost 90-percent of Olmsted County's' registered voters participated in the election.

 

Rochester City Council

Council President  

Randy Staver  53%

Sean Allen      46%

Ward 2   

Michael Wojcik  54%

Scott Hoss         45%

Ward 4 

Mark Bilderback    68%

Nicholas Moucha  30%

Ward 6 

Annalissa Johnson   53%

Patrick “PJ” Day       46%

Rochester School Board

Position 1

Richard Hinds   32%

Don Barlow       67%

Position 3

Deborah Seelinger   56%

Bobbie Gallas          42%

Position 7 

Mark Schleusner    70%

Ahmed Ragab        28%

Olmsted County Board

District 1

Stephanie Podulke (unopposed)

District 3

Paul Wilson     42%

Gregg Wright   57%

District 5

Jim Bier (unopposed)

District 7   10 of 11 precincts

Lou Ohly      39%

Mark Thein  60%

State Legislature

Senate District 25

David Senjem (R)  63%

Dale Amorosia (D) 37%

Senate District 26

Carla Nelson (R)  56%

Rich Wright  (D) 44%

House District 25A

Duane Quam (R) 60%

Linda (Wally) Walbruch (D) 40%

House District 25B

Duane Sauke (D) 52%

Fran Bradley (R) 48%

House District 26A

Tina Liebling (D) 60%

Will Waggoner (R) 40%

House District 26B

Nels T. Pierson (R) 59%

John Wayne Austinson  (D) 41%

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