By Jason Schoonover, Jenae Peterson and Trey Mewes

The races are on.

With the 2014 Legislative Session over, the focus is turning to the November election. The filing period for local and state elected offices opens Tuesday and runs through June 3.

Locally, four seats on the Austin School board, three seats on the Mower County Board of Commissioners and four seats on the Austin City Council are up for election Nov. 4. The county seats for auditor-treasurer, county attorney, recorder and sheriff are also up for election. All are four-year terms.

City

Council members Roger Boughton, Janet Anderson, Judy Enright and Jeff Austin all have terms that expire this year.

Both Anderson and Enright said they will seek re-election this fall.

“I’m not finished,” Enright said. “I was happy we’re moving forward with a housing ordinance. That was my primary goal when I ran last time, but I’d like to see it through and developed and improve the housing stock in Austin.”

Boughton has decided not to seek re-election, however.

“It needs some new blood always, and an open position encourages someone to run,” he said. “I think someone else can do just as good a job as I can and they ought to have an opportunity to try.”

Austin was unavailable for comment, though city staff and other council members believe he will try to seek re-election this fall.

Austin Public Schools

Austin Public School Board members Angie Goetz’s, Greg A. Larson’s, Kathy Green’s and Don Fox’s terms all expire at the end of the year. Both Goetz and Fox said they will run for re-election. Greg Larson will not seek re-election at this time, due to family obligations.

“I’ve enjoyed my time on the board,” Larson said.

He encouraged anyone who is interested to run.

Kathy Green could not be reached for comment.

County

Sheriff Terese Amazi announced last week she’ll seek a third term. Auditor-Treasurer Doug Groh and Recorder Jill Cordes will also seek re-election, as will 4th District Commissioner Tony Bennett, 3rd District Commissioner Jerry Reinartz and 5th District Commissioner Mike Ankeny.

The Mower County Soil and Water Conservation District has two supervisor positions up for election.

State and U.S.

Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin, will seek re-election in state District 27B. Retired Hormel Food Corp. employee Dennis Schminke is the republican challenger.

U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, DFL-Mankato, is seeking re-election and is being challenged by Byron Republican Aaron Miller, the GOP-endorsed candidate. Republican Jim Hagedorn re-entered the race on Sunday after previously vowing not to run after losing the party nomination to Miller.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Al Frenken is seeking re-election. His Republican challengers are businessman Mike McFadden and state Sen. Julianna Ortman.