By Rich Larson
Northfield voters chose Katy Vondrasek, Peder Jothen and Sean Allen for the City Council in Tuesday’s general election, according to unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office.
All three council seats will have new members in January. Councilors Jessica Peterson White, Davin Sokup and Kathleen Holmes did not seek re-election .
At-Large
In the at-large race, which all Northfield voters decided, Vondrasek defeated Adam Wale with 62.9% of the vote. Vondrasek received 5,517 votes while Wale received 36.4%, or 3,196 votes.
Vondrasek, a former employee of a Fortune 100 company, has posted updates on City Council business on Facebook for several years, and ran on a campaign calling for financial restraint by the City of Northfield.. Wale is a former military intelligence officer. In the August primary, Vondrasek received about 61% of the vote, Wale about 25%.
Ward 1
In Ward 1, Sean Allen, a former member of the City Council and the Executive Director of the Northfield History Center defeated Kris Johnson with 57% of the vote, 1,357 votes to 990.
In a statement to KYMN, Allen said the City of Northfield has “so many opportunities as a community,” and that he is excited to get to work on the Council. He also noted that every candidate took a risk in seeking office, and he applauds them all.
Ward 4
In Ward 4, Peder Jothen defeated James Clinton with 66% of the vote, 1170 votes to 572.
Jothen teaches in the religion department at St. Olaf College and previously worked in affordable housing. He has lived in Northfield for 20 years. In the August primary, Jothen received about 65% of the vote and Clinton about 26%.
School Board
In the Northfield school board race where the top three vote getters won seats, incumbents Ben Miller and Jeff Quinnell were re-elected. Miller received about 42% of the vote with 8,886, while Quinnell received about 40% with 8,599. 3,681 write-in votes were cast. Assumedly, most of them were for Alyssa Melby, who ran a write-in vote campaign. However, write-in votes are initially reported as a batch. The names of those receiving write-in votes and vote totals will be reported later today.
Senate District 58
Senate District 58, DFL endorsed candidate Mark Legvold defeated Republican incumbent Senator Bill Lieske with 50.7% of the vote. Legvold received 22,889 votes to Lieske’s 22,226, or 49.3%.
Legvold’s vote total is outside the margin of victory to trigger an automatic recount. Lieske does have the right to request a recount. His campaign would be required to pay for it.
Lieske, a chiropractor from Lonsdale, was seeking his second term. He was first elected in 2022, with about 53% of the vote. DFL candidate Mark Legvold, a local farmer, won the party’s Senate District 58 endorsement at its April convention in Farmington. The district includes parts of Dakota, Goodhue, Rice and Scott counties.
House District 58A
In House District 58A,DFL incumbent Representative Kristi Pursell was elected to a third term with 63% of the vote, over her challenger Steve Cherney who received 37%. Pursell received 10,122 votes to Cherney’s 5,925.
Pursell was first elected in 2022 and won re-election in 2024 with about 52% of the vote.
Rich Larson is the owner and General Manager of KYMN Radio. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
