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By Eric Johnson and Sarah Stultz

Area voters have elected to send Patricia Mueller R-Austin back to St. Paul for another term as the House representative in District 23B.

Mueller, the Republican incumbent, claimed a third term in the district with 11,466 (58.35%) votes, defeating, Democratic challenger Joseph Pacovsky who came up with 8,174 (41.59%) votes.

“I’m really excited about continuing the work,” Mueller said Wednesday morning. “There’s a lot of work I’m still doing that was left unfinished. It’s great to be able to have the voter confidence to do that work again.”

Mueller first won the 23B seat — then known as District 27B — in 2020 when she defeated longtime incumbent Jeanne Poppe (DFL). She followed that up with a win over the Democratic challenger, Tom Stiehm, in 2022.

She’s hoping to pick up where she left off in a couple different areas that have been long-time projects for Mueller.

“I’m constantly still working on education,” Mueller said. “Multiple pathways to graduation, making apprenticeships more available, and a more structured approach for dual credits.”

At the same time, Mueller also wants to approach the issue of childcare in the area that would look at ways to make it easier on providers by looking at how inspections are done as well as licensing.

In particular, Mueller is working closely with the community of Adams on host site childcare where the site is actually a house and zoned as residential rather than business.

“It’s something people are kicking around,” Mueller said.

Mueller’s new term starts at the beginning of January with the new session.

Pacovsky, DFL-Hayward, said though disappointed, he appreciated all the support he received in the race.

“Like my eldest daughter said, ‘It is what it is,’” he said.

Pacovsky said he ran a positive campaign talking about what his positions were and left it at that for voters to decide.

He looked forward to getting a further breakdown of the results through the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website.

Though he is unsure how he will proceed from here, he said he looks forward to continuing to serve on the Shell Rock River Watershed District Board of Managers, which has been working on permitting for the final phase of dredging of Fountain Lake.

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