Thune Wins St. Paul's 2nd Ward

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- After a stressful day of ballot counting, incumbent councilman Dave Thune will keep his seat in St. Paul's 2nd Ward.

Election officials spent Monday doing a hand recount of ballots. After reallocation of votes, Thune ended with 2,870 votes and challenger Jim Ivey ended with 2,064.

"Obviously, I'm tickled pink," Thune said. "It was a tough race, and I'm excited to go forward for the next four years."

Thune left St. Paul while officials counted and redistributed votes. He spent the day doing yard work to keep himself occupied.

He said many of his elections have ended in close calls. Thune said he's excited to get back to work and has a number of projects he wants to jump on.

"There's all sorts of development issues sitting there waiting," Thune said. "One of them is the Schmidt's Brewery on West 7th."

Monday's hand recount was the first such recount for St. Paul's ranked-choice voting system.