Yesterday (May 31) was the deadline for candidates to file for elected city, county, statewide office as well as congressional races for the 2022 election cycle.
In Brooklyn Park, voters will be choosing a new mayor and a councilmember for each of the three districts, East, West and Central. Each district has two councilmembers serving staggered terms.
Three candidates have filed to run for mayor and incumbent Lisa Jacobson is not one of them. Jacobson announced in early May that she was “retiring from politics after six years on the City Council to focus on my family, my career, and my business.”
The three that have filed are Boyd Morson, Wynfred Russell and Hollies Winston. Their filing sets the stage for the election of the city’s first Black mayor. Since more than two candidates filed, an August 9 primary is necessary to narrow the field to two for the November 8 general election.
Winston lost by two votes to incumbent Jacobson in the August 2021 special election. Morson and Russell were candidates in the primary election leading to that August 2021 special election, where they received 348 and 291 votes respectively, against Jacobson’s 1,291 and Winston’s 1,854.
Morson is one of two current councilmembers representing the Central District. The City Council on March 7 censured him for violating the city’s “respectful workplace policy” and the elected officials code of conduct policy. If Morson becomes mayor it will trigger a special election to fill his council seat.
Russell is one of two councilmembers representing the West District and his term will be up following the November election. His running for mayor means his is an open seat and will not trigger a special election should he become mayor. His election to the City Council in 2018 made him the first Liberian American to serve on the Brooklyn Park City Council.
For the City Council races, there will be no primary election in the East District as only two candidates filed. The two, Indred Alexander and Christian Eriksen, will go straight to the November 8 election. Eriksen previously ran unsuccessfully in the Central District but his home has been redistricted into the East District.
The Central District has attracted for candidates Latrina Caldwell, Warren Carey, Nichole Klonowski and Teshite Wako. They are bidding to fill the open seat currently held by Tonja West-Hafner who is now in the West District following redistricting. West-Hafner is now running in the West District where she will battle it out with four other candidates; Yelena Kurdyumova, Henry Momanyi, Wayland Richards and Maria Tran.
Both the East and West Districts will require a primary on August 9 to narrow the field to two for each district that will proceed to the November 8 general election.
Early voting
June 24: That is the date early voting via mail or in person begins for the August 9 primary where needed. It will go through August 8.
July 19: This is the date you need to register as a voter in advance to save you time on the August 9 Primary Election Day. Otherwise, you can register on August 9 at your voting place.
Your polling place might have changed
Due to redistricting following the 2020 Census, your polling place and precinct might have changed. Brooklyn Park City Clerk Devin Montero says voters should use the Minnesota Secretary of State website to determine where to vote. The link is: https://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us/
More info: Visit the City of Brooklyn Park Elections page.
About Tom Gitaa Gitaa, Editor-in-Chief
Born and raised in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa, Tom is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Mshale which has been reporting on the news and culture of African immigrants in the United States since 1995. He has a BA in Business from Metro State University and a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was the original host of Talking Drum, the signature current affairs show on the African Broadcasting Network (ABN-America), which was available nationwide in the United States via the Dish Network satellite service. On the show, he interviewed Nobel laureates such as 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the peace prize and heads of states. Tom has served and chaired various boards including Global Minnesota (formerly Minnesota International Center), the sixth largest World Affairs Council in the United States. He has previously served as the first Black President of the Board of Directors at Books for Africa. He also serves on the boards of New Vision Foundation and the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. He has previously served two terms on the board of the United Nations Association. An avid runner, he retired from running full marathons after turning 50 and now only focuses on training for half marathons.
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