County voters follow statewide trends

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Douglas County voters didn’t buck any statewide trends in picking primary candidates Tuesday.

But there were a few races where the margin of victory was significantly different.

In the U.S. Representative District 7 Republican race, Lee Byberg carried Douglas County but the race was much tighter here.

Byberg, the Republicans’ endorsed candidate to run against DFLer Collin Peterson, received 527 votes while his challenger, Alan Roebke, who lives in Alexandria, picked up 435 votes.

Byberg’s 10 percent victory margin locally was much tighter than his statewide win of 22 percent.

In the DFL race for governor, Mark Dayton was a clear-cut choice in Douglas County, receiving 1,395 votes, or 48 percent of the vote while the party’s endorsed candidate, Margaret Anderson Kelliher, received 1,008 (35 percent) and Matt Entenza received 493 (17 percent).

Statewide, Dayton eked out a down-to-the-wire victory over Kelliher, winning by less than two percentage points, 41.3 percent to 39.8 percent. Entenza finished a distant third with 18 percent.

In the GOP race for governor, Tom Emmer easily defeated his three other Republican rivals by garnering 83 percent of Douglas County’s votes, which mirrors his statewide showing of 82.5 percent.

Tom Horner, an Independence candidate for governor, received 74 votes in Douglas County or 60 percent of the ballots cast while his next closest opponent, Tom Ulrich, received 20. Horner was also a big winner statewide with 64 percent of the vote.

The DFL secretary of state race in Douglas County resulted in incumbent Mark Ritchie receiving 1,999 votes or 75 percent of the total while his opponent, Dick Franson, received 681 votes. Statewide, Ritchie’s win was even more lopsided; he received 82 percent of the votes.

Douglas County voters gave Chris Barden, the GOP’s endorsed candidate for attorney general, 53 percent of the vote, allowing him to defeat challenger Sharon Anderson, 513 to 462. Barden also won statewide with 54 percent of the vote.

The DFL race for attorney general was more one-sided. The endorsed incumbent, Lori Swanson, cruised to an easy win over Leo Meyer, collecting 82 percent of the vote or 2,226 ballots to Meyer’s 494. Statewide, Swanson’s victory swelled to 86 percent.

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