Preliminary vote count shows upset in the River Falls mayoral race; Dan Toland is very excited

• Dan Toland

Dan Toland

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Unofficial vote totals from the Tuesday, April 3, spring election show that four-term incumbent Don Richards was upset by challenger Dan Toland for the River Falls mayor job. The tally was Toland 935 votes, Richards 921. Yet to be counted: 22 absentee ballots that have not been returned. If they are postmarked no later than April 3 and received by 4 p.m. Friday, April 6, they will be added to the city vote totals.

Late Wednesday morning, Toland told the Journal he was both shocked by his apparent victory but not entirely surprised.

"I had been getting some very positive feedback the past week or so by people who said they were going to vote for me," he said. "I actually felt I would do OK, or at least make it a close election. In fact, I was starting to worry about if I won and I screwed up and people might end up hating me."

Toland said he is a natural worrrier and has hardly slept the last two weeks.

"And now I can't sleep for a few more days until they count the late absentee ballots before the vote count is official," he said. "There's always something for me to be nervous and anxious about."

Toland said he's just an "average guy" who will work hard to make River Falls proud.

In other contested races, Scott Morrissette and David Cronk easily won re-election on the City Council over challengers Eunice Beauchman and Lauren Evans.

In the City Council District 4 race, Bob Hughes, the incumbent, was easily defeated by Christopher Gagne 209 to 111.

For Pierce County Board, incumbent Rod Rommel was easily defeated by challenger Ruth Wood, 219-148. Another Pierce County Board incumbent, Ben Plunkett, was defeated by former River Falls Mayor Cecil Bjork 115-87.

Former town of River Falls board chairman Dean Bergseng defeated Ramona Gunter 233-81 to win the District 8 seat on the Pierce County Board.

In the town of Kinnickinnic, Mae Wolfe beat Al Zeitz 164-121 for a seat on that town board. Wolfe and Zeitz were both newcomers replacing an incumbent who had stepped down.

In the presidential primary, Rick Santorum swept to victory among Republicans in River Falls, Pierce and St. Croix counties, but lost easily statewide to Mitt Romney. On the Democratic side, President Barack Obama got more votes than Santorum in River Falls, but fewer in Pierce and St. Croix counties.

Editor's Note: For complete election results please see the April 5 print edition of the River Falls Journal.

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