Engel, Craig advance in Fifth District race

ST. PETER -- Paul Engel and LaVonne Craig advanced to the general election in the primary for Nicollet County's Fifth Commissioner's District Tuesday.

Engel, a farmer in Belgrade Township, had 467 votes and Craig, who served on the Nicollet County Board in District 3 from 1997 to 2001, had 376 in the election. Roger Klossner, a retired farmer from Lafayette finished third with 370 votes.

"I'm glad to get through the primary and be in the race," said Craig. "It's always a good feeling to get through the primary."

It's now a matter of planning to get through the general election, said Craig. She used direct mail, lawn signs, newspaper ads in the primary, she said. "Your time period for a primary isn't very long." In campaigning for the general election, she plans to attend council meetings and take her campaign door-to-door.

"I'm certainly happy with the results," said Engel. "I think that some of my messages got across."

He said he did a fair amount of door-to-door visits during the campaign, but he wants to cover more ground.

"I hope to pick up a lot of votes in the western end of the county where Roger Klossner had a lot of support," he said.

Engel said he will take a little time now to regroup and plan strategy for the general elections.