SPAAR announces 2026 Candidate Endorsements

SPAAR members and staff conducted the Association’s annual candidate endorsement process in September, which resulted in interviewing more than 40 candidates for locally-elected offices such as mayor, city council and county commission across SPAAR’s 12-county service area.

Candidates joined SPAAR members at SPAAR’s office or via Zoom to take questions from Realtors® about why they’re running for office, what the biggest challenges facing their community are, and how they plan to tackle those challenges.

If a candidate demonstrated knowledge of their community and the role they sought, support for housing and homeownership, a willingness to listen to Realtors® on the issues most important to housing and real estate, and had a serious chance at victory, they earned SPAAR’s endorsement.

Below are the SPAAR endorsed candidates for the upcoming 2026 election on Tuesday, November 3.

Karla Bingham, Washington County Board of Commissioners
Anne Burt, Woodbury Mayor
Jacob Borealis, Dakota County Board of Commissioners
Maggie Bruecken, Apple Valley City Council
Pat Carlson, Coon Rapids Mayor
Tyler Fehrman, South Saint Paul City Council
Paul Gardner, Shoreview Mayor
Monique Garza, Cottage Grove City Council
Nick Gessell, Farmington Mayor
Michel Haatvedt, Cottage Grove City Council
Janet Hansmeier, Red Wing City Council
Gary Hansen, Eagan City Council
Luke Hellier, Lakeville Mayor
Thomas Huling, Coon Rapids City Council
Stan Karwoski, Washington County Board of Commissioners
Jerry Koch, Anoka County Board of Commissioners
Kelly Lindstrom, Woodbury City Council
Mike Maguire, Eagan Mayor
Kevin Miller, Forest Lake City Council
Chris Mog, Woodbury City Council
Kari Niedfeldt-Thomas, New Brighton Mayor
Liz Novotny, Fridley City Council
Simi Patnaik, Washington County Board of Commissioners
Maria Isa Perez Vega, Ramsey County Board of Commissioners
Emily Rousseau, Arden Hill Mayor
Mike Slavik, Dakota County Board of Commissioners
Zac Steichen, Lake City City Council
Thomas Willenbring, Oakdale City Council

Also, a huge "thank you" to the SPAAR members who helped conduct these interviews:

Ken Alger
LeRoy Bendickson
Jim Cormier
Monique Garza
Jonathan Jordan
Autumn Landon-Johnson
LeeAnn Lehto
Denny Mathis
Carrie Olinger
Sarah Rostance
Sammi Silver
Nicko Spehn
John Tschida
Sheri Wessel
Casey Zebrev
Shannon Zywiec

Remember to vote on Tuesday, November 3!