In Rochester, incumbents keep power in local elections after partisan campaigns

ROCHESTER — Voters here favored the incumbents as Mayor Kim Norton defeated challenger Britt Noser with 58% of the vote. Norton was elected to a second term in a race seen as a referendum not only on her but on Rochester's increasingly progressive growth in recent years.

Likewise, Rochester Public Schools Board incumbents Jean Marvin, Cathy Nathan and Julie Workman, along with newcomer Justin Cook, defeated a conservative slate of candidates to secure board seats for the next four years.

Cook, Nathan and Workman captured 60% or more of the vote in their respective races, while Marvin won with 57% of the vote.

The mayor's race and the school board elections were largely partisan affairs, in some instances driven more by national culture wars and talking points than local issues.

The conservative slate of school board candidates — Kimberly Rishavy, Rae Parker, Elena Niehoff and John Whelan — called themselves 4 Your Children and ran on a platform to introduce more discipline in the classroom and focus less on the diversity and equality initiatives the district is undertaking.

At the state level, Democrats took most of Rochester's legislative races due in part to redistricting.

Democratic state Rep. Liz Boldon flipped the Senate District 25 seat of retiring state Sen. Dave Senjem. Boldon collected 58% of the vote in a district that shifted this year to encompass more urban precincts with more voters who supported Democrats in the past.

Senjem announced his retirement from the Minnesota Legislature earlier in April to run for an Olmsted County commissioner's seat, citing a desire to work on other issues after 20 years in state government.

Republican state Sen. Carla Nelson held off DFL challenger Aleta Borrud for the second election in a row, this time garnering 53% of the vote. State Rep. Tina Liebling, a DFL leader in the House, kept her seat, while Democratic newcomers Kim Hicks and Andy Smith won seats representing the Rochester area.

Rochester City Council Members Shaun Palmer and Patrick Keane won re-election, while newcomer Norman Wahl defeated Vangie Castro to replace outgoing Council Member Nick Campion.

Aparna Kattamuri, 38, brought her children with her to vote for the first time since she became a citizen. She said she was excited to exercise her right to vote after 15 years in this country and voted for local candidates she thought would preserve Rochester's sense of community.

"Rochester is such a diverse place," she said. "I would like to keep it that way."

County Commissioners Gregg Wright and Sheila Kiscaden won re-election — Kiscaden ran unopposed — while Laurel Podulke-Smith, Brian Mueller, Michelle Rossman and Senjem earned four open commissioner seats. Podulke-Smith will replace her mother, outgoing commissioner Stephanie Podulke, on the County Board next year.