Jim Stauber will he win re-election?

There are a couple of things I have thought about here. One he is now the longest sitting city councilor. Now that both councilor Krause and Gilbert have both decided not to run for re-election. Stauber also makes no bones about being a republican however if you watch him he is more the willing to work with both sides of the aisle on the council.

Stauber finished third in the primary election. Two candidates finished in front of him. Beth Olson and Dan Hartman both are endorsed by the DFL and the labor unions. In a non-partisan race.

Stauber however was a very close third. He was less the a full % point behind Hartman who finished second. The vote total was just 285 votes. I think that is possible to make up. That said it is a bad sign for him that he lost his own district. I don't believe he has ever lost his own district.

Well I thought that Dan Hartman was once a lock to win a seat on the city council this time I am not so sure. He finished second in the primary. Many people have told me that was a set back to him. He wanted to finish first. Again that said he is still the one candidate out there working hard. Not only did he finish second but he did not totally run away with second place. Stauber was a close third. That said however Stauber is the incumbent in the race, possible another bad sign for Jim. He as an incumbent would have liked to finish first or second. However lets also be honest that most the people that voted in a very low turn out primary were those that represented the unions and DFL as they got there people out to vote.

In a general election there will be a larger voting population out. You will see more of the republicans and those that are not aliened with any party out voting. This is a benefit to Jim Stauber as long as he gets the message out that he is the longest standing member of the board and his experience is important at this point time. If he does not win a seat in November then there will be no councilor with more the four years of experience. I think this is what Stauber needs to get out as his message.

I will have more later but feel free to comment.