City Councilors to face opponents

BEMIDJI - Two races for Bemidji City Council are now contested.

Two city residents filed for election Monday as Michael Meehlhause filed for election in Ward 1 and Phillip L. Nelson filed for election in Ward 5. Both will face incumbent councilors as Ward 1 Councilor Kevin Waldhausen and Ward 5 Councilor Greg Negard both previously filed for re-election.

Also filing for election on Monday, the penultimate day of filing for state, county and city elections, was Bemidji resident Adam Steele for the District 7 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Steele filed as an Independence Party candidate. He will face Democratic incumbent Collin Peterson and Republican challenger Lee Byberg of Willmar.

Tarryl Clark on Monday joined the race for District 8 in the U.S. House. Clark became the third Democrat in that race. The DFL primary, as of Monday, will now include Clark, Jeff Anderson and Richard Nolan. The winner of that primary would face Republican incumbent Rep. Chip Cravaack.

In another new filing, Jeff Haack of Bemidji filed for Beltrami County Soil & Water Conservation District 4.