Stewart, Springer advance in OTC District 4 primary
News | Published on August 20, 2026 at 8:27pm GMT+0000 | Author: Chad Koenen
0Stewart won primary with 992 votes
By Chad Koenen
Publisher
A pair of challengers have advanced to the general election ballot after receiving nearly 73 percent of the vote in the Otter Tail County District 4 primary election last week.
Jim Stewart received 992 votes, or 42.12 percent of the primary vote, to lead the way, while Stephen Springer received 726 votes, 30.83 percent, to finish in second place. The two Henning area residents will compete in the general election for the right to represent District 4 on the Otter Tail County Board.
Incumbent Robert Lahman received 511 votes, 21.7 percent, while another challenger, Roger Walvatne, received 126 votes, 5.35 percent, to finish in fourth place.
In District 2, incumbent Wayne Johnson was the top vote getter with 1,036 votes, 51.52 percent. He will face challenger Jeff Gontarek on the ballot as he received 694 votes, 34.51 percent. Another challenger Kyle Lehmann finished in third place with 281 votes, 13.97 percent.
On a state and national level, Amy Klobuchar will represent the DFL in the race for governor, while Lisa Demuth will represent the Republican party. In Otter Tail County, Klobuchar received 3,825 votes, 94.42 percent.
On the Republican side, Mike Lindell won Otter Tail County with 2,911 votes, 42.47 percent, while Lisa Demuth took second with 2,526 votes, 36.85 percent and Kendall Qualls finished in third place with 1,229 votes, 17.93 percent.
Peggy Flanagan (DFL) and Peggy Flanagan (Republican), both won the Otter Tail County and state wide vote for the open US Senate seat. Locally, Flanagan received 2,192 votes, compared to Angie Craig with 1,702 in the DFL primary, while Michele Tafoya received 2,690 votes to edge Adam Schwarze with 1,583 votes and Royce White received 1,375 votes.
Incumbent Michelle Fischbach (Republican) received all 6,197 votes cast in otter Tail County and will appear on the Republican ticket for the sprawling US Representative District 7 ballot. She will face Erik Osberg who received the most votes in the DFL primary to edge Steve Carlson. In Otter Tail County, Osberg received 2,704 votes compared to 1,168 votes for Carlson.
Incumbent Tom Murphy (Republican) received 3,775 votes in Otter Tail County to lift him to the November ballot over challenger Craig Horlocker with 449 votes. He will face challenger Owen Werner (DFL) who received all 1,921 votes in his DFL primary.
Other Otter Tail County primary vote totals include:
• Secretary of State- Republican- Wendy Phillips 3,246, Tad Jude 3,082; DFL- Steve Simon 3,728
• State Auditor- Republican- Scott Jensen 4,229, Nate George 1,737, Will Finn 465; DFL- Zack Filipovich 3,655
• Attorney General- Republican- Ronald Schutz 6,221; DFL- Keith Ellison 3,326, David Padgett 624.