Free Republic

At the end of 2009, State Seantor Dick Day (R-Owatonna) announced his retirement. A special election was called for January 26, 2009. Senate District 26 is a primarily rural district about an hour south of the Twin Cities. It has three larger cities - Owatonna, Waseca and Faribault. The first two cities have a GOP bent and overall, this is a GOP district. But given the beaten down nature of the Minnesota GOP in the last two election cycles, this race was anything but assured. Worse yet, there were blizzard-like conditions in Minnesota with 40-mph winds and temps in the...

Republican candidate Mike Parry is leading in early returns in a special election in southern Minnesota for a seat his party has long controlled. With 40 percent of precincts reporting, Parry led Democrat Jason Engbrecht, 41 percent to about 36 percent. Independent Roy Srp was trailing with 22 percent. Tuesday's special election will fill the remaining 11 months of Dick Day's term for a seat covering the cities of Waseca, Faribault and Owatonna.