WINONA Minn. – The Winona County Board settled on May 9 for an election to fill the District 3 seat currently held by Steve Jacob of Elba. This means that one-fifth of the county’s population will be without representation on the Board for more than four months – or longer, eight months, to August, if a primary election is necessary to narrow the field to two candidates. Jacob is leaving the Board after 10 years because in November he was elected to the State House of Representatives effective in January
Election timeline
November 8: Jacob elected to State Legislature effective in January.
January 3: Effective date of Jacob’sCounty Board resignation.
February 14: Candidacy papers for County Board vacancy can be filed February 14 through 28. Filing fee: $50.
May 9: Election date if mo more than two candidates, If more than two, this wull be a primary election to narrow field to two.
August 8: Election date if a primary was necessary in May.
District 3
Comprises townships north and west of Winona. Communities include St. Charles, population 3,730; Stockton, 800; Rollingstone, 670; Altura, 470; Elba, 130; Minneiska, 90; and Saratoga, too small for census breakout.
Jacob’s County Board legacy
He doesn’t much like government. Or to be gentler, Steve Jacob is wary of government. He spins it this way: “I oppose government expansionism.” His worldview has won him election three times to the County Board from Republican-heavy rural folks west and north of Winona – and in 2022 to the State Legislature. He chose to run for the County Bard in 2010 after a nasty dispute with the county’s zoning commission. He wanted to plow a new road on his bluff-top farm near Elba in violation of county environmental rules. His position was that it was his land to do with as he wished. In effect he was denying the premise of zoning as mechanism for the public good. Angry about zoning, Jacob vowed to get even and ran for the County Board. On many issues, Jacob’s views resonated with his constituency. These included:
>Opposing pregnancy terminations.
> Applying the Second Amendment to keep firearms ownership unrestricted.
> Stopping vaccination and mask mandates during the CoVid pandemic.
> Taking “shackles” off business.
In his re-election campaigns Jacob claimed credit for reducing the size of the county government by eliminating employees, and selling the Winona County Government Center. He opposed replacing the condemned county jail — and lost. His mantra: “I believe in giving power to the people, containing our government, and fighting for conservative values.” He consistently supported the Daley dairy plan to quadruple its factory-scale Lewiston herd – and lost.. He opposed a proposed ban on frac-sand mining to protect the environment – and lost.. On many issues Jacob was in a 3-2 minority on the County Board with fellow rural commissioner Marcia Ward.
Jacob. A fourth-generation farmer whose great-grandparents steered a covered wagon up the Whitewater alley to homestead on the bluffs above Elba. It was rough going. The horse-drawn wagon overturned climbing the hill. His great grandmother, pregnant, survived the accident — and, as Jacob likes to tell it, they kept going.