St. James farmer Paul Torkelson won a lengthy battle for the Republican endorsement in the state House district encompassing Brown County and parts of Watonwan and Redwood counties.

Torkelson, making his first run for political office, endured a 10-round bout with Sleepy Eye farmer Greg Bartz at the District 21B endorsing convention in Springfield Thursday night. At about 11:30 p.m., Torkelson finally gained the 60 percent support from delegates required for endorsement.

“I told the delegates last night it was exciting and terrifying at the same time,” he said Friday morning. “I also told a few people it’s like waiting for your first child to be born.”

Torkelson actually trailed Bartz 38 votes to 26 after the first vote with another 25 delegates splitting their support between Hanska dental hygienist Ruthie Hendrycks and Sleepy Eye farmer Dean Simonsen.

Torkelson had emphasized to delegates before the convention that, even if he wasn’t their first choice, he’d like their support if their preferred candidate wasn’t going to win. And Simonsen’s supporters moved to Torkelson on the second and third rounds of voting.

After Hendrycks was forced to drop out when convention rules narrowed the choice to the two top vote-getters, her delegates also seemed to flow mostly to Torkelson. He had a 47-40 lead after four ballots, but it took another six rounds of balloting before he could pry enough of Bartz’s delegates away to reach the 60 percent threshold.

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