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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.

 

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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.

Find out what's happening in Apple Valley-Rosemountwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

STATE SENATE DISTRICT 57

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.

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At 11:15 p.m., with almost half of the precincts reporting, Clausen was defeating Republican challenger Pat Hall 55 percent to 44 percent.

"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.

This page contains local election results only. For presidential election, senate race, congressional election and constitutional amendment results, please clickhere.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Apple Valley City Council

Name Total Votes Percentage

Tom Goodwin*

8324 31.93

Ruth Grendahl*

7827 30.03

Michael Holsten

3073 11.79

Wilma Ruppert

3535 13.56

Nicholas Stepka

3122

11.98

Rosemount City Council

Name Total Votes Percentage

Vanessa Olson Demuth

5274 33.79

Joe Kurle

3126 20.03

Jeff Weisensel*

4759 30.49

Joseph P. Zanmiller

2349 15.05

Dakota County Commissioner, District 4 (Rosemount)

Name Total Votes Percentage Bill Klein 11601 49.33

Nancy Schouweiler*

11807 50.21

Dakota County Commissioner, District 7 (Apple Valley and Rosemount)

Name Total Votes Percentage Chris Gerlach 11901 60.50 Vicki Swanson 7670 38.98

STATE HOUSE

House District 57A (Apple Valley)

Name Party Total Votes Percentage

Roberta Gibbons

DFL 7359 46.76

Tara Mack*

GOP 8350

53.06

House District 57B (Apple Valley and Rosemount)

Name Party Total Votes Percentage

Jeff Wilfahrt

DFL 9482 46.18

Anna Wills 

GOP 11024 53.69

STATE SENATE

Senate District 57 (Apple Valley and Rosemount)

Name Party Total Votes Percentage

Greg Clausen

DFL

19764 53.99

Pat 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:

Lakeville | Burnsville | Northfield | Mendota Heights | Inver Grove Heights |Eagan

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