Clark Johnson won Tuesday's DFL primary election in Mankato's House District 19A and will move on to the Feb. 12 special election, where he'll face Republican Allen Quist and the Independence Party's Tim Gieseke.
Johnson had been nominated by area DFLers, and three challengers had agreed to suspend their campaigns. But the timing of the nominating convention meant all four were on Tuesday's primary ballot.
The results:
- Clark Johnson, 641 votes, 66.3%
- Karl Johnson, 352 votes, 26%
- Timothy Strand, 51 votes, 5.3%
- Robin Courrier, 23 votes, 2.4%
The special election in two weeks will fill the vacancy created when DFLer Terry Morrow resigned after winning the November election. He took a new job in Chicago.
There's also a Feb. 12 special election in House District 14A, in the St. Cloud area, to replace Republican Steve Gottwalt, who also won in November but resigned to take a lobbying job.
The 14A candidates are: Republican Tama Theis, DFLer Joanne Dorsher and Independence Party candidate Todd McKee.