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Beussman win decisive

Mayor Bob Beussman

NEW ULM — Over seven hours after the polls closed, the final votes were tallied for New Ulm, and Mayor Robert Beussman won another term against challenger Kathleen Backer.

City Councilor Larry Mack narrowly won re-election to the Fourth Ward.

Beussman was at the Brown County Courthouse Tuesday evening to watch the returns come in. Around 10:30 p.m. the first eight precincts came in showing Beussman was in the lead, but it would be another five hours before any additional precincts were reported. Beussman remained at the courthouse until midnight and awoke Wednesday morning to learn he remained in the lead.

“I am excited and happy for another four years and to get things done,” Beussman said.

His focus remains on transportation and the completion of Highway 14. Beussman was optimistic that with Tim Walz moving from congressman to governor, the project will retain his support.

“I am hoping we can at least get Highway 14 from Nicollet to New Ulm,” he said.

Beussman is also hoping to find a solution to upgrading Hermann Hill and continuing the holiday garland display without going to the tax payers.

He credited Backer with a strong knowledge of writing grants and is hopeful she will provide her knowledge and assistance on these issues.

Early in the evening it had appeared as if Mack had narrowly lost the election to Andrea Boettger by 17 votes, but a change in election night procedure caused Brown County to withhold absentee and mail-in ballots even after both Ward Four precincts had initially reported in. Once these ballots were added to the total, Mack was ahead by 10 votes.

Second Ward City Councilor Lisa Fisher was also up for re-election, but Fischer ran unopposed. She easily won another term. Fischer, Mack and Beussman will next be up for election in 2022.

The local delay in election results only had an effect on one state election. The U.S. Minnesota First District election between GOP’s Jim Hagedorn and DFL’s Dan Feehan was too close to call without the votes of Brown and Mower Counties. Hagedorn had a lead over Feehan the entire night, but Mower County’s totals were unknown as of this writing. The difference will come down to a few hundred votes.

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