Haus, Pemble, Zuzek are local winners, Hudella and Seeberger claim state seats

Voter turnout was high in Tuesday’s fall election throughout the area.

Angie Haus and Dave Pemble will take seats on the Hastings City Council as the top two vote-getters in the fall election, Nov. 8.

Mark Zuzek easily captured the open seat on the Hastings School Board.

For local statewide races, voters chose Republican Shane Hudella for the District 41B House of Representatives seat and Democrat Judy Seeberger for the District 41 Senate seat. Here’s a look at the final voting tally: City of Hastings races

Mayor Mary Fasbender ran unopposed. She collected 8,063 votes and will start her second term at the helm of the city.

Hastings City Council

Lori Braucks and Mark Vaughan both decided against seeking re-election. A primary election in August pared the list of final candidates from six to four. Haus earned 4,303 votes (29.02 percent) of the ballots cast. Pemble earned 3,732 votes (25.17 percent). Tom Wright had 3,603 votes (24.3 percent) and Ian Martin had 3,106 votes (20.94 percent). There were 86 write-in votes.

Haus commented, “I am humbled and honored to be elected your next Hastings City Council Member at Large. I am very grateful to my partner Kris, family, my campaign team, friends, voters, and our outstanding community for helping me lead with a positive and respectful campaign. Thank you for being with me every step of the way. I am going to work hard for our community to make sure that they are proud they supported me, and to ensure a thriving future for all. Please contact me with any questions. Thank you for electing me Hastings, I’m excited to get started in January.”

Pemble said it was a well-run election by all candidates. “After a long night of waiting for results, I can confirm that in January, my view of the council meetings will change to a seat on the dais,” he said. “My best to Tom Wright and Ian Martin for a great race. As always folks can contact me at [email protected] gmail.com. “I’m looking forward to serving our community and it’s residents! Thank you for your support.”

Hastings School District

A seat on the Hastings School District Board of Education had to be filled by special election when board member Mike Ries resigned his seat in July. Zuzek will be seated as soon as canvassing is done and the election is certified and will serve the remainder of Reis’ term, which runs through 2024.

Zuzek earned 7,584 votes (52.22 percent of ballots cast), while Todd Kullmann had 5,372 votes (36.99 percent) and Pamela Onnen had 1,519 votes (10.46 percent).

Zuzek said, “I am extremely proud and happy to be selected as the person to fill the vacancy on the Hastings Public Schools School Board! As you know, I have devoted the bulk of my life to serving the community as a leader in ISD 200. I believe that I am uniquely well-prepared to serve as a school board member. I understand the role of a school board member is to provide stable and consistent governance and guidance for the superintendent and the administration. I am well prepared to serve the primary role of a school board member, which is the representation of the community. I have lived in this community my entire life, and I have been involved in many service-oriented roles. I understand the high expectations that the community has for our school district. In my role as a school board member, I look forward to working with my six colleagues to ensure that the school district is ready to serve the diverse needs of all of our students.

“I want to express my gratitude to both Ms. Pam Onnen and Mr. Todd Kullman for their civility and passion. I always knew that their goals were the same as mine. They wanted to serve the children, families, and broader community as a school board member. It takes a strong gut and a confident sense of self-worth to ‘put yourself out there.’” Dakota County

Mike Slavik, who represents District 1 (including Hastings) on the Dakota County Board ran unopposed for re-election in the District 1 seat. He earned 20,696 votes.

Joe Leko ran unopposed for Dakota County Sheriff and received 133,309 votes.

In the race for Dakota County Attorney, Kathy Keena retains the seat, defeating Matt Little, 84,519-78,846. Keena received 51.52 percent of the vote to Little’s 48.06 percent.

Kevin Chamberlain was elected as District 1 Soil and Water Supervisor, running unopposed with 27,770 votes.

State Representative – District 41B

Two Hastings residents squared off in the race. Hudella defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate Tina Folch by a 9,783-9,365 margin. Hudella had 51.05 percent of the vote, compared to Folch’s 48.87 percent.

Hudella commented on the victory. “I am so deeply honored that the people of Hastings, Cottage Grove, Denmark and Nininger Townships have put their trust and confidence in me to represent their voice at the State Capitol. I look forward to doing great things for our community to help make it an even better place to live, work, and raise our families. Thank you so much again, I am truly humbled by your faith in me,” he said.

The voting breakdown by municipality in the district is as follows: City of Hastings – Hudella 4,898, Folch 4,787 Nininger Township – Hudella 322, Folch 184 City of Cottage Grove – Folch 4,067, Hudella 3,458 Denmark Township – Hudella 465, Folch 327 State Senator – District 41

In an extremely close race, Seeberger prevailed with 21,536 votes (50.33 percent), over Republican Tom Dippel 21,215 (49.58 percent).

The voting breakdown by municipality in the Senate race is as follows: City of Hastings – Dippel 5,349, Seeberger 4,969 Nininger Township – Dippel 323, Seeberger 182 Afton Township – Seeberger 1,015, Dippel 845 Baytown Township -Dippel 685, Seeberger 595 City of Cottage Grove – Seeberger 7,946, Dippel 6,877 Denmark Township – Dippel 650, Seeberger 466 City of Grant – Dippel 933, Seeberger 733 City of Lake Elmo – Seeberger 3,473, Dippel 3,339 City of Lake St. Croix Beach – Seeberger 348, Dippel 272 City of Lakeland – Dippel 497, Seeberger 494 City of Lakeland Shores – Seeberger 95, Dippel 93 City of St. Mary’s Point – Seeberger 125, Dippel 104 West Lakeland Township – Dippel 1,248, Seeberger 1,095 Seeberger did not return an email for comment on Monday. Statewide Races

Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (DFL) were easily re-elected by a 52.27-44.61 percent margin over Republican challengers Scott Jensen and Matt Birk. In District 41B voting, Walz and Flanagan prevailed, 9,631-9,054.

In the race for US District 2 Congressional Representative, incumbent Angie Craig (DFL) defeated Tyler Kistner by a 50.87-45.65 percent margin. Voters in the 41B District, Craig collected9,262 votes, compared to 9,239 for Kistner.

Hastings voters passionate!

Hastings Assistant City Administrator Kelly Murtagh said voting went smoothly.

“I think things went pretty well on Tuesday. There was a better than average turnout for a midterm election (69% of registered voters) -but that also may be typical for the City of Hastings. While voters may be passionate about a particular slate of candidates or issues, Hastings voters also appear to be passionate about participating in the voting process. Over 8,000 voters cast ballots on election day. We are so grateful for our staff, election judges, polling place host sites, and county staff -this could not happen without the coordinated efforts of all,” Murtagh said.

She said there were 2,373 absentee ballots, including those placed in the ballot drop box the city put in for the election.

She said there were several ballots left in the box daily. “I do not have a separate count of ballots that came via the ballot drop box, but generally there were 1-5 ballots daily during the absentee voting period, with usage increasing as we got closer to election day. Everything went very well with the ballot box. It was one additional secure way for voters to submit their ballot,” she said.

There were over 140 election judges who assisted during the absentee period or on election day.

“We could not have managed the election without them. They did a great job,” said Murtagh.

Dave Pemble

Mark Zuzek

Shane Hudella

Judy Seeberger

Hastings Mayor Mary Fasbender

Dakota County District 1 Commissioner Mike Slavik