By Shannon Fiecke, Correspondent

Republicans and Democrats have re-endorsed the same candidates for office in House District 35B as they did two years ago.

During the Saturday DFL convention in Prior Lake, delegates from District 35B endorsed Taylor Kristoffe-Jones of Savage for state representative. She was alone in seeking the party nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Mark Buesgens of Jordan. Kristoffe-Jones also faced Buesgens two years ago.

Buesgens was re-endorsed on March 1 by Republicans, along with fellow state representatives Michael Beard of Shakopee and Paul Kohls of Victoria, who also represent parts of Scott Coounty.

As the endorsed candidate two years ago, Buesgens easily fended off a primary challenge by former legislator Tom Rees of New Market Township, and went on in the general election to beat Kristoffe-Jones by 24 percent.

Former Prior-Lake Savage School board member Sue Bruns won the DFL endorsement for state representative in House District 35A on Saturday over previous DFL candidate Doug Zila.

Bruns is seeking the seat held by Beard of Shakopee. Needing at least 60 percent of the vote to secure her party’s nomination, the Prior Lake woman reached the threshold on the third ballot.

Zila, also of Prior Lake, is president of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance. He ran a vigorous campaign against Beard in 2006, losing by 8 percent.

District 35 Republican State Senator Claire Robling, who ran unopposed two years ago, is not up for re-election this year. The senate district, which is entirely contained within Scott County, favors Republicans. Of the two house seats, the seat in District 35A will likely be the most challenging for Republicans to keep.

Reflecting the large crowds that turned out caucus night for the presidential preference polls, the local DFL and Republican parties reported high-turnout at their district conventions.

The DFL convention in District 35 was about double the size of previous years, with approximately 380 attending, said local party chairman Howard Bass.

Of delegates selected at the caucus level, about 70 percent showed up for the convention, whereas turn-out has typically been under 50 percent, he said.

Cindy Whitehair, District 35 Republican chairwoman, said the turn-out at her convention was 80 to 85 percent, and she estimated a "good two-thirds" of the audience were first-timers.

"That is very exciting," she said. " It is always nice to get new people involved in politics."

A lot of "old-timers" didn’t run for delegate spots to the congressional and state conventions, in order to make room for these newcomers, Whitehair said.

The Senate District 34 DFL convention, which includes three townships in Scott County, won’t be held until April 5. The Republican convention in District 34 two Saturdays ago had such a large attendance that convention business had to be finished in a second meeting last Sunday.

So far, Marcia Krueger of Norwood Young America, who previously challenged Kohls, is the only candidate seeking the DFL nod in District 34A. The house seat covers St. Lawrence, Louisville and Jackson Townships, in addition to western Carver County.

David Bly, a freshman legislator from Northfield who represents a portion of southern Scott County in House District 25B, is expected to be re-endorsed on March 26 by the DFL.

Republicans have endorsed Lonsdale Mayor Tim Rud to challenge Bly in what could be a very competitive race this fall.

Former Republican State Representative Ray Cox, who narrowly lost re-election to Bly two years ago, decided not to run again after losing a special election for the Senate District 25 seat.

Shannon Fiecke can be reached at (952) 345-6679 or sfiecke@swpub.com.