Politics & Government
Apple Valley-Rosemount General Election Results 2012
Apple Valley-Rosemount Patch's one-stop shop for election results and news from election day.
Below you will find up-to-the-minute election results for races in Apple Valley and Rosemount: Minnesota Legislature, Dakota County Commission and Apple Valley and Rosemount city councils.
STATE SENATE DISTRICT 57
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DFLer Greg Clausen, the former principal of Rosemount High School, appeared to be on track to win election to the state Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Chris Gerlach.
At 11:15 p.m., with almost half of the precincts reporting, Clausen was defeating Republican challenger Pat Hall 55 percent to 44 percent.
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"I didn't know what to expect," political newcomer Clausen said Tuesday evening at a DFL gathering in Rosemount. "I've always viewed my role as an educator as serving others, trying to educate the next generation of Minnesotans.
"This seemed to be a natural continuation of that."
After easily winning the DFL primary, Clausen won the endorsement of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association.
A Clausen win is crucial to the DFL, which has high hopes of retaking control of the state Senate.
STATE HOUSE DISTRICTS 57A AND 57B
With almost half of precincts reporting, DFLers Roberta Gibbons and Jeff Wilfahrt were trailing Republicans in their respective House districts: incumbent Rep. Tara Mack in District 57A and Anna Wills in District 57B.
Although Gibbons was trailing Mack by only 44 votes, Wilfahrt was having a more difficult time against Wills, who was ahead 52 percent to 47 percent.
CITY COUNCIL RACES
In Apple Valley, three challengers—Michael Holsten, Wilma Ruppert and Nicholas Stepka—were attempting to unseat the city’s two longest serving City Council members. But as of 10:30 p.m., it looked as if their challenges had failed.
With 22,760 votes counted, Tom Goodwin, who has served on the council since 1984, had 7,273 votes. Ruth Grendahl, first elected to the council in 1997, had 6,823 votes.
Holsten, Rupper and Stepka were all getting approximately 3,000 votes.
Goodwin, reached at home, said he had no concerns that the percentages would change as final votes are counted. The apparent victory of council incumbents, he said, reflect the fact that "the city's in great shape."
Apple Valley, he noted, was recently named a Top 20 city by Money magazine; it has an AAA bond rating and it has lowered property taxes four out of the past five years. Going forward, he said, "We want to keep our finances up to the point where we don’t endanger our bond rating and keep our property taxes level."
Mayor Mary Hamann-Roland, who isn’t up for election this year, is next in line in senority. She has been on the the council since 1999.
The top two vote-getters will get four-year council terms.
In the Rosemount City Council contest, four candidates were running for two open seats. As of 10:45 p.m., Vanessa Olson Demuth had 3,878 votes, and incumbent Jeff Weisensel had 3,476. Their opponents, Joe Kurle and Joseph P. Zanmiller, both received about far fewer votes.
Demuth said her apparent victory was a result of an effective campaign, during which she spoke with numerous city residents about their concerns. Those concerns, and her areas of focus as a city council member, include attracting more living-wage jobs to Rosemount nad building out the city's business park, as well as answering concerns about area gravel mining and the UMore site's development.
In short, "I'll be looking at responsible development," said Demuth, who is in her second term as a planning commissioner but has never before won elective office.
Two council terms end at the end of this year. Weisensel sought re-election, but fellow council member Matt Kearney did not file. Kearney joined the council two years ago to fill the term of former council member and GOP Senate candidate Kurt Bills, who lost to Amy Klobuchar.
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LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Apple Valley City Council
Name Total Votes PercentageTom Goodwin*
8324 31.93Ruth Grendahl*
7827 30.03Michael Holsten
Wilma Ruppert
3535 13.56Nicholas Stepka
312211.98
Rosemount City Council
Name Total Votes PercentageVanessa Olson Demuth
Joe Kurle
3126 20.03Jeff Weisensel*
4759 30.49Joseph P. Zanmiller
2349 15.05Dakota County Commissioner, District 4 (Rosemount)
Name Total Votes Percentage Bill Klein 11601 49.33Nancy Schouweiler*
Dakota County Commissioner, District 7 (Apple Valley and Rosemount)
Name Total Votes Percentage Chris Gerlach 11901 60.50 Vicki Swanson 7670 38.98STATE HOUSE
House District 57A (Apple Valley)
Name Party Total Votes PercentageRoberta Gibbons
DFL 7359 46.76Tara Mack*
GOP 835053.06
House District 57B (Apple Valley and Rosemount)
Name Party Total Votes PercentageJeff Wilfahrt
DFL 9482 46.18Anna Wills
GOP 11024 53.69STATE SENATE
Senate District 57 (Apple Valley and Rosemount)
Name Party Total Votes PercentageGreg Clausen
DFL
19764 53.99Pat Hall
GOP 16777 45.82*—Denotes incumbent
Looking for results from another town? To see local races from around Dakota County, such as school board, city council, and mayoral elections, you can go to Patch's Dakota County Election Hub or visit the Patch site of your choice:
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