The Hastings city ballot is starting to take shape for 2026, with familiar names in the mayor’s race and at-large City Council contest, while the school board portion of the election remains a little more of a waiting game.
Mayor Mary D. Fasbender has filed for what would be her third term leading the city. Fasbender filed May 20. She has served as mayor since 2018 and was re-elected in 2022. This year, she is being challenged by Geoffrey Norquist, who filed June 2.
The mayor’s race gives voters a clear incumbent-versus-challenger matchup. Fasbender enters the campaign with two terms behind her and a long public profile in Hastings. City information describes her as a lifelong Hastings resident and small business owner who founded MDK Design for Hair at age 23. She also is credited as a co-founder of the Gobble Gait Thanksgiving Day Run, which benefits Hastings Family Service.
The at-large council race also brings familiar faces. Four candidates have filed for two seats: Angie Haus, Dave Pemble, Mitchel Kulage and Lee Albert Wickboldt. Haus filed May 20, Pemble and Wickboldt filed May 19, and Kulage filed June 1.
Haus and Pemble are both current at-large council members. City records list each as elected in 2022, with current terms expiring Dec. 31, 2026. That means both are running after completing their most recent four-year terms on the council.
The 2022 election gives a little context for this year’s race. In that contest, Haus received 4,303 votes, or 29.02 percent, while Pemble received 3,732 votes, or 25.17 percent. Both won seats in a four-candidate field. Fasbender, who was unopposed except for write-ins in 2022, received 8,061 votes, or 96.40 percent.
Hastings has a council structure built around four wards, two at-large council members and a mayor elected by the full city. The mayor and council serve staggered four-year terms, a setup meant to keep some continuity at City Hall even when election years bring change. The city says the mayor and council represent more than 22,000 residents, set policy, approve the annual budget and determine the annual property tax levy.
The school board election is also on the horizon, though candidate names are not available yet. Three members of the seven-member Hastings Public Schools Board, ISD 200, have terms expiring Jan. 1, 2027, and those seats are part of the November 2026 election. The members with expiring terms are Jessica Dressely, vice-chairperson, Mark Zuzek, treasurer, and Carrie Tate, chairperson.
The school board filing window runs from July 15 to July 28, so voters will have to wait until later in the summer to see who files. That gives the school board race a different pace from the city contests, where the field is already visible.
The Hastings School Board is made up of seven community members elected at-large in even-numbered years. To keep all seven seats from turning over at once, the seats are staggered. Four seats appear on the ballot in one election year, followed by the remaining three two years later. Members serve four-year terms.
The board’s role is broad but practical. It sets policies meant to guide the district’s mission, hires the superintendent to administer the district’s educational program and carry out board policies, and approves an annual budget to ensure public funds are used properly and effectively.
For voters, the 2026 local election will involve decisions at both City Hall and in the school district. The city races are already set, with one mayor’s seat, two at-large council seats and six candidates in the mix. The school board race still has a blank space where candidate names will eventually go.
That blank space will not last long. By late July, the local ballot should have a fuller shape, and Hastings voters will have a better sense of who wants a say in the city’s streets, taxes, development, schools, budgets and the daily work of public service.