Remaining Rochester city council candidates prepare for next phase following primary election
(ABC 6 News) – In tight races across the city, the voters of Rochester made their voices heard on who they wanted to see on the November ballot, whittling 14 candidates down to eight.
Some are old faces.
Current City Council Member Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick of ward 4 is the only candidate left running for the same position.
“I didn’t think I was going to rank this high quite frankly,” Kirkpatrick said, “but my strategy was to sit back and listen and the people spoke and I’m very grateful.”
Her opponent, Andy Friederichs, is keeping that in mind though as he prepares his next moves over the coming months.
“(I’ll) keep working hard and get out and meet as many people as I can,” Freidrichs said. “Let them know who I am, get to know who they are and what their needs and wants are.”
Kirkpatrick isn’t the only candidate voters will be familiar with.
Shaun Palmer, the current ward 5 council member, came out of the primary victorious in the race for city council president.
“We won big,” Palmer said. “Any time that you win the primary that’s huge because that sends that message.”
But Randy Schubring, the other candidate that race, is still confident in the show of support he felt from yesterday’s voters.
“We felt really good about the race yesterday,” said Schubring. “We’re running against an incumbent ward representative and we were able to hold him to less than 50% in his own ward.”
The rest of the races feature all new faces to the ballot.
In ward 2, Nick Miller and Tripp Welch will be facing off to take over the seat from Mark Bransford, who did not seek re-election.
Miller expressed his sentiment towards the work already done, and the work yet to come.
“I’m very proud of the work that we’ve done and I look forward to continuing to talk and dream about what Rochester’s future looks like over the next couple months leading up to the general election,” Miller said.
Meanwhile, Welch is eager to engage more directly with voters in the future.
“I’m looking forward to finding those areas where people are gathering, going in and joining them in their conversation,” said Welch.
The most contentious race in this election, however, was in ward 6.
There, two brand new candidates, Dan Doering and Mark Schleusner, beat out the incumbent Molly Dennis for the top spots.
“I think the voters made it clear that they’re looking for maybe some different kinds of thoughts and ideas and opinions about where the city might be going,” said Doering.
For both ward 6 and Rochester as a whole, it seems change is on the horizon.
“I think it is what I heard when I went out and walked through all the precincts and talked to the people,” said Schleusner. “The thing that they wanted to simply see was change.”
In a statement provided to ABC 6, City Council Member Molly Dennis responded to the results of the ward 6 race, saying:
“With the unprecedented growth occurring in our city, residents need strong full-time representation now more than ever. I have led with compassionate collaboration and have spoken up for resident’s needs. I am saddened by the low turnout in the primary (less than 2,000 of the nearly 20,000 residents in ward 6 voting). I will continue to work hard to advocate for the residents of ward 6. Rochester needs to celebrate differences so that we can live in a more safe, just, and inclusive community.”