2020 Minnesota House of Representatives District 30A special election

A special election was held in the U.S. state of Minnesota on February 4, 2020, to elect a new member for District 30A in the Minnesota House of Representatives, caused by the resignation of Republican member Nick Zerwas. A primary election was held on January 14, 2020, to nominate Republican candidate. Paul Novotny, the Republican nominee, won the special election.

2020 District 30A special election
February 4, 2020
Minnesota House of Representatives
District 30A
 
Nominee Paul Novotny Chad Hobot
Party Republican Democratic (DFL)
Popular vote 1,983 1,141
Percentage 63.44% 36.50%
Representative before election

Nick Zerwas
Republican

 Elected Representative

Paul Novotny
Republican

Background

On November 25, 2019, District 30A incumbent Nick Zerwas announced he would resign a week later on December 6. Zerwas, who was born with a congenital heart defect and had recently undergone heart surgery, said he would like to spend more time with his family and to better support them outside of the Legislature.[1] On November 27, 2019, Governor Tim Walz announced the date of the special election, which will be held before and allow the winner to be seated by the February 11 reconvening of the 91st Minnesota Legislature.[2]

District 30A represents southeastern Sherburne County and a small part of northeastern Wright County. Zerwas first represented the district after winning election in 2012, succeeding fellow Republican Mary Kiffmeyer, who retired to seek election to the Minnesota Senate. In the last election in 2018, Zerwas won with 64 percent of the vote.

Candidates

The candidate filing period was from December 3 to December 10, 2019.[3]

Republican Party of Minnesota

District 30A Republican delegates held a convention to endorse a candidate in Elk River on December 7, 2019. Paul Novotny won the endorsement over Kathy Ziebarth on the first ballot. Ziebarth said after the convention she would continue to seek the Republican nomination in the primary election.[4]

  • Paul Novotny, Sherburne County sheriff's office sergeant[5]
  • Kathy Ziebarth, registered nurse anesthetist; U.S. Air Force veteran[4]

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party
  • Chad Hobot, internet marketer[6]

Withdrawn
  • Michelle Rockhill[4]

Primary election

Results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Party of Minnesota Paul Novotny 1,136 86.98
Kathy Ziebarth 170 13.02
Subtotal 1,306 100.00
Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party Chad Hobot 152 100.00
Total 1,458 100.00
Invalid/blank votes 3 0.21
Turnout (out of 26,159 registered voters)[7] 1,461 5.59
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State[8]

Results
Party Candidate Votes % +/−
Republican Party of Minnesota Paul Novotny 1,983 63.44 −0.87
Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party Chad Hobot 1,141 36.50 +0.87
Write-ins 2 0.06 −0.01
Total 3,126 100.00 ±0.00
Invalid/blank votes 0 0.00 −1.68
Turnout (out of 25,938 registered voters)[9] 3,126 12.05 −56.08
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State[10]

See also

References
  1. Van Berkel, Jessie (November 25, 2019). "4-term Minnesota Rep. Nick Zerwas, battling heart condition, to resign". Star Tribune. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  2. Van Oot, Torey (November 27, 2019). "Gov. Tim Walz sets special election date for two state House seats". Star Tribune. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  3. "House District 30A Special Election". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  4. Boyle, Jim (December 15, 2019). "Two Republicans, one DFLer seek seat; Novotny, Ziebarth to face off in Jan. 14 primary". Star News. Adams Publishing Group. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  5. "Novotny will seek to replace Zerwas in House". Star News. Adams Publishing Group. November 30, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  6. "Hobot announces bid, wins DFL nod". Star News. Adams Publishing Group. December 21, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  7. "Statewide Reporting Statistics". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  8. "Results for State Representative District 30A". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  9. "Statewide Reporting Statistics". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  10. "Results for State Representative District 30A". Minnesota Secretary of State. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
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