Slawik is new Maplewood mayor; school levies OK'd

Maplewood has a new mayor, New Brighton returned its current mayor and it was generally a good night for school levy questions after election results in the suburbs of Ramsey and Washington counties on Tuesday.

In Maplewood, former DFL state Rep. Nora Slawik, director of education for the Autism Society of Minnesota, defeated attorney Diana Longrie, who had been mayor from 2005 to 2009, by a margin of 67 to 33 percentage points. Will Rossbach did not run for re-election.

The race for two City Council seats drew four candidates, two who supported Slawik and two who backed Longrie. Slawik allies, incumbent Kathleen Juenemann and Marylee Abrams, defeated incumbent Rebecca Cave and Margaret Behrens.

Metrowide results were incomplete when this edition went to press.

Other contested races:

Falcon Heights: Keith Gosline and Pam Harris won re-election over Michael Thomas.

New Brighton: Dave Jacobsen won a second term as mayor, defeating City Council Member Mary Burg. Incumbent Gina Bauman led the vote-getters with 1,429, and challenger Brian Strub also won. Incumbent Char Samuleson, Mary Kunesh-Podein and Graeme Allen also ran. Samuelson and Strub were separated by only 11 votes.

Four incumbents were on the ballot, too. Each of them — Tracy Brunnette, David Kemper and Katy McElwee-Stevens, who were pursuing four-year terms, and Laurie Johnson, seeking a two-year seat — had promoted passage of the three spending measures.

With 13 of 14 precincts reporting, Brunnette, McElwee-Stevens, and Katie Schwartz were leading. Johnson was outpolling her three opponents.

Voters in the South Washington County School District were asked whether to renew existing school operating levies, provide an additional $6.9 million in annual operating funds and whether to dedicate $8 million toward the purchase of land for future building needs. With 13 of 14 precincts reporting, the first two questions were heading for approval, while the third was too close to call.

In other results:

Mahtomedi: The Mahtomedi Public Schools, the smallest in Washington County with 3,305 students in 2012-13, was proposing to increase its voter-backed operating levy to $1,199 per pupil. The question was defeated, with 55 percent voting "no."

Staff writer Anthony Lonetree contributed to this report.