Swedzinski, Dahms re-elected to House, Senate in District 16

Incumbent Chris Swedzinki (R-Ghent) easily defeated challenger Doria Drost (D-Lynd) in the District 16A House of Representatives race on Tuesday night.

Swedzinski garnered 7,772 votes, or 66 percent. Drost amassed 3,992 votes, 34 percent.

District 16A has perennially been a Republican dominant area. Swedzinski's past experience in the House was also possibly a key to his victory over the impressive 21-year-old challenger.

District 16A includes a portion of Lyon County and all of Lac qui Parle and Yellow Medicine Counties, including the communities of Minneota, Marshall, Granite Falls, Canby, Dawson and Madison.

In the District 16 Senate race, Gary Dahms (R-Redwood Falls) was re-elected in a landslide with 72 percent of the votes over challengers Joshua Prine (I-Marshall) and Steve "Stoney" Preslicka (LMN-Franklin).

Dahms received 19,773 of the votes, while Prine came in second with 4,009 (15 percent) and Preslicka 3,512 (13 percent.

Lyon County Commissioners Charlie Sanow, Gary Crowley and Rick Anderson all ran unopposed in their respective districts in this election.

Sanow received 1,691 votes in District 1, Crowley had 2,600 votes in District 4, and Anderson garnered 2,243 votes in District 5.

The Mascot will run more on the local elections in next week's edition.