MINNESOTA

MAYOR: MINNEAPOLIS

- Non-partisan general election
- Mayor R.T. Rybak won a second term despite a challenge from fellow Democrat Peter McLaughlin, a county commissioner and union favorite who accused Rybak of failing to protect the city's poorer neighborhoods.

CANDIDATES

Democratic Mayor Winner: R.T. Rybak was elected to his first term in 2002. Prior to his election, Rybak was a business consultant, publisher of the Twin Cities Reader, creator of Q Monthly, development director of the Downtown Council and a reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune. He's also the founder of ROAR (Residents Opposed to Airport Racket). Rybak is married with two children. Rybak and Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin were the top two vote-getters in a September non-partisan runoff in which Rybak finished first with 44 percent of the vote to challenger McLaughlin's 35 percent.

Challenger Peter McLaughlin is currently chairman of the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners; as well as chairman of the Hennepin County Regional Rail Authority and Social Services Committee. He received an A.B. from Princeton University and an M.A., from the Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota.

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MAYOR: ST. PAUL

- Non-partisan general election
- Both candidates are members of the Democratic Farmer Labor Party (DFL)
- Randy Kelly was voted out after one term in this heavily Democratic city, largely because he endorsed President Bush last year. Challenger Chris Coleman, a former City Council member, had led 2-to-1 in polls; most voters said they wanted to punish Kelly.

CANDIDATES

Mayor Randy Kelly, 54, served in the Minnesota Senate representing District 67. He has served as chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, and a member of the Crime Prevention Committee, Finance Committee, the Telecommunications, Energy, and Utilities committees, and the Transportation and Public Safety Budget Division. After winning the 2001 mayoral election by a very narrow margin, Kelly drew heat from his party by endorsing and campaigning for President George W. Bush's re-election in 2004. There was an unsuccessful grassroots campaign to recall him.. He finished behind Chris Coleman in the September primary, receiving only 27 percent of the vote.

Winner: Chris Coleman, 44, spent eight years working in Hennepin County as a public defender and prosecutor. Coleman was elected for Saint Paul City Council and represented Ward 2 from 1997 to 2003. He currently works with nonprofit organizations and is also president of United Family Practice Clinic (serving people without insurance and/or with low income). Coleman graduated from University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Law School. Former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry campaigned for Coleman who came in first in the September primary with 52 percent of the vote. The DFL Party endorses Coleman because Kelly endorsed President George W. Bush in 2004.

 Voter Information Guide