Frederickson, Clark Swenson winParties battle for control of House

By GUY PRIEL

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Voters in Senate District 23 swept the three Republican incumbents back into office Tuesday.

Senator Dennis Frederickson of New Ulm will retain the seat he has held since 1980, accompanied by Rep. James Clark of New Ulm, and Rep. Howard Swenson of Nicollet.

Clark will begin his second term in the House in January, and Swenson will begin his fourth term in the House.

The Associated Press declared the three winners as of midnight Tuesday, with 73 percent of the precincts reporting.

As of midnight, Frederickson had received 8,719 votes to Democrat Don Sauter's 4,566 votes.

As of midnight, Clark had received 6,019 votes, or about 67 percent. Democratic challenger Cody Schreyer of New Ulm received 2,946 votes, or about 32 percent. Write-in Democrat Bob Van Hee received some votes, but overall totals were not available from the Secretary of State.

As of midnight, Howard Swenson had received 2,384 votes, or about 59 percent. Democratic challenger Darrel Mosel received 1,446 votes, or about 35 percent, while Independence Party candidate Lance Bennett received 204 votes, or about 5 percent.

"I am humbled by the confidence the voters have placed in me," Clark said. "I will continue to do the best job I can in St. Paul. I am very anxious to get to work on the issues that are important to the district."

His goals are to reduce the tax burden on Minnesota families, fight for fair funding for school districts, and increase the funding for transportation, especially Highway 14.

Swenson and Frederickson could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, Republicans got a taste of power when they took control of the state House in 1998, and they spent countless hours this fall campaigning to keep it, according to the Associated Press

Democrats invested just as much time -- and a lot of money -- trying to regain what they lost two years ago.

That time appeared to pay off for DFLers, according to early returns. Although they hadn't managed to unseat any Republicans they considered vulnerable, Democrats grabbed a handful of open seats.

One of those was in a northern Twin Cities suburb, where former Miss Fridley Connie Bernardy beat a GOP financial analyst and Fridley Mayor Nancy Jorgensen of the Independence Party. Despite being one of the party's best hopes, Jorgensen pulled in only 16 percent of the votes with 80 percent of precincts reporting to Bernardy's 52 percent. They were vying to succeed retiring Rep. Alice Johnson, DFL-Spring Lake Park.

More was at stake than usual in Tuesday's races. The House and Senate majorities will have the upper hand in redrawing the state's political map, a task done once every decade that can influence the outcome of future elections.

Both parties agreed the Senate was firmly in DFL control and early returns backed this up. The House was up for grabs this election, with up to two dozen seats in play.

Neither party expected a major threat from the 37 Independence Party candidates for Legislature, but leaders said votes for IP candidates could tip tight races between Republicans and Democrats.

House Republicans ended the session with a 70-63 edge, and one independent. Nine DFLers retired, versus five Republicans and the independent. Two DFLers were unopposed, while 13 Republicans had no DFL challengers.

House Minority Leader Tom Pugh said the DFL strategy this year was to have the party's candidates run local races on local issues instead of using a ''cookie-cutter approach.''