Tuesday last day to file for special Ward 1 election

Tuesday is the last day to file for the special Bemidji City Council Ward 1 race.

Two candidates have filed so far, current Ward 3 council member Ron Johnson and newcomer Gwenia Fiskevold Gould.

Johnson has served as the Ward 3 representative for more than 20 years, but redistricting last year moved his neighborhood into Ward 1.

Johnson’s Ward 3 term would be effective through the end of 2024.

Fiskevold Gould works at the Bemidji State University Alumni & Foundation and serves on two city committees as well as the United Way’s investment cabinet.

This is a special election to fill the vacancy left by the current at-large councilor Audrey Thayer, who resigned her Ward 1 seat at the beginning of the year.

The term would be effective through the end of 2024, with the election scheduled for April 11.

If more than two candidates file and no one wins more than 50 percent of the vote, a secondary election is slated for Aug. 8.

Filing closes at 5 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, paperwork for candidacy can also be found online. 


Larissa Donovan was the News Director for the stations of Paul Bunyan Broadcasting and has been, almost without interruption, since Election Day 2016, through July 2023. She covered all the beats in north-central Minnesota, such as local government, crime, education, environment and social issues. She studied communications at Bemidji State University. You can follow along with Larissa's live tweets of meetings and events on Twitter!


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