(Michael Holmstrom, Jr. – Republican – Buffalo)
Voters in Wright County elected a new Minnesota Senator for Senate District 29 on Tuesday.
Republican Michael Holmstrom, Jr. of Buffalo defeated DFL’er Louis McNutt for the seat that was left open after the unexpected death of longtime GOP State Senator Bruce Anderson of Buffalo this past July.
The District 29 seat stayed with the GOP caucus with Holmstrom receiving 12,328 votes or about 62 percent to 7,459 votes, or some 37 percent for McNutt.
The other State Senate special election was in District 47, where the seat was open due to the resignation of DFL Senator Nicole Mitchell after her conviction on two felony burglary counts related to a break-in at the home of her stepmother in Detroit Lakes in 2024. The DFL maintained control of that seat with Democrat Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger defeating Republican Dwight Dorau. Hemmingsen-Jaeger received 13,527 votes to 8383 votes for Dorau.
The decisions in the two districts means that the DFL will maintain a one vote majority in the Minnesota Senate.
The rest of the voting on Tuesday was in select school districts in Wright County, where voters passed all of the referendum questions presented to them.
Voters in District 876 in Annandale approved an operating revenue increase proposal, with 2328 YES votes, and 1808 NO votes. The levy referendum was for an increase of $750 per pupil to begin in 2026, and continue with inflationary adjustments for 10 years.
Monticello School District voters said yes to a revocation of the existing $775 dollars per pupil operating levy, to be replaced with a new authorization for $1550 dollars per pupil. The Monticello vote was 3007YES, and 2645 NO. The new 10-year levy will begin in 2026.
In District 883 in Rockford, voters had two questions on the ballot. The first was a general education revenue increase proposal of $633 dollars per pupil for a 10 year period to begin in 2026. Voters said yes to Question 1, with 1383 YES votes, to 964 NO ballots. Since Question 1 passed, a second question was then also in play. Question 2 proposed a levy of roughly $250 thousand dollars yearly for 10 years for safety and security technology upgrades, as well as upgrades to technology infrastructure and network improvements, device replacement, and to pay the costs of technology related personnel and training. Rockford voters also approved the second question by nearly the exact margin as Question 1, with 1369 YES votes, to 977 NO votes.
Voters in the St. Michael-Albertville School District also voted on two questions. The first was a per pupil increase in revenue over 10 years that would be gradually phased-in. The proposal was for an increase of $275 dollars per pupil for 2026 and ’27, to be followed by an $835 per pupil increase that would be in place from 2028 through 2035. Voters approved the levy question with 3662 YES votes, and 2542 NO votes. Because Question 1 passed, the vote on a second question also became viable. Voters were asked in Question 2 to approve a bond proposal of $21 million dollars for safety and security improvements at district buildings, updates to learning technology and related infrastructure, completion of maintenance and facility upgrades, construction of a K-12 science technology program along with an engineering and STEM math component, as well as upgrades to school district media centers. Question 2 also passed in District 885, with 3510 votes YES, to 2687 votes NO.
In two districts just outside of Wright County, Becker School District voters said no to a $200 dollar per pupil operating levy referendum. The referendum failed with 840 NO votes, to 500 Yes votes. There was an open School Board seat in the Becker district. Renee Regel was unopposed in the race, and won with 970 votes.
Meanwhile in nearby Big Lake, voters turned down a $640 dollar per pupil operating levy question. 1331 voters said NO, while 1166 voters said YES.
Since the first question on the ballot failed, a second question that proposed just over $36.2 million dollars for a bond for improvements to school sites and facilities to include construction of a multi-purpose building addition automatically failed, though the official vote was NO, by a 59 percent to 40 percent margin.
