Dave Larson has defeated Ron Johnson for Bemidji mayor.
Preliminary results were received early this morning from the Minnesota Secretary of State office.
The unofficial results showed that Larson beat Johnson, the current Ward 3 councilor, to take over the mayoral seat now held by Richard Lehmann.
With the loss, Johnson will retain his current position on the council, as the Ward 3 councilor seat was not up for election this year.
In the other three council seats, Jim Thompson has defeated Linda Lemmer for the at-large councilor position, Ward 2 Councilor Roger Hellquist held on to his seat as he held off Richard "Dick" Sathers and Ward 4 Councilor Jerry Downs was unseated by challenger Rita Albrecht.
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According to the unofficial results, the results were as follows:
--Mayor: Larson, 1,915 votes (52.8 percent); Johnson, 1,656 votes (45.6 percent); and 59 write-ins (1.6 percent).
--At-large councilor: Thompson, 1,736 votes (51.5 percent); Lemmer, 1,611 votes (47.8 percent); and 25 write-ins (less than 1 percent).
--Ward 2 councilor: Hellquist, 291 votes (55 percent); Sathers, 232 votes (43.9 percent); six write-ins (1.1 percent).
--Ward 4 councilor: Albrecht, 388 votes (54.5 percent); Downs, 321 votes (45 percent); and three write-ins (less than 1 percent).
Bemidji was guaranteed two new citywide representatives as both the incumbents for mayor (Lehmann) and at-large councilor (Barb Meuers) were not seeking re-election.
The Bemidji Pioneer and the Herald are both Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
