In the most contested race ever for Wright County Sheriff, Sean Deringer won by a narrow margin over Mike Kaczmarek during Tuesday’s 2018 general election.

 

What started out as a five-man race at the primaries in August, Deringer and Kaczmarek received the most votes to move on to Tuesday’s election.

 

Wright County voters split almost 50/50, with Deringer taking the spot with 26,823 votes to Kaczmarek’s 25,679. There were also 195 write-in votes.

 

Dist. 1 Commissioner Christine Husom was re-elected, beating Victor Florell 7,134 to 3,793, with 43 write-in votes.

 

Incumbent Dist. 3 Commissioner Mark Daleiden kept his seat, beating challenger Chuck Schauss, 5,185 to 3,181.

 

In two non-contested county races, Robert Hiivala retained his seat as auditor/treasurer with 42,228 votes. There were 333 write-in votes.

 

Incumbent County Attorney Tom Kelly also kept his seat with 41,753 votes to 318 write-ins.

 

In two uncontested races in the City of Clearwater, Andrea Lawrence Wheeler will be mayor in 2019. She received 531 votes to 42 write-ins.

 

For the two open city council seats, Wayne Krutchen received 443 votes and incumbent Councilman Kris Crandall got 410. There were also 34 write-in votes.

Clearwater Twp. also had two uncontested races.

 

Incumbent Supervisor Scott Miller received 534 votes to 15 write-ins and will retain his seat.

 

Incumbent Township Clerk Jean Just got 550 votes to three write-ins.

 

When it came to state-level races, even though the DFL landed most seats statewide, the majority of Clearwater City voters went Republican, giving Jim Newberger the edge over Incumbent Amy Klobuchar, 356-288 for U.S. Senator. They also chose Karin Housley, 402-229 over Tina Smith in the special election for U.S. Senator.

 

City voters chose Tom Emmer over Ian Todd, 436 to 238 for the Dist. 6 House seat, and picked Jeff Johnson over Tim Walz, 396 to 242 for Governor.

 

It was the same in Clearwater Twp. : Newberger 415 - Klobuchar 278; Housley 457 - Smith 220; Emmer 491 - Todd 219; Johnson 452 - Walz 234. 

 

Township voters also chose Shane Mekeland over Karla Scapanski, 439 to 236 for the State Representative Dist. 15B seat.