St. Paul Electoral Redux - 2001

Some give and take in the comments regarding the Coleman endorsement prompted me to do a little research. I didn't recall how close the last mayoral race was, but do recall the tumult of the campaign. So here is a little history lesson on what happened after the endorsement in 2001

Benanav was the DFL endorsed candidate, but there were several DFLers that chose to continue on into the primary. St. Paul doesn't have a 'DFL' primary, it is an open primary if more then 2 candidates are in the race. Benanav WON the primary, with Kelly in 2nd. There were 16 people in that primary. Benanav 11,441; Kelly 10,006; Long 6,456; Blakey 4,564, Kessler 2,187; Megard 1,989 and the rest with under 350 votes. (PDF)

So they went on to the general Election in November. In that Election Kelly had 29,819 and Benanav 29,416 with 320 write-ins. Talk about a close race! Of course, that was before the city found out Kelly was a DINO.

Swiftee brought up the school board slate, which, believe it or not, I do share some of the same concerns he does. I will be reviewing that race some time soon as well.

Flash