By Shannon Fiecke, Correspondent

Former Prior-Lake Savage Area School Board member Sue Bruns won the DFL endorsement for state representative on Saturday over previous candidate Doug Zila.

Bruns is seeking the District 35A seat currently held by Republican Michael 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. Bruns

Also 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 nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Mark Buesgens of Jordan. Kristoffe-Jones also faced Buesgens two years ago, losing by 24 percent.

Beard and Buesgens, along with District 34A State Rep. Paul Kohls of Victoria, who all represent portions of Scott County, were unanimously re-endorsed by Republicans at district conventions on March 1.

District 35 Republican State Senator Claire Robling, who ran unopposed two years ago, will not be up for re-election until 2010. Senate District 35 leans Republican. Of the two house seats and one senate seat, the District 35A race will likely pose the greatest challenge for Republicans.

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.