Newcomers, incumbents win local primaries

Washington County voters on Tuesday picked two electoral newcomers in a race for county attorney and sided with incumbents in two other county races.

Primary election voters picked Stillwater residents Peter Orput and Kevin Shoeberg to advance in the race for Washington County attorney. Orput had 47 percent of the vote to Shoeberg’s 29 percent. They will face off in the Nov. 2 election. Woodbury resident Clayton Robinson finished third at 23 percent and will not advance.

Incumbents ruled in two Washington County Board races.

Commissioner Bill Pulkrabek won in the District 2 primary with 42 percent, ahead of Lake Elmo Mayor Dean Johnston’s 32 percent. They advance to November. Two other challengers – Jeff Birttnen and Joe Delaney, both of Oakdale – are out of the race.

Commissioner Myra Peterson of Cottage Grove came out on top in District 4. Cottage Grove resident Autumn Lehrke came in second and will take on Peterson in the November election. Peterson garnered 47 percent of the vote, Lehrke 35 percent. A third candidate, Colleen Millard, had 17 percent of the vote.

By far the biggest Minnesota primary contest was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party gubernatorial battle. Mark Dayton was declared the winner, beating major challengers Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Matt Entenza. Little-known candidate Peter Idusogie, a Woodbury resident, garnered less than 1 percent of the vote in the DFL gubernatorial primary.

Kelliher was favored in Washington County, where she beat Dayton 42 percent to 38 percent.

Tags: daily updates, elections, county, politics