Election 2023: Duluth mayor, city council candidates

On the ballot this November in Duluth is the mayoral race, six city council seats and three school board seats. City council candidates are vying for six seats: two at-large positions and one each in the 1st District, 3rd District, 4th District and 5th District.

The Republican Party (GOP) unit in Duluth has “not recommended or endorsed any candidates in the races, as none of the candidates sought this endorsement given the races are non-partisan,” according to Deputy Chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota, Donna Bergstrom.

Here is a closer look at the races in Duluth.

Duluth mayor race

An August primary has narrowed down Duluth’s mayoral race to two candidates: Incumbent Emily Larson and former DLF state senator Roger Reinert. Reinert earned 63 percent of the votes in the primary, and Mayor Larson secured the second spot on November’s ballot with 35 percent of the votes. They were among five candidates in the primary.

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Larson, first elected in 2015, is Duluth’s first female mayor and is vying to be the city’s first three-term mayor in nearly two decades. She served on the Duluth City Council for one term before becoming mayor. She ran with the governor’s backing and the DFL Party’s endorsement, even though the office is technically nonpartisan.

Reinert spent six years on the Duluth City Council from 2004-2009 and served in the Minnesota Legislature as a DFLer until 2017, but said he’d run without party backing in this race.

Roger Reinert

Emily Larson, incumbent

Watch the Mayoral candidate forum here:

City Councilor — At large race

The city councilor at large position has two seat openings up for grabs and the pool currently has four candidates that make up a diverse field, including an economic development specialist, a local realtor, a convicted felon-turned-addiction counselor and a community organizer.

Incumbent Arik Forsman was first elected in 2018 and previously announced intentions to step down after his term finished; Forsman is now back in the race and pushing hard for a second term re-election. His biggest competitors are realtor Lynn Marie Nephew, former felon Miranda Pacheco and community organizer Jenna Yeakle.

Jenna Yeakle

Miranda Pacheco

Lynn Marie Nephew

Arik Forsman, incumbent

Azrin Awal, Terese Tomanek and Noah Hobbs were seat holders — they are not running in the upcoming election

Watch the City Councilor — At large forum here:

1st District Race (eastern Duluth)

The 1st District incumbent, Gary Anderson, has decided not to seek a re-election for a third term this election season. This leaves two candidates to compete for the empty seat, Wendy Durrwachter who is the DFL endorsed candidate, and Timothy Meyer a businessman with community development experience in Native communities.

Timothy Meyer

Wendy Durrwachter

3rd District Race (central Duluth)

No primary was held in the 3rd District this election season where the incumbent councilor, Roz Randorf, runs unopposed. Randorf is nearly guaranteed her election win come November.

Roz Randorf, incumbent

4th District Race (western and northern Duluth)

The previous 4th District incumbent, Hannah Alstead, will be stepping down at the end of her term, leaving an open seat for the competition. There were originally five candidates vying for the seat, but the primaries narrowed it down to Tara Swenson and Howie Hanson.

Tara Swenson

Howie Hanson

5th District Race (western Duluth)

In the 5th District, incumbent and Council President Janet Kennedy faces one challenger, Ginka Tarnowski, an adopted orphan from Bulgaria who grew up in Duluth.