The next step toward the 2016 election has arrived.

On Tuesday, voters will whittle the candidate pool during the Primary Election for some races headed into the Nov. 8 election. Polls are open in Austin from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., while some spots around the county open at 10 a.m.

Two Republican races, a county commissioner seat and three judge seats will be on Tuesday’s ballot.

Voters will pick either Jim Hagedorn or Brownsdale farmer Steve Williams to challenges incumbent U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, DFL-Mankato, for his 1st District Congress seat.

Voters will also select either Hayfield’s Gene Dornink or Albert Lea’s Cynthia Gail to challenge incumbent state Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin, in District 27.

Then on the county side, voters will select two candidates from incumbent Tim Gabrielson and challengers James Williams and Dan Vermilyea to move onto the Nov. 8 election for the District 1 seat on the Mower County board.

Likewise, the fields for three judge seats will be whittled from three candidates to two. Incumbent Natalie Hudson, Craig Foss and Michelle L. MacDonald are running for associate justice 6 seat on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Then in the 3rd Judicial District, incumbent Carmaine Sturino, Timothy Guth and Daniel J. Moulton are running for judge seat 16, while incumbent Terrance M. Walters, David F. McLeod and Gerald Scott Weinrich are running for judge seat 17.

 District 27

Dornink, a Hayfield carpenter, and Gail, an art teacher at United South Central, are facing off to challenge Sparks, who is seeking his fifth term.

Dornink, 53, has said his goals if elected to the Minnesota Senate are as simple as ABC: be accountable, go back to the basics, and respect the Constitution. He also earned the endorsement of District 27B Republicans.

Gail, 58, is a Republican and said if elected, she will work toward economic sustainability for all people, noting she is concerned about lobbyists and would like more transparency in the political lobbying process.

Dornink owns Gene Dornink Carpentry LLC. In 2010, he decided to get active again in politics after being laid off from a union job. He served as chairman of the Dodge County Republicans and also went to Tampa, Florida, as a delegate to the 2012 Republican National Convention.

For the upcoming election, he has three major issues: the bonding bill, accountability, and problems with MNsure.

Dornink spends most of his free time with his wife, Vicky, and their 12 children and their grandchildren.

Gail received her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

She said she would like to increase recreational opportunities for her constituents, noting early education is one of her major focus points.

She said she wants children whose parents cannot teach them to be able to access iPads prior to elementary school to increase cognitive learning.

She said transportation is an important issue, noting rural communities need better roads so students can get to school. She said she is curious about how much funding is going toward programs, such as broadband, workforce development and transportation.

 Congress, 1st District

Hagedorn, the Republican-endorsed candidate is squaring off against Steve Williams to challenge Walz, a Mankato resident and five-term member of the House.

Hagedorn of Blue Earth was endorsed by Republicans and said his election would benefit the local farming economy by implementing regulatory reform and replacing the Affordable Care Act with free-market reforms.

He framed his campaign as being on the side of farmers, small businesses and consumers in southern Minnesota and claimed Walz has taken the side of President Barack Obama and what he called Washington, D.C., bureaucrats.

Hagedorn said he has heard the harmful effects of high deductibles from the Affordable Care Act from farmers, business leaders and consumers across the 1st District.

His challenger, Steve Williams previously ran to be a senator in 2006, 2008 and 2012. In his 2012 campaign, he beat out two other candidates to win the Independent Party’s endorsement.

For this upcoming election, however, Steve Williams will run as a Republican. The key issues he wants to focus on include: health care, the economy and the environment.

The 60-year-old has worked at his farm, Honey Tree Farm, in rural Austin for over 35 years.

 Mower County, District 1

Gabrielson, 66, says he’s ready to keep working for Mower County after he retired in 2012 as a Farmers Insurance agent, in part to devote more of his focus to county issues.

Meanwhile, James Williams filed because he is unhappy with the direction of the county board and he wants to make a change, and Vermilyea filed because he wants to bring problem-solving skills to the job.

Through his years of experience, Gabrielson says he’s become good at talking to people and explaining complex county issues in a way the public can understand, even if they don’t always like the answers.

With the county’s agriculture base, Gabrielson noted it’s vitally important to have a strong road system.

In his time on the board, he’s been involved with several clean air and water initiatives, and says he understands how important that is for the district. He also noted it’s vitally important for commissioners and county staff to work with legislators to secure funding for the clean air and water initiatives.

He hopes he can continue moving the county ahead on water projects while keeping taxes low.

Vermilyea, who ran in 2008, believes transportation is the biggest issue that needs to be addressed. He sees it as an essential part of the board’s job, which he doesn’t think has been fulfilled.

As one of the supervisors for Lansing Township, he also sees the landfill there as an issue. SKB Environmental has said it’s looking into adding mixed municipal solid waste — or household garbage — and possibly recycling services to its Austin site. However, the county board is updating its solid waste ordinance to address such questions.

“The landfill is an ongoing issue for not only the township, but the whole county as well,” Vermilyea said.

Williams previously ran in 2012 because he wanted to voice his concerns and start a dialogue on topics he didn’t think were thoroughly discussed. Four years have passed since then and Williams doesn’t believe the county has improved, which is why he is running again.

Williams has spoken out against the recently-approved Austin Housing Initiative, a tax abatement in Austin and the county board’s involvement in the project. The city called on Austin Public Schools and the county to follow its lead in giving five tax-free years to newly built properties as a way to spur construction.

Williams also believes roads and bridges in rural Mower County need repair. Williams said he would potentially support the half-cent sales tax if necessary, which would allow the board to enact for specific road projects and would slim the county’s annual funding shortfall from $6.5 million a year to $5 million a year.

 School board filings

The filing period to run for a seat on the Austin Public School board remains open through Aug. 16.

The board voted to forego the primary election earlier this year, meaning all candidates running for the three open seats will be on the Nov. 8 ballot with the top three vote-getters winning seats.

Board members Don Leathers, Mary Jane Kestner and Richard Lees are up for reelection.

Thus far, Carolyn Dube and Nathan Wradislavsky have filed to run for school board.

Look for stories next week on Dube, Wradislavsky and other candidates.

—Alex Smith and Sam Wilmes contributed to this report.