Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Rob Rapheal and David Francis are the choices for Senate District 52 Democrats.

Rapheal of Scandia won the DFL Party endorsement at the district convention Saturday to run for House District 52A this November. He was the unanimous choice during the convention at Forest Lake High School.

The district also endorsed Francis of Stillwater to run for State Senate in District 52. He won the endorsement battle by defeating former Forest Lake school board member Don Mitchell of Scandia.

Rapheal, the partyís standard bearer in 2004, will get another chance at the seat this fall. He is the owner of a computer software company in Scandia and serves on the Forest Lake school board.

ìItís about time that this district had a representative with the guts to stand up for our schools,î Rapheal said following the convention.

ìShort-changing our schools short-changes our kids. This community can do better. The families of this district need a strong, positive voice speaking for them in the legislature. I will be that voice.î

Francis will make his first bid for elective office in the Senate district. He is a retired Naval submarine captain.

The party on Saturday also selected Stillwater High School teacher Jason Gonnion as its choice to run for the House 52B seat in November.

The official filing period for the various seats is on July 1.

Mitchell said this week he will abide by the endorsement process, meaning he would not file and force a September primary election.

The Republican opposition is still a moving target.

The party has endorsed incumbent Rep. Ray Vandeveer of Forest Lake to run again in District 52A and Matt Dean in 52B. Vandeveerís plan will likely change, however, if current District 52 Sen. Michele Bachmann gets the Republican endorsement to run for Congress in the Sixth District.

If that happens, Vandeveer has announced he will run for Bachmannís seat.

That will open the 52A seat and require new endorsement conventions for the House and Senate seats. The party did not endorse for the Senate seat because of the Bachmann bid for the endorsement to run for Congress.

Other contests

For the most part Saturday, District 52 DFL delegates were uncommitted for other major contests this fall. Eighteen delegates were elected to the state and congressional district conventions.

Among the 18 delegates for Congress, 15 will go to the Sixth District Convention while three will go to the Fourth District Convention. A small area of Senate District 52 is part of the district now served by Congresswoman Betty McCollum.

For the Sixth, six of the 15 delegates left Forest Lake High School supporting a candidate.

Five will back Patty Wetterling for the partyís endorsement while one has committed for Elywn Tinklenberg. Nine remain uncommitted heading into the Sixth District Convention on Saturday, May 13 at the Monticello Community Center.

In the contest for U.S. Senate, three delegates announced they would back Amy Klobuchar. Fifteen remain uncommitted.

In the race for governor, State Sen. Becky Lourey picked up three delegates on Saturday while Atty. Gen. Mike Hatch received one delegate. Fourteen delegates are uncommitted.

The DFL State Convention will take place June 9-11 in Rochester at the Convention Center.

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