UPDATE (11:10 p.m.) With all eight precincts tallied, Eric Lucero has defeated Kevin Kasel with 64 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s 2014 primary election.
He will advance to challenge Sharon Shimek in the general election Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Just over 10 percent of all registered voters, or about 2,500 ballots, were cast in 30B’s primary.
UPDATE (10:30 p.m.) With six of eight precincts reporting in House District 30B, the Republican-endorsed candidate, Eric Lucero, apparently will survive a primary challenge from St. Michael’s Kevin Kasel.
With just two precincts left to report, including Lucero’s hometown of Dayton, Kasel trailed 1,177 to 696, via results obtained via St. Michael’s city staff and the Secretary of State’s website.
UPDATE (10 p.m.) Albertville has reported its count, and Eric Lucero has taken 205 of the 315 votes cast there, giving him a commanding lead with four precincts reporting.
Otsego’s two districts, Dayton (Lucero’s hometown) and Hanover-Wright County have yet to report.
Unofficially, Lucero now has 928 votes to Kasel’s 572 with 50 percent of the vote now in.
UPDATE (9:40 p.m.) Eric Lucero, the endorsed Republican candidate in Minnesota House District 30B, which includes St. Michael, Hanover, Albertville, Otsego and Dayton, has taken a lead in the early counts.
The City of St. Michael is reporting Lucero took the two precincts in that community by a count of 687 to 460 over challenger and St. Michael City Council member Kevin Kasel. Lucero also won the lone Hennepin County precinct, a small portion of Hanover, 36-2, giving him wins in three of the eight precincts voting Tuesday, Aug. 12.
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The two candidates may have cooled off in the “dunk tank” at the St. Michael Daze and Knights Festival last weekend, but Tuesday was a heated contest in Minnesota House District 30B, as Eric Lucero and Kevin Kasel vied for the right to carry the Republican nomination to the November’s general election.
Turnout was, as expected, low in the seven Wright County precincts and lone Hennepin County precinct in House 30B. St. Michael reported about 1,100 voters in its two precincts, while Albertville had a turnout of about 450 at its new polling location at St. Michael-Albertville Middle School West when polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12.
North Wright County Today will update this