I apologize for the untimeliness of this post, but I was hoping that someone else would announce the results of the District 63 DFL endorsing convention that was held this past Saturday, June 8, at the Richfield Middle School, 70th and 12th Avenue. Since I was one of the candidates seeking endorsement, I was hoping that someone with less vested personal interest would have made the initial announcement of the results, but seeing none and in view of the fact that this information is now 4 days old and getting colder by the minute, please allow me to indulge. The new District 63 goes all the way from the south shore of Lake Harriet to the bottom of Bloomington along the Minnesota River. The new District 63A includes about half of Windom (mostly the part that was in the old 63B), all of Kenny and Armatage, a portion of Lynnhurst and approximately the western 2/3 of Richfield. The new District 63B includes the eastern 1/3 of Richfield and a portion of eastern Bloomington that runs all the way down to the Minnesota River, including the Mall of America area. The district includes the MSP airport, Fort Snelling and the National Cemetery. There were 2 candidates for Senate, incumbent Jane Ranum and former 63B Rep Edwina Garcia. Edwina Garcia is a former Richfield City Council member and a member of the Minnesota House, first elected in 1990 through 1998 when she was the DFL candidate for Secretary of State against current SOS Mary Kiffmeyer. Jane Ranum has been the senator in the district since 1990. Senator Ranum indicated that she would abide by the party endorsement and Edwina Garcia indicated that she intended on running in the primary regardless of the results. I may be slightly off on the credential information, but I think that there were 164 delegates at the convention, approximately 110 from the 63A side and the rest from the 63B side (some help here from others on the list in attendance would be appreciated). Senator Ranum was endorsed on the first ballot, with results something like 70.something % to Garcia's 28.something %. Once again, did not write down exact figures. The DFL primary race in SD 63 will feature Ranum vs. Garcia. In the 63A race, there were 4 candidates. Lynnhurst resident and downtown Minneapolis lawyer Paul Thissen, Richfield resident and philanthropy fundraiser Doris Rubenstein, incumbent and Richfield resident Mark Gleason and Windom/SANITI volunteer Ron Lischeid. All but Lischeid indicated that they would abide by the endorsement. All but Lischeid have been active in the DFL in the past (Lischeid was the Independence Party candidate in 63A in 2000). The results of the first ballot (think that there were 110 delegates identified by credentials) were Lischeid (2), Rubenstein (19), Gleason (40) and Thissen (49). Convention rules required Lischeid to drop. Second ballot results were Rubenstein (10), Gleason (42) and Thissen (56). Rubenstein was dropped. The third ballot votes were cast and while they were being counted, Representative Gleason went to the microphone to announce that he was ceding the election to Thissen. The DFL primary race in 63A will feature Thissen vs. Lischeid. Since I was not a participant in or an observer of the 63B race, all I can report is that incumbent Dan Larson from Bloomington was endorsed for re-election. (Sorry, I don't even know who was running against him or the election results). Hopefully, others in attendance that are on the list can provide additional information and comments if needed. Ron Lischeid Windom Still in the race
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