St. Paul and Minneapolis
Mayoral Candidates
By Mai Thor
The results of the primaries
in September have determined who will be on the ballot for the
general election in November. The results show that for St. Paul,
the two candidates will be Randy Kelly and Chris Coleman. For Minneapolis,
the candidates will be RT Rybak and Peter McLaughlin. All four
candidates are Democrats. So now the question is who will you vote
for? If you are not sure, you can access more information at each
candidate’s website. Following are links:
Randy Kelly–Phone:
651-209-3490; www.randykelly.com/home.html; PO Box 75455,
St. Paul, MN 55175
Chris Coleman–Phone:
651-646-9632; www.chriscolemanformayor.com; 2500 University Avenue
West, Suite B2, Saint Paul, MN 55114
Peter McLaughlin–Phone:
612-465-0414; www.petermclaughlin.org; 1097 10th Avenue SE, Minneapolis,
MN 55414
RT Rybak–Phone:
612-871-3044; www.rtrybak.com; 3010 Hennepin Avenue South, P.O.
Box 655, Minneapolis, MN 55408
Both Kelly and Rybak are incumbents seeking a second term. Since
1991, McLaughlin has been the Hennepin County Commissioner. He intends
on taking the mayoral seat away from Rybak who was elected in 2001.
Coleman is a former City Council member of St. Paul who represented
Ward 2 from 1997 to 2003. Randy Kelly was elected in 2001 and intends
on running a strong campaign to maintain his title as mayor.
Are the primaries an
indication of who will win in the general election? Not necessarily,
but let’s look at the numbers. The race between
Rybak and McLaughlin resulted with Rybak taking on the lead with
44% and McLaughlin with 35%. These numbers are not out of the ordinary,
but could prove to make a very close race on Election Day. As for
Kelly and Coleman, the situation is quite different. Coleman swept
the primaries with 52% of the votes, leaving Kelly behind with 27%.
It may not be good news for Kelly; however, candidates losing in
a primary race have been known to come back for the victory in a
general election (including Kelly himself).
It is important to stay informed regarding the local elections.
You may be wondering what the candidates feel about disability issues.
There are many sources available that can provide this information
along with other kinds of data, however it is ultimately up to you
to figure out who you feel will be the best person in office.
You can participate in debates, forums or candidate fairs to be
informed about the issues most important to you. The campaign offices
of the candidates should be able to provide you with where and when
these events will take place. For now, the following are some events
that you can attend to either receive more information from the candidates,
or to hear a debate:
St. Paul
Oct. 11, 2005–St.
Paul Chamber of Commerce mayoral debate at the St. Paul Hotel, 11:30
am.
Oct. 18, 2005–ISAIAH
mayoral forum at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 7:00
pm.
Oct. 27, 2005–Candidate
forum at Lao Family Community, 7:00 pm.
Minneapolis
Oct.12, 2005–MN
Youthvote Coalition & MPIRG mayoral debate
at the U of M, 5:00 pm.
Oct. 14, 2005–YO!
the Movement, Juxtaposition Arts mayoral forum at the YWCA, Nicollet
Mall, 6:00 pm.
Oct. 20, 2005–candidate
fair at the Minneapolis Urban League, 6:00 pm.
For more information
on where the debates and forums are located, you can contact Mai
Thor at 612-746-3716 or mthor@midmnlegal.org or
go to the candidate Web sites. If you need to know where your polling
place is, a good source to turn to is the Office of the Secretary
of State Web site at www.sos.state.mn.us/home/index.asp
